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Gag Gifts, Occasion Gifts - Chessmaster 9000 (Mac)
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List Price: $39.99
Our Price: $33.90
Your Save: $ 6.09 ( 15% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Feral Interactive
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Amazon Maximum Age: 20
Amazon Minimum Age: 60
Batteries Included: 0
Binding: CD-ROM
Brand: Feral Interactive
EAN: 0644247001552
ESRB Age Rating: Everyone
Feature: Smart, popular chess software
Format: DVD-ROM
Label: Feral Interactive
Manufacturer: Feral Interactive
Model: 155
Platform: Macintosh
Publisher: Feral Interactive
Release Date: 2004-12-06
Studio: Feral Interactive
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Features
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Smart, popular chess software
Learn how to play like a master
Incredible 3-D sets, boards, and backgrounds
Tons of features to improve learning
For 1 or 2 players
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Editorial Reviews:
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Chessmaster 9000 places you where you must master one of history's great challenges -- the age-old game of chess! This new & improved chess engine features 150 different opponents, from beginner to Grandmaster level. Speed up the action in Speed Chess mode You are invited to test your brain by mastering history's greatest game!
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Chessmaster 9000 (mac)
Comment: This has been a real frustrating experience. I still have not been able to load this program into my computer. Feral has two conflicting installation instructions. The company has ignored three email requests for help. After several attempts I was able to load the program. Now it shuts down stating there is an error within 5 seconds loading the program.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "THE REAL DEAL"
Comment: If you want to play for the fun of it or to improve your game as well as have many diifferent options available to you like the kind of opponent you play, the kind of set up as far as how you see the board & the style of pieces and choice of board used the kind of atmosphere you play in and have a choice of competitive levels, "WOW" this is for you, Chessmaster 9000 is "The Best" Chess game I have incountered hands down. It even allows you to use a "Mentor" a Funtion thats built into the software if you choose to. Overall I give this game a {5 star Rating}Chessmaster 9000 (Mac) and thats why I bought it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Better than Fritz for Most Users
Comment: First, I am not a grandmaster. If I were a grandmaster, perhaps I would care about comparisons between Chessmaster and Fritz or Shredder for example. Grandmasters generally gravitate toward Fritz, and the few tournaments I've ever watched in person use Fritz to illustrate the play on big screen monitors. This, however, is of no consequence to Mac owners because neither Fritz, nor Shredder is available for Mac.* (see note below)
In any case, this is wonderfully designed software, challenging for all levels of play. The graphics are terrific. The imbedded tutorial, which includes in-depth analysis by Josh Waitzken (the real person behind the movie character in "Searching for Bobby Fisher") of 10 or so of his own best games, is better than any I've ever used, including Fritz. In fact, if you can't afford a teacher, this is the next best thing. It might even be better, depending on the teacher.
My favorite feature is the number and variety of virtual opponents, who, in addition to "Chessmaster" himself, include a number of virtual historic and modern grand masters (Capablanca, Nimzowitz, etc), as well as fictional amateurs at every level, complete with photos of your opponent and specific idiosyncrasies as to tactics and strategies ("John" "neglects the center"; "Dylan" is "balanced"; etc.) This is much more fun than learning with Fritz, which can be handicapped, but only in limited, numerical ways. The point is, each virtual opponent plays with a certain built-in set of habits, some good, some bad. Whether the real Capablanca would have recognized his style on this program, I don't know, but it's fun to think so.
You can also set up positions, see how various opponents would handle them, or see how Chessmaster would handle them. This feature demonstrates that there are many ways to skin the cat. You can play casually and "win" every time using "mentor lines", get detailed or quick advice on specific moves and positions, and you can take back your moves in this mode. Alternately, you can play in virtual tournaments by which, after 20 games or so against rated virtual opponents, will establish your real rating - you can't take moves back or seek advice in tournament play. Also, you can disable the engine and play against another human opponent, or you can set up games between virtual grandmasters from every age in the history of modern chess, and watch the play. (The program also has a huge database of famous games for study.) After you've played a game, you can have the program analyze and annotate the game you just played, showing blunders, better moves, etc. with audio explanations. One thing you cannot do is set up your games so that, even if it becomes ridiculous, the program will resign. Chessmaster never resigns. But this forces you to study endgame by trial and error. By learning checkmate, you learn the game.
Like Fritz, Chessmaster has an opening book reference that can be used during play, although this is the least sophisticated of its pedagogical features. But opening strategies are covered in detail in the tutorial, and ultimately it's better to know why the Sicilian systems work, than just to memorize the moves.
* NOTE: When I used to have a PC, I had all kinds of chess software including multiple versions of Fritz and Chessmaster. As far as I can find, you've got 3 choices as a Mac owner. This, a Fritz program for teaching children, and a program endorsed by Kasparov with his name on it. I'm not a child or a beginner and I might check out the Kasparov program if I can find it. Sadly, many software manufacturers don't seem to know about Macintosh OS's, or more likely, don't care.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Doesn't seem to compatible with OS 10.5
Comment: This is a great product but the support for the Mac seems to be a problem. I recently upgraded to Leopard and Chessmaster 9000 now takes forever to close dialog boxes. I've had no problems related to the speed of moving pieces or loading personalities that I've read about elsewhere. But, there are enough problems that I would stay away from this product for the time being. And, I have installed the patches, no help...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Clumsy and awkward
Comment: This computer chess program has been around since forever, and I guess the developers just got lazy. I remember playing Chessmaster 3000 maybe 15 years ago, and I swear the game play was superior then. Almost everything about 9000 is incredibly awkward.
The 3D graphics are so intolerable to look at (and the computer frequently misinterprets which piece I am trying to move when the graphics overlap), that I have to play in 2D. Even then, motion graphics are not smooth on my 2 GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook. The windows open up on top of each other and do not "remember" the position you move them to, so you have to do this each time you start the game. Not to mention the problem everyone else notes about needing the DVD every time you play.
The educational component of the game, which is the main reason for my purchase, is tolerable. But a lot of the intermediate lessons are just quizzes (which move is better) without any real explanation. The best thing about the game is the ability to play opponents of many different levels and personalities.
Overall, I'm rather disappointed in the game and do not consider it a good value at forty bucks.
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