UBI Soft Chessmaster 9000 Puzzle Review

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
2 votes

Price Paid:  $40.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
First I must say that my monitor is incapable of using the fancier 3D chess sets, so I know nothing of them. However, I prefer to use 2D anyway.

Is it better than version 8000? Yes. Is it alot better? Well, it doesn't seem so to me.

There are more personalities, likely better tutorials, ( I haven't used them much ). I noted several other minor improvements as well.

Version 9000 uses a HUGE amount of disk space if you do a full install, ( 800mb - 1gb).

I would say if you have a licensed copy of version 8000, it is not likely worth paying another $40. If however, your PC has the capability to handle version 9000, ( older ones may not ), and you are looking for a good chess program, I'd give it a try.

P.S.
I have a $10 rebate coming in the mail as well for purchasing it.

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Price Paid:  $30.00 from CompuExpert.com

Summary:

GENERAL

The first question I had (and I suspect many of you had/have) was: Do I really need another Chessmaster program? Does it have enough added value to justify another $30-$40? The short answer is no.

The new “stuff,” in my opinion, is worthwhile, helpful, fun-to-use, and in keeping with Chessmaster’s tradition of incremental improvements, but if you already have any of the more recent programs (say, Chessmaster 5000 and beyond), you’re not exactly playing with a caveman chess opponent anyway.

Since I already have most Chessmaster versions (as well as various other programs and chess engines, like Fritz 6 and Fritz 7), I am in a position to compare them, enough to feel confident in saying that, although it is not my personal favorite, Chessmaster 9000 is another confident step forward.

SUMMARY

If you don’t have any chess software and are interested in chess, Chessmaster 9000 is an excellent “mainstream” purchase because of its strong tutorials, easy-to-use features, and improved graphics. Better still, the previous Chessmaster versions, I am sure, are being marked down and are GREAT bargains.

If you have some programs, then the decision to buy isn’t really one of missing out on some exclusive chess-related material but buying it ‘cause you want it.

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Summary:
ChessMaster 9000 is a worthy successor in the ChessMaster series. Final we're presented with a variety of TRULY 3D boards! The previous 3D boards drove me nuts. If a pawn was ever positioned in from of a large piece, the perspective of the board made it nearly impossible to actually select the pawn for movement. In fact, it was difficult to even SEE the tiny things when obscured by Kings and Queens. There was one board (with a bird's eye perspective) that seemed to tilt the board a little more, but having the choice of only one board really frustrated me. Anyway, with that said, CM9000 kicks down these barriers by providing a fully rotatable (and zoomable) chess board setup. You can rotate the board at any time, providing a refreshing approach to computer chess.

The Chess Engine (as far as I can tell) is identical to the old one. But let's face it, none of us are really challenging this game at its top level anyway.

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Price Paid:  $39.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I am using this program on a virtually new Sony Vaio (PCG-GR390) Pentium III 1.2 GHZ and Chessmaster 9000 runs very slowly. I enjoy the game, but often the program lags behind and there are several bugs that the patch didn't fix. One is when you try to play a rated game, even though you select an opponent, it matches you against the Chessmaster. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would have to give this a 4 or 5, and actually get more enjoyment from my Chessmaster 6000, because the program is more stable with Windows. If you have an older version, stick with it and save your money.