Chessmaster has been around in one form or other for a long time it is actually a UBISOFT product but this version is republished by Focus at £9.99 and for that you get quite a lot.
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I last played chess in anger over forty years ago, so a good place to start was the classroom, the early lessons soon brought things back. It starts simply with legal moves for each piece and board layout Queen on own colour I had remembered but white square in right corner I had forgotten.
It then moves onto checkmate next move and some of those need some thinking about and then there are the five move endgames now I am struggling, I never was that good and if Chessmaster had been around then I would I feel certain have been a lot better but by the same token so would my opponents.
The install was easy the box says you could do a 300MB install but that would require one or both of the CDs to be around when required. It said that a full install takes 1200MB for me I was 1400MB of hard disc down.
The interface was clear and easy to understand. It features over 60 new 3D chess boards and pieces so when you progress beyond the classroom the graphics can be as good as your graphics card allows, the interface will even support 3D graphic technology.
There are over 150 computer opponents and so you can play at almost any level with an opponent of your standard or maybe that should always be just that little better than you. There is a chess course from John Waitzkins. While still trying to improve your game there is a Blunder Alert Feature that you can note or even choose to ignore should you be certain you know better.
The package includes over 800 classic games and should that not be enough for you then you can even find an opponent online at UBI.com this same facility online can allow you to download any updates.
The box states from 3+ well certainly I think the average three year old would not be interested in chess but there is a kids room where you can do a range of things as well as play chess. I counted 8 activities including learning so an intelligent child could soon pick up the basics.
I tried all the sections and soon realised that my place was best outside these areas as I was cannon fodder for most opponents, I could however appreciate the graphics and the engine producing the output, if I had spent more time on chess forty years ago I could perhaps use more of the facilities available within the Chessmaster 9000 program.
Link http://www.focusmm.co.uk/store/productpages/productinfo/ess540.html
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