Virtual Kasparov

I can't offer an opinion as to how the game play stacks up against a good player. I can tell you that although I learned the moves 35 years ago, I've never put any real time into chess. Any other computer or hand-held chess game completely decimated me within moments. Too frustrating to be any fun. I decided to give this a shot, and I'm glad I did.

In "story" mode, the first few "street" players weren't too bad, I actually got through them to take on the master (the master is killing me though) The up shot is that it is enjoyable for me for the first time ever. Although the players have personalities, and playing styles, their moves aren't "canned," They play differently every time.

If you choose "quick game" mode, you can take moves back, replay them, or have the computer choose your move. You can also set up the board for any scenario you like, and jump back and forth between sides if you want.

There are two ways to play another human. You can pass the game boy back and forth, or use a cable. I have not tested the cable. The instructions claim you DO NOT need a second game cartridge.

I don't know how this stacks up to chess master, or other chess games. I can tell you that I consider it money well spent.


Not for the serious chess player, with a caveat.   January 9, 2006
Scott E. Regener
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Unlike other reviewers here, I would say I'm a serious chess player. This game fell far short of my expectations. As someone who played PalmChess on a PalmPilot III a few years back, I know that it doesn't take a lot of memory or horsepower to beat me.

In story mode, you play in "untimed" mode, where you can think as long as you'd like. Few of the players take more than 4 seconds to make a move. Until you get to Garry, everyone has the same flaw: blunders. Okay, you play the beginners, and you expect to have thrown queens and the like, and you do. But even advanced players will forget to move their queen out of danger, even when you make an obvious attack on it. So you diddle around and avoid mistakes yourself, and eventually you win when they toss a piece. Contrast this with more believable mistakes, like not figuring out a combo leaves them a piece down.

Even Garry isn't much, if you've played much chess against computers.

I said there was a caveat, and here it is: in match mode, you get a countdown clock (5/10/15 minutes) and the computer thinks much longer. I haven't beaten Garry in this mode. The other players still blunder too much to be a serious challenge.


almost scary ...like wopr in war games   August 13, 2002
R. PAYNE (caldwell,id)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

i have played several different chess computers as well as numerous human players.this game acts more human than computer.
several times i've had to fight my way back for positioning when after i've set a trap that most computers would fall for find that in response the computer set a trap that appeared to be a blunder.I love the addition of the story mode as it shuffles around the skill levels and will go from basic to grandmaster in one sitting.if you enjoy chess you will enjoy this. with ten different 2d chess boards and 2 3d chessboards this is the perfect solution to travel chess (no pieces to lose) ..............except to the computer that is


problems with tutorial   October 11, 2002
Charles Wrather (Keystone, Colorado United States)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

The gameplay is fun and I feel that I am learning while playing, not working at learning the game. This alone makes it preferable to the Chessmaster software that is on my computer.
The lettering used in the tutorial is very difficult to read. Had to go into sunlight to go through the tutorial.
Have yet to find the letters to be used to save games. Could not find them on the save page. Games are saved, however when the Game Boy is shut off.


Great for kids . . .   December 5, 2004
F. Levi (Chicago, IL)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

I agree with the reviewers who say that this game is good for beginners. It has a few good features, such as fun (but short) tutorials, autosave which stores the board position after each move, and has a story mode where you get to play opponents from all over the world. However, I do have a few complaints. First, it has several minor programming glitches. For example, as you move from continent to continent it does not always display the graphics of how many trophies you have won on the current continent, but rather gets stuck on the continent that you started on. Also, it is hard to navigate from continent to continent at times. The second complaint I have is a problem I have found on another chess program as well and must be a common programming oversight. If you set up the board to play out an endgame puzzle against the computer, it occasionally makes illegal moves such as moving it's king into check. This problem is so bad and occurs often enough that I gave up on setting up specific endgame positions to play out, which is too bad because I really need to practice endgames. The last problem I have with it is that ALL of the opponents make major mistakes often and thus are extremely easy to beat. When I unlocked Kasparov (the most difficult opponent in the story mode) I checkmated him in 9 minutes the first time I played him and was never in danger or behind in material at any point. I am not a very strong chess player (I can barely beat my old 8-bit original gameboy version of Chessmaster on the lowest settings) and was disappointed that I was able to beat every opponent on the story mode without any effort. However . . . this would make the game a confidence builder for kids, and would be a good way to introduce a beginner to the game. Most opponents you play in the real world will make major mistakes as well, so playing a computer program that does the same would provide a realistic experience for someone just starting out who's best strategy against this program (and other beginners) may be to play defensively, look for a major mistake, and pounce on it.