“Chess Mentor is simply the best chess instruction software that I’ve ever seen. They hire talented, proven teachers, such as Jeremy Silman, and they utilize the computer to assist in the instruction in remarkable ways.” – James Eade, Author of “Chess for Dummies” 'I love this program!
ramron67 wrote:
I am a novice, and I would like to find a computer program that will help me learn and improve my play. Fanuc maintenance manuals.
Best Chess Tutor Program![]()
Ideally, instead of getting my clock cleaned by the chess engine, I would like to also have the ability to use the chess engine as an instructor.
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Which program should I get?
Chessmaster GM edition can be purchased very cheaply.. its engine is out of date and I don't think it's being supported anymore (not sure why, or even if I'm correct).. but at any rate it's excellent software for a beginner. The tutorials are good, the interface is intuitive and pleasant to the eye and the 3d board is a vastly better than fritz's IMO (if you like 3d pieces that look like real pieces on a board -- I do, I think 3d is better training for OTB play).. the downside of chessmaster is that its database interface is really wonky and the software has some kinks and bugs, and the engine (the thing that decides on the best chess moves) is not nearly as good as top engines are now (but it's still plenty strong enough for the needs of intermediate and under players.. only someone either very very storng, or trying to find novelties in openings -- that kind of reasearch -- actually needs a stronger engine IMO.)
Fritz is sort of the standard computer chess program for club-chess type players I think..but it's not great for beginners IMO. Fritz 12 is the latest fritz, but earlier fritz's can be had very cheap.. there's no reason not to get an older Fritz and Chessmaster and see which you prefer. The fritz interface can be a bit annoying.
Shredder supposedly has the best interface for scaling down a computer engine so that it's a beatable playing partner. I have no opinion on that as I've never played it. Chessmaster is ok, but not an ideal playing partner for a beginner. Its engine plays a rather bizarre and unhuman style of weak chess. It gets better as a playing partner at the intermediate levels though, IMO.
Rybka Aquarium is a program I've tried in demo and enjoyed, but user reviews on the full version have been so negative as to put me off the program. One thing I found interesting about Rybka aquarium is the way it doesn't scale down its engine, but instead gives odds, (N or R, or pawn and move etc.) like they did in the days of Morphy. This produces an interesting realistic sort of intermediate chess against the computer IMO.
Best Free Chess Training Program
Shredder and Rybka Aquarium aren't available at the bargain basement prices that chessmaster and fritz are to the best of my knowledge.. (if you get your software legally, a good policy IMHO.)
There's a free engine-gui: Arena, and dozens of free chess engines (Stockfish, Glaurung, Toga II, etc etc.) but the Arena interface is not designed with beginners in mind at all, and there are no extras like tutorials etc. It is NOT recommended for a beginner.
Best Chess Training Program
A free program I do recommend is ChessDb (or its older brother SCID)..it's a database, ugly, but decently put together. It's good for looking over (and analyzing with a free engine) games in the standard shareable PGN format. But it's probably overload for a beginner, so forget I said anything.
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