Chessmaster - IGN

Features

• 18 computer opponents
• 10 different chess sets
• Tutorial mode
• Link cable support for two players (single and dual cart)
• Cartridge save
• Only for Game Boy Advance

The hand itself smoothly slides into each square, meaning you'll never find yourself caught between the boundaries of two squares while moving. A full system of notation accompanies and records the play to the right of the board. It doesn't list all moves and you can't scroll up to read prior moves, but it does drive home the point of the moves nicely. If you like you can even scroll forward and backward through the history of the game using the R and L buttons. This allows you to rewind the game as much as you like and try out different moves at key points of the game. Sadly there's only one slot for recording games so you'll lose all the successive moves if you change one earlier in the game. The lack of extra save slots mean you'll also be restricted to playing one game at a time on the system. Though somewhat odd for the genre, Kasparov's campaign mode offered a better sense of progression and achievement than the one-off games set up in Chessmaster. Still Chessmaster's unlimited board setup options mean you can create just any game situation you like.

The 18 opponents available in the game are summed up in short, simple descriptions. One opponent may be described as a "reckless attacker" while another is "pawn centric." Some of the opponents are described merely in terms of skill level: "aspirant," or "powerful." As in Kasparov, there are no FIDE or mathematical rankings of the players. At least Kasparov told you a bit about the players. It even let you set up a custom opponent by selecting values for a number of skills. That feature is unfortunately missing from Chessmaster.

Still, the opponents that are included should provide sufficient challenge. (And if you don't like it, you can always switch opponents in the middle of a game.) It's a testament to the engine that two opponents of the same skill level won't mirror each other's moves. When you're playing against them you can force them to move if they're taking too long, but the AI is generally fast enough that you won't get impatient.

A series of chimes advises you when you've been checked, when you take another piece, and even when you castle. While you ought to be paying close enough attention to the game that you won't need these cues, it's still a nice touch that punctuates key moments of the game.

And, by the standards of chess games at least, Chessmaster looks good. The pieces are clear and distinct across most of the game's ten sets. A few (like the Napoleonic) require a bit more attention to tell the difference between the pieces and a few (like the Circus) are too silly to be all that appealing, but otherwise the overall look of the game is quite nice. Menus are clear and the text is relatively easy to read.

If you're learning the game, you can take advantage of a few hints and tips from the Chessmaster. Apart from forcing him to give you an outright hint (shown on the board and easily confirmed with the push of the A button), you can even have him highlight the squares your selected piece can move to. He'll also show you, via a red outline, which of your pieces are the most threatened. Some arrows or flashing lights would drive the point home a bit further, but the current setup is sufficient.

But this in-game help is just a small sample of the instructive features in the game. The full Chess Tutor is simply fantastic. Not only does it cover all of the rules of chess in detail, from piece set up to en passant, it also includes an explanation of all forms of chess notation, including the "archaic" descriptive (KN-QB4) and correspondence (5233) forms.

A whole batch of strategy lessons are available to help you improve your game. Some of the positions are admittedly a bit contrived but the lessons are quite helpful. The game even goes as far as discussing the merits of using a knight to stop a queening pawn -- it's more difficult on the rook file as the knight can't move to the other side of the pawn. While the strategies themselves are good, you'll find yourself somewhat distracted as the game constantly flips back and forth between a screen of movement notation and the board itself. It's a bit hard to get used to the rhythm of it all.

As usual for the series, Chessmaster includes a ton of famous games. With 151 total recorded games to review, there's a lot here for the student of chess. The usual suspects are all included, beginning with Capt. Smith-Phildor and continuing up through Kasparov's second match against Deep Thought. Deep Thought? What about Deep Blue? It's a shame that, with the exception of the reconstructed game between HAL and Frank Poole from the book 2001, there are no real games from the last ten years of chess.

I'm also a bit irritated that, during the actual play of the famous games, Chessmaster fails to note which player is controlling which pieces. It's apparent in the order of their names in the game title but it's information that's too easy to include during the game itself to forgive its absence. I'm also not quite sure why you can't change the chess set during the middle of a recorded game as you can during regular play.

Finally, there's a set of three ten-question chess tests to help you establish your rating. These ten board situations require you to find the next best move for a given side. You're given three chances to get it right before the game reveals the solution and moves on to the next problem. At the end of ten of these setups (plus any bonus questions you're given) you get your chess rating. Since the numbers range from 1000 to 2400, I assume the rating is analogous to the FIDE ratings but that's not really evident anywhere in the game.