Last updated on Jun. 29 2003

Key features: Large database; Full analysis
Audience: Hard core chess players

If you are looking for a program to find real people to play against online do not look here, try ChessMaster Live, or better yet one of the chess server internet sites, such as FICS, or ICC. [ Note: ChessMaster has been discontinued the Live online server portion of their product since this review was originally written and then restarted it wth CM9000, while Fritz 8 claims to have free online service, but I have no idea how many people actually log on to this chess server if any. ]. Also, if you are relatively new to chess and need basic tutorials, or how-to's, you may want to look elsewhere as well, although it looks like Fritz 8 may have come a ways from the level of integration in Fritz 6. 

However, if you are an average club level player or above, who seems to be struggling to expand your playing ability then this may be the program for you. There are not a lot of bells and whistles, and it may take a while to figure out all the relatively obscure options and analysis notations, but the underlying chess engine, analysis, and database features are relatively strong and complete. It is the learning curve that may take a while to master with this program as documentation is rather sparse. I do not find the overall analysis quite as nice in the presentation as either ChessMaster or Power Chess for the intermediate player, but it can make up for this with the fact that it can show you reasoning for every move that has been made, or could be made, if you have the time to spare. I personally find that waiting for the full analysis is somewhat slow, but in the end, the wealth of knowledge to examine is worth the wait. Normally, I will run a quick analysis with CM9000, but if their explanation of the main line is not sufficient I will turn to Fritz for complete analysis.

I would recommend this program to the average club level player or above, who has no where else to turn for help in increasing their chess playing ability, nor the time to complete a full analysis of their games by themselves, but who have the desire to put the effort forth to become an even better player. The database of available games is much larger than that available with the ChessMaster line of programs, but unfortunately I have yet been able to pull as much information out of it. I like to see what percentage of games in the database are won or lost with a particular opening or board position, and this is just not doable with Fritz 6. However, the ability to create your own databases and index them based upon openings, themes, tactics, strategy, and endgames is clearly better than anything available with the ChessMasters series, so this is basically a trade off of when program excelling in one area and the other in a different area.

 Weaker players looking for a good chess engine, and instruction are best to try one of the more commercial and popular engines before buying this package, unless they plan to mostly use the chess program they purchase to solely provide analytical insight into historical games that they could not otherwise obtain. There are now many packages of Fritz'd master games available for download on the Internet. This program also runs on Win2000, and WinNT, which in my opinion is to its advantage [ ChessMaster 9000 claims to support WinXP and thus also Win2000, but there are many user reports of problems ].

If you are interested in buying this program check out BKChess.com. After searching the web for a US Dealer of the program I found that this website offered the best prices on some otherwise difficult to find chess programs, including Fritz, otherwise you might try http://www.chessbase.com directly. I had no problem ordering the program from BKChess.com's secure website, and had the software installed in a matter of a few days after placing my order. I personally have not purchased Fritz 7, or 8, yet, as of this time, as I have not had any compelling reasons to do so at this point.

I feel this program would be more main stream and popular in the U.S. if it were available from a major distribution channel such as amazon.com, and not just from amazon.de!. But then again maybe I just over estimate the U.S. Chess market.

Last updated on Jun. 29 2003

Key features: Chess software for the masses
Audience: All chess players of any age or skill level

Currently still under review, however, it contains many of the same features as previous version of ChessMaster, see ChessMaster 8000. Remains the hallmark chess software program, offering a middle of the road balance of features, and value, geared for a general target audience which make it so popular. Major differences, Now supports Win XP but other users have reported problems with using the program on this system. Once again, bargain hunters may want to try out either CM 8000 or CM 7000 before purchasing this version of the program, to make sure that it is the chess program for them before paying full price for the latest version. See CM 8000, and CM 7000, for related review information.

ChessMaster Live option is back again for this release of the program, but I have never seen more than one or two people online in the chess rooms at ubi.com. And the one time that I attempted to join a game, I could not tell if there were problems, or the host of the game had just fallen asleep waiting for someone else to connect to the server! 

Also, the lame copy protection is still there, so make sure that you make a personal backup of the CD's so that if you ever lose one you can still play the game, without paying for a new copy of the program or a new CD. Otherwise, you may run into the same situation that I did where my pregnant and at the time somewhat absent-minded wife decided to remove the CD from the computer's CD-ROM drive and place it on the spindle of blank CD-R CD's, in the box next to the computer instead of putting it back in the programs original pill-box. Next thing you know, the computer is asking for the CD-ROM, and it is nowhere to be found. Thankfully, a bit of search located the original CD the next day, but still this was really frustrating to know that the CD was required and not be able to find it shortly after purchasing the software, and having the full installation available on the computer's hard drive.

Finally, the computer chess opponents have been modified for this release, and I agree with other reviews that I have read so far that it is rather annoying to play a rated game against some of these opponents which seem to take forever in the opening, (and I am probably one of the slowest players that I know). Then suddenly, when the computer opponent starts to get low on time, this opponent becomes the best blitz player you have ever seen for the rest of the game, while your clock suddenly starts slipping away. This is definitely not very life like, most players that I know, if they are going to take forever in the opening then they are going to take just as long if not longer in a complicated middle game or endgame, not become quicker. Nor would most be able to come from a couple of pawns down to completely turn the game without blundering somewhere under such a pressure circumstance.  I do really like the new ability to play a random opponent, however, this is much better than picking and choosing your own opponent as you will then already know that players strength and weaknesses and can plan accordingly, and this is a luxury that is not always available when playing over the board, or when playing real people online.

Still probably the best all around value mass-market program for the average club player, or novice. Contains many of the same features as ChessMaster 7000, and ChessMaster 6000. See reviews below. This version, however, no longer contains a free online server for connecting with other online players to play chess, as CM 7000 did with Chess Live. For bargain shoppers,  I would recommend picking up a copy of ChessMaster 7000, in the bargain bin at your local store. You will be much happier if you decide it is not the chess program for you. One point in favor of this version of the program would be for user who want to upgrade to WinME, as this program claims to support that operating system as well as Win95, and Win98. On the downside, there still is not any support for Win2000, or WinNT, for this popular program, which will end up hurting its overall sales in the end.

Still probably the best all around value for the average club player, or novice. Contains many of the same features as ChessMaster 6000. The interface has been completely revamped. Some features of ChessMaster have moved to new locations, while a few others have been eliminated, resulting in a better overall organized, and more stream-lined end product. However, if you do buy this program, then please do yourself a favor, and download the most recent patch, immediately. You would think that you would get better quality out of the box, for a software package that claims to be the most popular, but apparently, quality testing does not fit into the manufacturers equation. Viewing tutorials, loading games, or analyzing games, can all result in program crashes without the patch, and even after installing the patch, viewing some tutorial information can be a crap shoot at best. There is more tutorial content in this version, and it appears to be of high quality, and the game database is also much larger in this version, both of which are good things. Furthermore, the tutorials now allow you to save your place by putting a checkmark next to lesson that you have just completed, which help out when you do not come back to a particular set of lessons for long periods of time. New for this version, and all good additions are the Chess Glossary, Chess Drills, and a list of Classic Games. The actual chess engine is relatively the same as in CM6000. The rated play feature against the computer opponents has been moved to the tournament area, so it may be a little harder to find now, but it seems to have approximately the same ratings for the computer opponents, with a few more added since the CM6000 version. The intermediate level computer opponents will still tend to make some moves that no human opponent would ever make, but overall play is fairly reasonable. However, due to the amount of bugs in this software, the lack of effort to make patches for them, and the price, you are probably better off obtaining a copy of ChessMaster 6000 from the bargain bin of your local computer store, rather than shelling out the full price for this version, unless you are interested in the using the tutorials. Also, most people are still running mplayer with CM6000, and not CM7000, so if you want to have access to the most online competition with ChessMaster, again you will want to stay with the older version of this program.

Appears to have the same chess engine and personalities as ChessMaster 6000 for the PC. However, depending upon your PC system, the strength of ChessMaster II may be significantly weaker then on your PC. This may be an issue if you are a very strong player. Otherwise, it allows you to play the same AI opponents as on your PC with slightly lower ratings, which may be a bonus as you can probably traverse higher up the computer opponent player list a little bit quicker, and experience some of the different personalities and styles of play. Graphics are decent for the Playstation, but will not win any awards. Rotating the view is rather slow, if you are playing black. Also, there are none of the frills of the full PC versions, but if you prefer not to be chained to your computer, in order to play a game of chess against a decent computer opponent with the option to save the game, and review it afterwards, then this CD is for you. See review of ChessMaster 6000 below for more information.

Probably the best all around value for the average club level player or below. Provides online play, tutorials, classic games, database capabilities, rated play options, and complete game analysis. Could be better if Mindscape decided to follow the Windows Guidelines for Graphical User Interfaces, instead of trying to invent their own. Also, seem to contain a high level of bugs, for such a popular software application, but the version 1.0.3 patch seem to fix most of the more critical ones. Database and analysis functions cannot be matched without paying much more for Fritz, or similar high-end package. However, Computer players for lower rankings can play bizarre moves that would never be seen over the board against a real opponent, which is a slight drawback to another good package. Can usually find online opponents on MPlayer, although connecting is not as easy or hassle-free as it should be for users. [ Note: Online server provided by MPlayer has been discontinued. ]

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Last updated on Apr. 28 2003

Key features: Personalized Chess Engine and Opponent
Audience: Average Chess Player still using Win95

[ Note: Although there is a patch available for this program for Win98, I did not have very good results. And it crashed several times on my PC. An interesting  phone call to Sierra indicated that although there is significant interest for a newer version of this program in the chess community, there are no plans to release an update. In the spokeswoman's words there just is not enough interest to mass produce an update. Apparently, Sierra does not consider anything less than the next hit computer game such as NASCAR 2003 as worth marketing. So do not lose any sleep waiting for PowerChess 2003 to appear. A quick look at the Task Manager reveals that the program is also running in 16bit compatibility mode, so that may have something to do with the reluctance to update the program as well, which is a shame, because it does offer some unique features. ] 

Better interface and less buggy than ChessMaster 6000, or CM7000, but not nearly as many features. Great buy for the intermediate player, who has difficulty locating challenging opponents, or cannot playing online. Computer AI is much more realistic then ChessMaster's weaker AI opponents. Computer AI strength is advertised to stay slightly above users strength overtime and appears to do so, at least over approximately 30 games, or below ~1600, after which point it seems to play almost flawlessly. The first time you play the Power Chess King, the only computer opponent, by the way, that you can receive ratings, and post game analysis by playing, you will be offered the classic scholars mate, and so on from there, as long as you stay with the recommended openings. The fact that the program will have the post game analysis ready to go immediately after the game is a nice touch, as you usually have to wait several minutes for ChessMaster or Fritz to perform the same. However, Power Chess gives most of this advantage back later, as after you are done examining the post game analysis, you may have to wait several minutes for it to construct a somewhat useless move variation tree before you can save your game to disk (PII-400Mhz, 64MB). Better would be the option of not displaying the move tree. 

If you looking for a package to play against real online opponents, then do not look here, as we have yet to see anyone else online at the same time that we were connected to their site. Pgn export option, would be better if it actually filled in pgn headers with all the information at the programs disposal, such as the players names, approximate rating, and who won or lost. Of course, the comments from the chess queen would also be nice. Perhaps there is a program to convert Power Chess Games (*.gam) files to standard PGN (*.pgn) files, which would contain all this information.

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If you can not afford a commercial package, then this free/shareware program maybe a good fit. A no frills program, but you can save your games in the standard PGN format, and offers adequate computer AI for blitz games. Will tend to repeat positions, however, but newer version may have a more varied and random opening book so that this is not as obvious. Version 5.3 is currently being reviewed. This is a Win32 program.

Looks like it might be the next step for the average club player who wants to improve. Great concept in learning techniques, over just reading books, as it is 100% interactive, and allows several progressive steps in revealing information on positions under study, as well as information on why any particular move is not the best move. Also tracks users progress and comes back to positions that the user has previously missed to re-enforce the lesson. Regretfully, the full package which comes with three different modules cost over $300 U.S. dollars, and at that point it may be just as cost effect to hire your own personal chess teacher, or create your own flash card system. Especially, since the package for that price only contains approximately 1000 unique positions, which is the equivalent to 2 or 3 puzzles books that you could buy from your local book store for approximately $30. But, of course, you would have to do much more of variation examination, and statistic tracking on your own.

Interface for FICS or ICC, which offers complete flexibility. All the benefits of a graphical interface along with almost complete customization ability. The only online server interface we have tried besides WinBoard, but then again, the author has made it unnecessary for us to try any other interfaces, as the program is currently free of charge. Thank you.