I'm considering buying CM11, but i wanted to know if there are always alot of players online to play or not. When i had CM9, it was nearly dead.

is there a chat room like feature? most free online sites no one ever speaks a word less its jibberish.

I'm asking cause i'm tired of all the cheaters in all the free online chess sites, plus some i dont like the board layout or features.

I assume there are fewer cheaters in CM11 right? i want to play against real people within my skill level and i'm hoping CM11 can provide that.

Don't buy Chessmaster just because of online play. Online play is Chessmaster's weakest point.

quote:

Originally posted by ebutaljib:
Don't buy Chessmaster just because of online play. Online play is Chessmaster's weakest point.

well what is recommended? the free online sites i've tried just dont cut it.

Probably best places (or at least the most known) are either ICC or playchess.

You will bump into cheaters everywhere. This is just something you have to take into account when playing over internet. You shouldn't let it get to you. Afterall various online ratings don't really mean a thing. You can't "buy" anything with it

If you absolutely want to be sure that your opponent isn't cheating, then you will just have to go out and play it in person. But watch out what your opponent is doing during the toilet break


P.S.: There are of course other aspects why to purchase Chessmaster, it's just that online play isn't one of them.

There are about 5-10 people in Chessmaster 11 online. At the moment I can tell you that there are 8 people online.

You can get sometimes a maximum of 20 people online.
Like ebutaljib said Chessmasters online play is its weakness.

You can still buy it though. I would recommend you buy it due to various other reasons, amazing chessets, amazing computer level, etc
It is a great package as a whole even online is great, if you can find people to play with.

As for online chess I recommend you visit the FICS.http://www.freechess.org/
Its the free internet chess server, its one of the best free ones on the internet with an average of over 5000 people playing it at a daily basis every day.

Also recommend you download babaschess interface if you want loads of chess sets and other goodies.

Hope this helps!