Chessmaster

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Chessmaster is a commercial chess program distributed by the Ubisoft company . According to the manufacturer, it has been sold over 5 million times worldwide. It is particularly widespread in English-speaking countries.

Versions

The first version, Chessmaster 2000 , was released in 1986 by Software Toolworks for Amiga , Apple II , Atari ST and IBM-PC ( MS-DOS ). An update appeared in 1988 under the name Fidelity Chessmaster 2100 . In 1991 Chessmaster 3000 appeared , which ran under DOS and Microsoft Windows 3.x , followed in 1993 by Chessmaster 4000 Turbo . Since Chessmaster 3000 for Windows 3.x, moves are optionally commented with language, at least in the MPC version. These versions are now abandonware . In 1995 the Mindscape program was also offered for PlayStation . In 1995 Chessmaster 4000 was released for Windows 95, in 1996 for Apple Macintosh. Further versions for PC appeared in 1996 ( Chessmaster 5000 ), 1997 ( Chessmaster 5500 ), 1998 ( Chessmaster 6000 ), 1999 ( Chessmaster 7000 ), 2000 ( Chessmaster 8000 ), 2002 ( Chessmaster 9000 , also for Apple Macintosh ) and 2004 ( Chessmaster 10th Edition ). Since 2002 there has been a version for Game Boy Advance , since 2003 for PlayStation 2 , from 2004 also versions for Xbox and mobile phones . In 2007, the eleventh part of the series was 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 to use 3D graphics for board display. Since 2002, it has also been possible to play games against other players who own the program via its own chess server . From version 11 the program is multi-processor capable.

skill level

The chess engine The King (current version: 3.50) comes from the Dutch programmer Johan de Koning. The program, which was previously used in chess computers such as the TASC R 30 , is known for its aggressive style of play. A version from 2002 was rated by the Swedish Computer Chess Association SSDF on the 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 competition against the reigning USA champion Larry Christiansen with 2.5-1.5.

Since the program is geared towards the mass market and too high a skill level would frustrate the target group, numerous training functions are available. This includes an integrated "chess coach" who draws attention to gross errors and numerous computer opponents with programmed weaknesses. By changing evaluation parameters, the way the program is played can also be influenced by the user. A chess course for beginners and advanced players is also included, including spoken game commentaries by Joshua Waitzkin .

Web links