Anyone remember Chessmaster software?

[johnjohn320]

I introduced my girlfriend to chess a couple months ago, and I've created a monster! She's really gotten into it, challenging me to matches more days than not, and (not that I'm a great player at all) already beating me almost half the time.

I used to play Chessmaster 6000 when I was growing up on my parents' PC; it was an awesome program that not only allowed you to play matches against varying opponents, but had unparalleled tutorials for intermediate-->early advanced players. I learned a lot from it, and enjoyed playing on it. I thought it'd be a nice gift for her to find the "latest" version of Chessmaster, since she's really getting into learning more about the game, etc. But, googling around, I can see that they stopped making new Chessmaster versions about 11 years ago, and even longer for versions that were Mac-compatible (she has a MacBook, and Chessmaster 9000 was the last Mac-friendly output). I was still going to get her that (the 9000), but reading reviews, people are saying it won't work with OS Yosemite, El Capitan, etc.

So, has Chessmaster been replaced? I'd love to get her some software that was like that program; visual, tutorial heavy, user-friendly. Any thoughts?

 

[Childs]

You could always play Chessmaster in a virtual machine.

At one time I could beat Chessmaster on the Nintendo, but when I got it on PC there was just no way. I remember seeing how many moves the AI was calculating per second and just gave up. lol

 

[QueBert]

They need an updated Battlechess, so fun back in the days!

 

[Markbnj]

Mobile is where it's at now. There are a ton of chess apps for Android anyway. Can't speak for IOS.

 

[johnjohn320]

You could always play Chessmaster in a virtual machine.

Yeah, that might be a bit much for us, hassle-wise. Seems like a lot of work to use one game...

 

[lxskllr]

Maybe get her a couple books for learning, and use whatever program for playing.

 

[DrPizza]

I completely agree that a tutorial type of app is best. You can get okay at chess, but if you don't know basic openings, you'll never really be that good. You'll beat others who don't know openings, but against those well versed in openings, you'll start at a pretty significant disadvantage.

 

[johnjohn320]

I completely agree that a tutorial type of app is best. You can get okay at chess, but if you don't know basic openings, you'll never really be that good. You'll beat others who don't know openings, but against those well versed in openings, you'll start at a pretty significant disadvantage.

:thumbsup: Any particular suggestions, since Chessmaster is on the outs?

 

[johnjohn320]

Mobile is where it's at now. There are a ton of chess apps for Android anyway. Can't speak for IOS.

There are indeed a ton of iOS apps; but I've tried a few and found none to be nearly as comprehensive or educational. Open to suggestions, though, if there's one I missed!

 

[Bird222]

Yeah I would like a good app for Android too.

 

[DrPizza]

:thumbsup: Any particular suggestions, since Chessmaster is on the outs?

I'd love to know as well. I've been playing the computer a lot lately, and every time it responds with Sicilian Defense, I think, "crap." 30 years ago, I'd be solid for the first 10 moves.

 

[Childs]

Yeah, that might be a bit much for us, hassle-wise. Seems like a lot of work to use one game...

Its not that much of a hassle...Microsoft lets you download OS VMs to test their browser, and there are free VM players. If you really want something on the level of Chessmaster you're kinda limited these days.

 

[brainhulk]

i used to play on Microsoft Internet Gaming zone. a looooooong time ago. when internet was first created iirc

 

[Ferzerp]

http://www.gog.com/games##search=chess&sort=bestselling&page=1

 

[Jaepheth]

I never found anything that replaced Chessmaster 9000 to my satisfaction.

I really, really liked their openings library and how it would categorize your game in the post game analysis.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

The latest version of ChessMaster came out in 2007 - will probably work in Windows just fi-

Oh, you have a Mac. Isn't there a built in Chess application provided by Apple, or did they yank that?

 

[Childs]

Oh, you have a Mac. Isn't there a built in Chess application provided by Apple, or did they yank that?

Its still there, but its the same as its always been. No tutorials or anything, and the amount of moves the computer can do goes from 2 to 256. Last time I played Chessmaster the computer was looking ahead like 100k moves a sec.

 

[McLovin]

They need an updated Battlechess, so fun back in the days!

YES!

This game was so bad ass. Really made me fall in love with chess.

 

[Svnla]

Which one has the fighting animated sequences? When I was little, I used to love to play chess with that game.

 

[Childs]

How about this site?

http://tactics.chessbase.com/js/apps/Training/

 

[bononos]

Tech has improved where there are free/open source chess engines now which rank right up there with commercial programs. And they can be used with front end gui's.

I think the last program I used was Fritz which had 'learning moves' but wasn't the same as a full on mentoring programs but that could have changed. TASC seems to be highly recommended.

Which one has the fighting animated sequences? When I was little, I used to love to play chess with that game.

Battlechess.

 

[Raizinman]

I was captain of my high school chess team and had numerous chess computers when growing up. I remember saving my entire grass cutting earnings for a Fidelity chess computer that was around $1200. The problem will all the chess computers is that the higher the lever you set your computer to play, the longer it takes. I remember playing some of the Chessmaster computers on their highest level and it would take 5 or 6 hours each move. That is unreasonable. Now I just play the Free chess game that came with Windows 7 Ultimate (Chess Titans) when I'm on hold or have a bit of free time. Even that chess game takes too long on the highest levels.