Josh added more annotations last year, and this year he provides 'play-by-play' audio notes on a a series of endgames. This was one of the coolest new additions, because his insider knowledge was quite captivating and often delved deep into the psychological and mathematical nature of chess. In 1998, International Master (or 'IM') Josh Waitzkin, who was the subject of the 'Searching for Bobby Fischer' movie, added his somewhat cheeky commentary to a slew of his own annotated matches in Chessmaster 6000. However, it's those pesky casual chess players that might find the game lacking in a number of ways.įirst, for the diehard fans, Chessmaster continues its slow process of adding more and more tutorials to the game. There's a cornucopia of tutorials, end game scenarios, annotated historical matches, and many other features sure to please diehard fans and newbies alike. The truth is, most of what makes Chessmaster so great has little to do with the actual gameplay. Of course, if you're anywhere near ready to take on the highest difficulty setting, then you probably won't care too much about any other feature in the game. However, it was just a matter of time before Chessmaster reached its full potential and is now a true computerized grandmaster. None of the tutorials or voice-annotated games were included (afterall, it was a DOS game), nor was the natural language tutor, which provides 'live' game tips as you play. Originally, the chess engine (called The King) was the only real focal point. It's an impressive achievement for a series that started out with fairly rudimentary gameplay way back in 1990. That's right, this is the first release in over a decade to feature a grandmaster-level engine, powerful enough to give most seasoned veterans a run for their money. Unless you have easy access to a supercomputer or a friend named Gary Kasparov, you're probably not going to find a more challenging game of chess than what you'll find in the new Chessmaster 8000, the latest upgrade to this venerable series.

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