Chessmaster 11 (Grandmaster edition) catch-all

IMAGE(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/ziffel66/CM11/cm11-box.jpg)

Amazon link

Steam purchase page

Link to 1.02 patch

FAQ

Tip: To disable the annoying Ubisoft splash screen, go into the game's folder and rename or delete the file cmgm.bik

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Thanks to the spedman for the head's up on this excellent version of Chessmaster. I used to play fairly regularly, but haven't touched the game in 10 years or so.

The main attraction of CM11 is the 'Waitzkin Academy', a VERY in-depth chess class, which is 100% vocalized by Josh himself. You start with 'this is a pawn, this is a knight' etc, and go to much more advanced topics as you progress.

So far I'm finding it a ridiculously good value. (I found CM11 for $11.47 shipped at amazon). The game is also available on Steam for $19.99. The DVD version, once installed, does NOT use Ubisoft's new 'always-on' DRM (thank goodness), and in fact doesn't even require the disc to play. You can install and put the disc away in your closet. The package includes a code you must enter for online play, otherwise, there are no other restrictions.

Regular games played vs the A.I. have a huge number of A.I. opponents to choose from, everything from a 7 year old kid playing for the first time, up to Grandmasters. There are a ton of options available for games, including a very nifty 'chess coach' that gives you a panel for toggling coaching aids on and off. For example, there is one that, when you pick up a piece, it will highlight all legal moves for that piece. The chess board can be a flat, top-down 2D, or a very pleasing 3D board that can be manipulated in 3D space.

I'll add commentary and screen-shots with features and highlights as I uncover them. If you're interested in chess, or want to learn, this is THE product to get. The Waitzkin tutorials are simply awesome.

More to come ...

Yup. Waitzkin's Academy is some of the best gaming value I've seen in just about ever.

I love that he voices the lessons himself and also adds anecdotes from his development and career. It gives the lessons a personal flair and makes it feel rich and natural.

Great stuff.

EDIT:

Just to add something personal that I discovered, I'd encourage users not to skip over the "introduction/basics" tutorials. It's easy to say, "I don't need to go over that, I already know how to play chess.", but I found that there were keen insights to be learned when studying each chess piece individually. I know that I discovered brand new insights about the value and utilization of some pieces by going through the early stuff.

Aaron D. wrote:

Just to add something personal that I discovered, I'd encourage users not to skip over the "introduction/basics" tutorials. It's easy to say, "I don't need to go over that, I already know how to play chess.", but I found that there were keen insights to be learned when studying each chess piece individually. I know that I discovered brand new insights about the value and utilization of some pieces by going through the early stuff.

Funny you mention that ... I did skip over those and went straight to forks/pins/skewers etc. I'll go back and go through them

Every time I see this game available for sale really cheap I'm tempted to buy it. I've always felt that I should try to get to grips with chess, but I probably would never play anyway.

I must pick it up some time.

A look first at the main menu. It's GUI style menu, with three buttons: Learn, Play, and Fun.

When you click on one, it expands to show more buttons:

IMAGE(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/ziffel66/CM11/main_acad.jpg)

The learn menu has: Academy, Famous Games, Database, and Openings.

The Play menu has: Training Mode, Ranked Play, Set Up a Position, Tournaments, Online, and LAN.

The Fun menu has: Play, Puzzles, Mini-Games, and Learn the Basics

Once you're in the Waitzkin Academy, you'll see this:

IMAGE(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/ziffel66/CM11/acad_intro.jpg)

The left column shows the categories of the lessons, and the main pane has the breakdown of the current category. Each of those headers contains multiple pages of spoken text. Here's the Strategy category:

IMAGE(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/ziffel66/CM11/acad_strat.jpg)

And the material new to CM11, the Art of Learning, from Josh's new book:

IMAGE(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/ziffel66/CM11/art_learning.jpg)

Once you select a topic, you go into that lesson, and will see:

IMAGE(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/ziffel66/CM11/acad_inside_lesson.jpg)

As you can see, there are 24 pages under the Opening Principles section. The text you see displayed is also 100% voiced by Josh Waitzkin.

Wow! I just started reading a book about this guy. He's a chess and teaching genius apparently.

It's called "The Art of Learning" and I want to use it to improve my guitar playing, but I might buy this game too...

Enabled. I've been looking for a chess game that can actually teach me to play chess, instead of a game that just gives me a serious drubbing on even the "dumbest" AI settings and then smugly asks me if I want to play again. It sounds like this one will still happily defeat me, but that I might actually be able to learn how to improve in the process.

Does it have a ranking capability, so you can see yourself improve?

^ Yes. Both online and off.

Hot tip for anyone interested in unlocking all the chess sets off the bat.

The game features the following number of unique chess sets:

2D - 11 (sets)
3D - 45
Animated 3D - 4

To access them all instantly:

-Open up 'My Computer', and select 'Local Disk (C)'.
-Go to Program Files\Ubisoft\Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition\Data\Users.
-Select the folder for your user.
-Open the .INI file for your user. (notepad with user name label "Configuration Settings" under 'Type' category.)
-Under [settings], add the following line: unlockstuff=1.
-Save the INI file.

In-game, you can change your board/pieces/background in any combination. The quick-pick option (sets) is found in the Preferences tab at the top and Chess Set toggle to view and select.

I like the 'Stained Glass' for 2D, the 'Classic Wood' for 3D, and 'Fairytale' for animated 3D.

I can never play any of the 3D or animated sets. I don't get a good view of the board and make mistakes because I'm not seeing the pieces well. I always go back to 2D newspaper style. I just don't think you can replicate the experience of a physical board in 3D without some pieces obscuring the pieces in front of them enough to cause confusion.

Or maybe it's just me.

I've been pondering getting this game for ages after hearing about the tutorials. Thanks to this thread I'm one step closer to buying on steam.

Yes this game is awesome. Best chess teaching system ever.

OK that did it...buying on steam now.

Now for some of the live coaching features:

(using thumbs, because the images were too big to show properly here. click the thumb for full-size).

In this view, you can see on the left side -- on the coaching panel, that "Legal Moves" is ticked, and so you see all legal moves for white.

IMAGE(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/ziffel66/CM11/th_legal_moves.jpg)

This next one shows the coach displaying opening move options. 3 dots is best, 2 dots second best, and 1 dot 3rd best. What's nice about this is that when you pick up one of the pieces, the dot-circle will then jump to the destination square to show where the best spots are to place the piece. This feature will coach you through the entire opening

IMAGE(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/ziffel66/CM11/th_opening.jpg)

In this one, the "Capture Moves" option is ticked in the coaching panel. It's white's move, and possible captures are shown with a red arrow, but notice how your opponent's defend options are shown with the green arrow. This says, yes, you can capture that piece, but you can also be captured in return by one of the defending pieces.

IMAGE(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/ziffel66/CM11/th_captures.jpg)

Thanks for talking this up; I think my brother will be getting this for Christmas now. He is a very amateur player so I think it will be perfect for him.

I'm still waiting on my copy to arrive but I'm really looking forward to it.

Subscribing. I was tempted by all the talk this received in the video game deals thread, and the screen shots and descriptions are slowly enabling me.

Yay, more chess wonks! This game is great. I especially like the tutorials on endgames, specifically king-and-pawn endgames. Very insightful.

Also cross-posting because I just formed the GWJ fall classic (details), a new invite-only tournament on chess.com for goodjers and goodjers alone. Come play, my lord!

Aaron D. wrote:

Just to add something personal that I discovered, I'd encourage users not to skip over the "introduction/basics" tutorials. It's easy to say, "I don't need to go over that, I already know how to play chess.", but I found that there were keen insights to be learned when studying each chess piece individually. I know that I discovered brand new insights about the value and utilization of some pieces by going through the early stuff.

This turned out to be very true! Don't skip these opening lessons unless you're a highly advanced player. Josh goes into much more detail than "a bishop can move diagonally". Even if you know the pieces and how they move, don't skip these!

So after just the portion of the tutorial that covers how the pieces move, I beat the least-skilled AI in the crappy $2 chess game I have on my DS. Something I had been unable to do, previously. In fact, that's the first time I've ever beaten a computer of any kind at chess, going back to the Apple IIe days (yes, I suck that hard). I can't even articulate exactly what I learned from the tutorial, but clearly I'm picking something up.

edit: nevermind, answer's upthread.

I knew that opening this thread would cost me money. Anyway, how does it compare to the previous version (which I have)? Looks like the school is much more in-depth, which is great, because it's my favorite part of Chessmaster.

wanderingtaoist wrote:

I knew that opening this thread would cost me money. Anyway, how does it compare to the previous version (which I have)? Looks like the school is much more in-depth, which is great, because it's my favorite part of Chessmaster.

I found this on the CM website:

New in the Grandmaster Edition:

* Ten brand-new 3D custom chess sets from luxury set designer The House of Staunton.
* Chess tutorial from Josh Waitzkin's groundbreaking book, "The Art of Learning."
* First-ever Nintendo DS™ system edition.
* Special Ubisoft Rayman Raving Rabbids™ chess set.
* New chess puzzles, mini-games, and variants aimed at sharpening your chess skills.
* Famous Games - 900 of chess's most important games presented and analyzed.
* Updated version of the King - the Chessmaster game engine.

wanderingtaoist wrote:

I knew that opening this thread would cost me money.

Only six bucks. Come on, all the cool kids are playing computer chess...

Came home from my hellish week at my new job and guess what's in my mailbox? Installing now...

It took a while for the install to get past the first file, but now it's chugging along, almost thought I had a crash coming. Don't see anything about drm and it works without having the disc in the tray...and launched via a shortcut in Steam just fine, too. Now I just have to make time to play.