Chessmaster

Chessmaster is a commercial chess program, which is marketed by the company Ubisoft. According to the manufacturer it was sold worldwide total of over 5 million copies. It is particularly common in the English-speaking world.

Versions

The first version, Chessmaster 2000, 1986, released by the company Software Toolworks for Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST and IBM PC (MS -DOS). An update was published in 1988 under the name of Fidelity Chessmaster, 2100. Appeared on 1991 Chessmaster 3000, which ran under Microsoft Windows 3.x in 1993 followed by Chessmaster 4000 Turbo. These versions are now abandonware. In 1995, the program was offered by Mindscape on PlayStation. More versions for PC appeared in 1996 ( Chessmaster 5000), 1998 ( Chessmaster 6000 ), 1999 ( Chessmaster 7000), 2000 ( Chessmaster 8000 ), 2002 ( Chessmaster 9000, also for Apple Macintosh ) and 2004 ( Chessmaster 10th Edition). Since 2002 there is a version for Game Boy Advance, and since 2003 for PlayStation 2, from 2004 also versions for Xbox and mobile phones. As an eleventh part of the series published in 2007 Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition for PC and Chessmaster: The Art of Learning for Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable.

Chessmaster was one of the first chess programs who used 3D graphics for board representation. Since 2002, games can be played against other players who have the program on your own chess server. As of version 11, the program is more capable processor.

Playing strength

The chess engine The King (current version: 3.50 ) originates from the Dutch programmer Johan de Koning. The program previously used in chess computers such as the TASC R30 is known for an aggressive style of play. A version of the 2002 has been classified by the Swedish Chess Computer Association SSDF basis of test games against other programs with an Elo rating of 2721 ( Hardware: AMD Athlon 1.2 GHz). In September 2002, this version won a match against the reigning U.S. champion Larry Christiansen with 2.5 to 1.5.

Since the program is aimed at the mass market and too powerful play the audience would frustrate, there are numerous training functions. These include an integrated " Chess coach" which calls attention to gross error, and numerous computer opponents with programmed weaknesses. By changing the parameters of evaluation of play of the program can also be influenced by the user. In addition, a chess course for beginners and advanced contain, among other things, with spoken comments section of Joshua Waitzkin.