Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition (PC Games, 2007)

Altogether,the ChessMaster series is hard to bet.From beginner to master there is something for every Chess player in Chessmaster. I started in with 6000 back in the W98 days. I skipped over 7000 somewhere and continued on with 8000,9000,and then 10th edition.Everyone can benefit from all the tutorials that grow with every version.Finally, I found a copy of Grandmaster.Gotta love Ebay for the money you can save.
The 1st thing to learn about Ubisoft Chessmaster software is the quirkiness/finickiness of O/S used.Up through 8000,W98/ME are absolutely required.9000 must be patched to run stable on XP and don't waste your time trying to run any Chessmaster versions on W2000.Did I mention quirky/finicky?10th Edition also requires XP and Grandmaster requires XP or Vista.I have no experience on Vista to date but XP and Grandmaster are better than ever.Naturally ,the game engines have gotten stronger over time and if your serious about engine strength you can download an EGDB{End Game Data base} zip file to generate your own 5 man EGDB file{about 5 gb}and redirect Chessmaster to target your new EGDB in the .ini file to really enhance Chessmaster's strength of play. A 6 man file would be nice but that's slightly larger than a TERABYTE in space for both Black and White.I've done this{5 man} for 9000,10th Edition, and Grandmaster versions with ease.Compiled once{About 4 days}and "copy/target to" over and over.
So don't be afraid to pick up a copy of 9000 ,or 10th Edition on the cheap while you wait for that affordable copy of GrandMaster.Make sure you go to Ubisoft and download the latest patches and install.And to my knowledge, Chessmaster will not currently run or install on WINE emulators as of 06/01/2008.

Enjoy

Not even close to the experience of CM 10. Wait for the next eddition to come out. This one is a downgrade.

The product is complete.
Like new.Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good.

I do not like the graphics they are not so good, it's hard to navigate the menus, the introduction comes on every time you start the game,

There is nothing I dislike about Chessmaster. Chessmaster is such an awesome game that develops the used of reason and widen the intellect.

I bought this to help train elementary students chess. It is an excellent product for this. The students like the animations and the varied range of opponents' skills.

Disappointing for amateurs but good enough for beginners.

- Name is deceptive. GM edition is basically for beginners. Has instructive videos which is for beginners.

-Follow the grandmaster's moves does not explain why the move was made. It is kind of puzzle, where you have to figure it out for yourself. It is no better than watching a chess game and guessing the reason why the move was played.

-Opening book, though vast, partially explains a opening and ignores explaining some moves. Either do not explain, explain everything. CM leaves us guessing again.

-User Interface is decent but not to my expectations. I did have many choices for 2-D boards.

-Software bugs like unable to flip the board during setup.

- Games database is totally useless as most of the games are of players rated below National(or International) masters. Some players do not even have a elo.

-ELO of Chessmaster is still low after all these years. I would prefer to link it to free UCI like Rybka 2.2n but CM supports only winboard engines.

-Online chess is useless. If you go their portal and see how many are playing, you can count them with your fingers in one hand. And all of them beginners. If you have learn to be a grandmaster, as the title says, you have to play with better people.

Very challenging and a lot more different board styles and pieces. I especially like the puzzles and "fork your fruit" games. My grandson can't stop playing it. Much more challenging than the past Grandmasters. Excellent.