Average Rating: 
Rating:  - CD Key??? Are they serious?
I have three or four thousand dollars worth of paid-for software on this machine, including Chessmaster 9000, and this is the ONLY one stupid enough to make me put a CD in the machine every time I want to play. True, I don't play games much, so maybe this is ordinary behavior for games, but you can believe I'll never play the game, or have anything good to say about it. I don't appreciate being treated like a criminal by software I have PAID for.
Rating:  - Finally, after all these years
I have been a chess player since early childhood, and, with the coming of the computer age, I have played computer chess with almost every commercially available chess program (I own most of them). For the past few years, I have used chess software to aid in endgame studies (a specialized branch of chess study). In my vast collection of studies, I have at least 4 or 5 that have defied analysis by commercially-available software - until now. CHESSMASTER 9000 knocked out all of these studies in less than 5 minutes - I was simply blown away. I cannot recommend this piece of software too highly. It is everything it is advertised to be - AND MORE. I only wish I could give it more than 5 stars.
Rating: - An excellent tutorial--with a side order of a chess program
First thing first: Chessmaster 9000 runs smoothly on my three-year-old laptop; the inteface, windows, and menus are intuitive and easy to customize; the boards, pieces, side windows (those showing moves made, pieces taken, etc.) and graphics in general are crips and clear. Two minor problems: a). if you run the game on a low resolution (800X600 or less), the various windows tend to "clutter" quickly and hide each other, making the larger 2D boards and the 3D ones useless. b). Unless you have a 3D accelerator, the "true 3D" chess boards don't work. These problems sound much worse than they actually are, since in practice you don't need to use most of the side windows, and the 3D boards tend to be more for "show" than for practical play; the medium-sized 2D boards are just fine.Now for the chess program. Unless you are in the top 0.01% or so of players, the Chessmaster 9000's program can beat you. More important, for the vast majority of playes, are the numerous options. There are dozens of computer opoonents to choose from, on every level from complete novice to strong master, and each with their own "personality". No matter what your strength is, you will an oppoent that is on your level of play, and for a challange some that are anywhere from slightly stronger to a LOT stronger. When it comes to the game itself, the program comes with all the expected frills: you can choose from dozens of different time controls, or set your own time controls; you can make them different for black and white, and force the computer to move anytime. You can start from any position, play black or white, give yourself (or the computer) odds in time or material, and so on. The "side" windows show anyhting from pieces taken and moves made to time remaining and name of opening. The computer can even annotate the game after it's finished. In other words, in a few mouse clicks you can move from playing a friendly speed chess game against someone on your level, to a tournament game with a strong master (complete with the master's annotations, after the game), to polishing your Sicilian Dragon opening or rook-and-pawns endings (set up the position, give yourself infinite time and the computer 5 seconds a move when it's playing at its stongest level), to solving chess problems (set up the position, give the computer infinite time, come back after dinner and force it to move) and so on and so forth. But the really nice thing about Chessmaster 9000 is that the chess program is almost incidental to the "classroom", "database room", and "kid's room". In these rooms, you can get an entire chess course, starting with "how does the pawn move?" and ending with "what is the strategic plan of the Grandmaster who played white in this position?". This tutorial alone is the equivalent of buying a few (good) instructional chess books, and topping it off with a couple of "my best games" volumes, opening encyclopedias, and endgame books. It is worth the price of the software all on its own. You start with the kids' tutorials and the "Beginner's" stage in the classroom, which start with how pieces move, what checkmate is, and so on and show you some basic strenghts and weaknesses of the various pieces. You move from there to the "intermediate" level, where you learn and practive basic chess concepts--especially concepts like "initiative", "space", "pawn formation", "planning", and so on that most mediocre players know SOMETHING about but not nearly enough to get better. Then you move on to advanced concepts in strategic chess thinking, ending with looking deeply at grandmasters' games and trying to think like them. You also get to practice endings, openings, and middle-game combinations as seperate subjects. Each level comes not only with a tutorial, but with numerous drills, tests, and so on. When this is done, you are ready to move to the huge database of endings, openings, and masters' games in the "Database" room. There you can practice what you learned, and try to "think like a grandmaster". If you do not have a chess program on your computer, or are looking for a present for a kid that doesn't (perhaps trying to interest them in chess) then this is unquestionably the best PC chess program on the market. It is particualrly suitable as a gift for children since it contains no sex, violence, or profanity, and does not require dad's newest computer to run--the old one would do fine. Finally, unlike most video games, it is a program you or your child will still be using two years from now; chess is chess, and it doesn't need the newest 3D accelerator, graphic card, or CPU to be good and have what is now called "replay value". If you become good enough to beat it at the hardest level--a feat that, in most action games, takes the average 13-year-old about two weeks--then call the local papers, since you are probably the next Bobby Fischer. It is precisely this long life that is the one reason NOT to buy this program--if you have the Chessmaster 8000 or 7000. They, too, have all of the tutorials, options, and so on that this program has; the one difference is the slightly slicker graphics and the "true 3D" boards--both almost useless, for practical purposes, and not worth buying a new program to have.
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