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 - Excellent value for moneyI have Fritz and Chessmaster, but I play Chessmate more than the other two at the moment. One reason is that tournament mode in Chessmate is really fun; the handicapping seems to work quite well, the players get stronger slowly, and on the Pocket PC the variation in moves that one opponent plays is not great so you can try the same ideas (better executed) if you lose. The variety of openings is not great, and this is also good because in effect you are getting drilled in a few standard openings. So the effectiveness of the handicapping and the lack of opening variety give me the impression that this has been designed as a learning tool. The other reason I use it is that it is quite a good way to store games you are playing with friends via sms, because in human v human mode it simply records moves; there is no chance to analyse the game with the Ruffian chess engine, which makes it quite fair. The pocket pc version is pretty nifty; it has the tournament feature. The PC version is I think quite an impressive package; it provides a small number of challenging puzzles, some good text, and once again this really fun tournament feature. Under the tournament feature you play a number of progressively harder opponents, half the time you must play black. A tournament game is time limited and there is no take back or hint option. You can't save the game either, you must finish or resign. Your rating is changed based on the outcome; wins or even draws against harder opponents can really help your rating leap. However, if you lose, you simply do not progress, you must beat all four players in the current round to progress, and you can take as many attempts as you like. Since each opponent plays with limited variety, you can easily play yourself back to the place you made a mistake, and do better this time. I also find this effective for learning. You must start the tournament in bronze level, which is a low level of opponent, so that could be 24 boring short games for a strong player. All in all, this is surprisingly good chess software. For the money, it's worth it. I think this would be the first game I would give a child of all the chess software I own. Rating: - Powerful opponent, easy and cheap The engine is very powerful and realistic. Whereas the strength of opponent in Chessmaster is all over the shop, Chessmate provides a consistent opponent who doesn't make dumb mistakes that a player at a given elo rating would never make in real life. The training options are quite good if limited. The best parts are how you can follow standard openings in a video play manner for 20 or so moves, and the quick hint function while playing games. Of course it can't compete with the much more expensive Chessmaster for full training options or eye candy but it isn't trying to do this. If you want a good strong opponent who will give you a realistic (and somewhat humbling- in my case a couple of hundred points lower than Chessmaster) assessment of your true rating then Chessmate wins hands down. If you want all the glitzy bells and whistles then Chessmaster is hard to better and very entertaining. I think both are well worth having, but if you just want an honest assessment of your true playing stength and an opponent who doesn't throw in the towel for no reason, then Chessmate is a bargain as the more powerful chess engine at much lower cost. It goes right down to 500 elo so kids can still have a chance of beating it in a realistic competetion even without it throwing the game away (unlike misleading Chessmaster). Chess will never be a rainbow colored shoot em up 3D video game. Chessmate will not disappoint a serious chess player who wants to play honest chess against a very realistic and powerful opponent. Its very entertaining to train and improve by fooling around with Chessmaster, but the real test of ability is playing rated games against a realistic and powerful engine like Chessmate. Rating: - Pretty good except....Played this on a friends machine - a dozen or so games. THe game has a really nice feel to it. The lower levels can let you win without performing obvious blunders and that is the one thing that Chessmaster is sadly lacking. This game actually feels like playing a human. Two gripes - 1. the graphics are a bit ordinary (2d mode) 2. If you get checkmated or checkmate/stalemate or lack of material you cannot choose to 'undo' !!!! the game just ends ! The second point is really annoying because I primarily use chess programs to learn Rating:  - For non-serious playersIf you're not a serious player, this is a bargain. By non-serious players I mean people who don't study chess; they just play it for fun. If you want a strong opponent whenever you feel like playing, then this is a good program for you. You get a simple 2D or 3D view and you can adjust its playing strength to your needs. At the strongest setting, it'll probably beat you every time. You also get a tutorial section that will probably teach you something new about the game. If you're really new to chess or have a kid interested in chess, get Chessmaster instead. If you're a serious player, don't bother getting this. You probably already own Chessbase programs anyway, which are way more expensive than this game. Rating: - Kasparov Chessmate - mmmeh, it's pretty good.I'm rated about 1800 but recently got a performance of about 2200 at the Oceanic Zonal Championships at New Zealand. (Truth be told, I'm under 13!) I don't see why other users hate this program so much, it has some "catching up" to do, I admit, but other than that, it is quite enjoyful. And the graphics are nice as well. Fritz's interface seems a bit "ugly" for you to play proper "human v computer" chess and Chessmaster's seems "somewhat annoying". I reckon this product is worth the money, especially at it's low price.
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