Kasparov Chessmate

Instead of writing a negative review about this, allow me to take a moment to explain why I decided to buy Kasparov Chessmate. But let me first confess that I am little better than a wood pusher (or, if you would prefer... a patzer). That means that although I know the rules, and am familiar with basic tactics and can recognize a couple openings by name, I am not a strong player. I have no rating... but believe I am class E in strength. Over the last 9 months, my chess studies/purchases/results have included:

- Chess for Dummies (still working on finishing up the last few chapters... but it introduced me to tactics)

- Play Winning Chess (just bought last week - and am very pleased with it)

- Chessmaster 9000 (gave it away to a good friend, but will be buying again - but only for it's training material)

- Fritz 8 (for chess analysis and playchess.com chess server)

- ChessTiger for my palm (which beats me 99% at it's training level 3 playing with it's book)

- play and lose to my Dad regularly in online and e-mail chess(who is the reason why I continue to play)

- Polgar's 5334 chess problems (a great big book that I enjoy)

- am loosely rated around 1200 on yahoo chess

Why did I buy Kasparov? For starters, Chessmaster 9000 confounded me. I would struggle and lose against very poorly ranked players. I don't think chessmaster 9000 has quite figured out how to reduce it's strength at it's weaker/weakest levels. It either makes really good moves, or really dumb moves. [I believe that it still has a few issues with XP. They have not released any patches/updates in over 9 months.] This is where Kasparov seems to shine. When I downloaded the trial version of Kasparov to try it out for an hour, I discovered that it has players ranked down to elo 500. Although I haven't had enough time to seriously try it out since I bought it (midnight last night at WalMart), I am pleased to announce that I wasn't trounced on the lowest level (elo 500) of Kasparov on my Palm - and I can tell you that Kasparov on my palm was not throwing completely random/stupid moves at me as Chess Tiger will tend to do in Training level 1 (what it claims is elo 1000). I feel like I actually 'met my match' playing Kasparov on my Palm.

I also spent sometime going through the training last night before falling asleep and this morning. It could be better, but it does a reasonable job of explaining how pieces move, and what is checkmate. I wish that they would have placed middle-game tactics before openings (it gives you about a dozen examples of common open games played out to about a dozen turns (24 ply) - without any variations). I won't be able to give an adequate evaluation of the training until I complete it.

I'm not saying Kasparov is better than Chess Tiger on the palm (no analysis, strength of play, etc). But I feel that at my weaker level of play, I have possibly found a program that isn't playing 'stupid moves', but isn't trouncing me either. If you can stand losing occasionally (especially against Fritz in 'friend mode') and analyze your failures, that's great - and we often learn by losing. But it sure is nice to win once in a while.

I've given Kasparov 4 stars because of it's quality of weaker play (which may - in fact - be it's greatest selling point to the average consumer), and for the Palm version of the software. For me, it was a bargain because I got two chess programs for the price of one (one for my pc, and one for my palm). As I take more time to evaluate the game (and if I notice improvement in my play) I will be sure to post additional comments.

Keep in mind - Kasparov is aimed at the general consumer market. Anyone serious about chess programs is already aware of Fritz/Chessbase and Chessmaster 9000. This program is not better than those for reasons already stated. But I will confess, that so far I have enjoyed playing Kasparov chess - and hence it earns 4 stars on the merit that 'I had fun'. If you want to make money selling chess software to the masses, then you want to offer a game that is fun and challenging. If, and when, I win the 'bronze level' tournament in Kasparov, I'll be back to give additional feedback.


A very basic chess program   November 24, 2003
J. Wong (Jackson Heights, NY United States)
21 out of 26 found this review helpful

When compared to the variety of computer chess programs available on the market, Kasparov Chessmate lacks in every aspect, from graphics, training, and play-strength.

A price conscious consumer shopping for a chess program might consider this program since it is relatively cheap, but as they say, you get what you pay for. Actually, a program like Chessmaster 9000 is a bargain compared to what one might pay for Kasparov Chessmate if one considers all the extra features found in the former.

If you are mildy serious or serious about chess, Chessmaster 9000 is a better choice. It offers much more than Kasparov Chessmate, especially in terms of the training and education aspects. Frankly speaking, Chessmaster 9000 has no competition in that aspect, in my opinion.

One of the selling points is Kasparov Checkmate's ability to synchronize with either the Palm or Pocket PC, but in my opinion, it's not sufficient as a reason to purchase this in light of other options available.

For the super serious chess player, a good choice would be Fritz, but it is probably overkill for most people. Fritz is strong, but doesn't have the nice graphics or features of CM 9000. For the beginner, casual or serious players, Chessmaster 9000 is the best choice.


Top chess engine   November 21, 2004
C. J. Lock (Centurion South Africa)
19 out of 19 found this review helpful

I really fail to see how the other reviewers can't see the value for money in this programme, especially the person who actually states that he has never played it. I own all of the world's top rated chess programmes, so I know what I am talking about. I admit that it does not have the graphical and other features that Chessmaster 9000 and the 10th Edition have, but it is far superior in playing strength. It runs on the Ruffian Chess engine that recently defeated Chess Tiger in an engine tournament. I also installed this engine in Chessmaster 10th Edition and it beats it 80 per cent of the time in both Blitz and Tournament modes. Furthermore it can be set in weaker modes to suite one's style without, unlike Chessmaster, making stupid blunders. It is no fun playing against a personality in Chessmaster that can't tell the value of the pieces and exchanges a Queen for a Bishop. It all depends what you want from the programme. I have enough programmes, such as Fritz8, Hiarcs 8, Chess Genius7, Chess Tiger 15, etc. if I need to use added features and Chessmate competes well with these programmes as proved by my tournaments as well as the various engine tournaments around the world. It has an excellent response time and does in fact have training features, various board settings and can review games. In a nutshell, it has all you really require from a chess programme. So come on you one star raters, how on earth can you justify what you say about the playing strength? I suggest you do a bit more research on tournaments that Chessmaster has played in and you will see that it can't beat any of the top Chessbase engines. It can't even beat a lot of the amateur engines that one can download for free. I am not knocking Chessmaster, I have loads of fun with it and it is real value for money and the most comprehensive and professional programme of all. I am just using it as an example that the Ruffian engine is in no way weak as the totally inaccurate statements of some reviewers suggest.


Powerful opponent, easy and cheap   April 14, 2005
Chess Parent (Australia)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

The engine is very powerful and realistic. Whereas the strength of opponent in Chessmaster is all over the shop, Chessmate provides a consistent opponent who doesn't make dumb mistakes that a player at a given elo rating would never make in real life.

The training options are quite good if limited. The best parts are how you can follow standard openings in a video play manner for 20 or so moves, and the quick hint function while playing games. Of course it can't compete with the much more expensive Chessmaster for full training options or eye candy but it isn't trying to do this.

If you want a good strong opponent who will give you a realistic (and somewhat humbling- in my case a couple of hundred points lower than Chessmaster) assessment of your true rating then Chessmate wins hands down.

If you want all the glitzy bells and whistles then Chessmaster is hard to better and very entertaining.

I think both are well worth having, but if you just want an honest assessment of your true playing stength and an opponent who doesn't throw in the towel for no reason, then Chessmate is a bargain as the more powerful chess engine at much lower cost. It goes right down to 500 elo so kids can still have a chance of beating it in a realistic competetion even without it throwing the game away (unlike misleading Chessmaster).

Chess will never be a rainbow colored shoot em up 3D video game. Chessmate will not disappoint a serious chess player who wants to play honest chess against a very realistic and powerful opponent. Its very entertaining to train and improve by fooling around with Chessmaster, but the real test of ability is playing rated games against a realistic and powerful engine like Chessmate.


Get Serious   November 24, 2003
12 out of 16 found this review helpful

Garry must be desperate to allow his name to be attached to this product. There are half a dozen free programs that do what Chessmate does, several in the price range that are superior (e.g. Majestic Chess), and many that, for a bit more, can really play chess (Fritz 8; Rebel 12; Chessmaster 9000). These last 3 also have didactic funtions that are greatly superior to those of Chessmate. If you want to beat up a computer program, Fritz and company can be suitably lobotomized with a little fiddling; if you want to get serious about chess, Kasparov Chessmate is not the way to go.