Customer Review(s)
Customer Rating: 
Summary: The Art of Learning
Comment: I've only played one game against this computer software; computer opponents don't really interest me. Of course it's capable of beating most players, but it also has some colorful "personalities" to choose from: who have inherent weaknesses so you can win sometimes.
I am giving the full five stars due entirely to the tutorials by Josh Waitzkin that are included. These are worth much more than the cost of the software. Josh explains all the basic tactics, etc., and then takes you through some grand-master games explaining the subtleties and allowing you to try your hand ocassionaly. With audio accompanying the animated chessboard, some deep concepts are learned painlessly.
I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of material covered; I expected a brief introduction: instead it is a full course (and I haven't even looked at his end-game course yet).
I learned more (and enjoyed it more) than I have from many chess books costing far more.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great value
Comment: I've elected to start to play chess, and, since everyone here in Central Europe seems to have begun playing before they left the cradle, I needed something that could take me from the very basics to more advanced techniques. While I find it astounding that something as tried and true as chess doesn't have more free, online tutorials available, I have to say that the Chessmaster Grandmaster software has been thoroughly useful. There are actually three "academy" programs, all of which begin at the most basic level (i.e. this is the board, these are the pieces, the king is usually recognized by being the tallest piece, pawns move like this) and proceed to more advanced levels. The software also has extensive tutorials on learning to "see the whole board", something I was delighted to see and training I very much needed. After each tutorial, there's a useful quiz covering the info, which also builds on info from previous tutorials. Once you've gotten a few tutorials under your belt, the game then shifts to actual play, where you challenge computer generated players of gradually increasing rank. While playing, there are several tools made available to you, including clear indications of moves available to you (and your opponent) and a "blunder alert" setting that warns you of potentially foolish mistakes and suggests alternatives (the PC acting out the moves of consequence in both cases in addition to providing them in algebraic notation). All said, I'm immensely pleased with this purchase, and am already proving a challenge to some of my more experienced opponents here.
As the software has about ½ of its design as primarily educational, and is geared more to adults, its "fun factor" is a bit low, hence the moderate fun rating given. Regardless, it's a great way to learn the game, and teens to adults who wish to learn will find it immensely useful in their endeavours.
