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Chessmaster
9000
If you're really into chess, stop playing with
Apple's bundled Chess app. Shell out the
$40 and get Chessmaster 9000—it's the
chess game to get for the Mac.
Chessmaster has tons of features for both
beginners and experienced chess
enthusiasts alike.
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Go!
July 2005
No, playing chess won't make you as loopy
as Bobby Fischer. Well, it probably won't.
When you dive into the actual chess-match part of Chessmaster, you'll find yourself
faced with an overwhelming interface full of separate windows, numbers, buttons, and
chess symbols—not to mention the chessboard itself. While everything on the screen
is useful, Chessmaster thankfully allows you to close the features you don't want, open
a different set of windows, or get rid of everything to display only the board. The
default open windows include a shortcuts windows with one-click buttons for game
analysis and move advice, a game status window that tracks each move and tells you
how much time you have left to make your move, a window displaying captured
pieces, a Visual Thinking window that lets you look at potential moves, and a Mentor
Lines window that suggests a series of moves for you.
Chessmaster has 155 different personalities you can play against, including 49 grand
masters. (Gary Kasparov is not included, and we're sure it has nothing to do with his
recent retirement.) Each personality has a distinct style, so playing against the AI never
feels repetitive. You can also play with other Chessmaster players online.
Tutorials. For beginners, there's a helpful classroom mode that teaches you the basics,
including what the pieces are and how they move, plus introductory strategy. There's
even a discussion of openings (the first few moves of a chess match) and an excellent
library where you can study historic matches of grandmasters—plus not-so-grand
matches, including Dr. Frank Poole's match against HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space
Odyssey.
There are lots of in-game tools to improve your game, too, including the
aforementioned Mentor Lines, a Blunder Alert that tells you when the move you just
made might be a bad one (and suggests alternatives), a move-advice option, an undomove option, and a Game Analysis tool that examines your match and gives you
feedback.
The only major qualm we have is that the help system isn't very helpful. When we
selected Help, we expected to find instructions within the software on how to use its
features; instead, Chessmaster just launched a PDF of the game's manual.
The bottom line. Yeah, we know that a free chess game came with your Mac. But for
all you get with Chessmaster, the $40 is well worth it. —Roman Loyola
Upgrades, patches, bug-fixes
and late-breaking news for
MacAddict articles. Reprints are
also indexed here.
GOOD NEWS: Great for beginners and experts. Tons
of features.
BAD NEWS: Game layout can sometimes feels
crowded and overwhelming. Help takes you to the
PDF manual.
Browse and order prior issues
of MacAddict.
COMPANY: Feral Interactive
CONTACT: +44 0 208 875 1375 , http://www.feralinteractive.com
PRICE: $40
REQUIREMENTS: 700MHz G3, Mac OS 10.2 or later, 256MB RAM, 1.3GB disk
space, 16MB graphics card, QuickTime 6
©2005 Future Network USA
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