First, my apologies if this topic isn't in the correct place. I was unsure if there is a specific forum for the Xbox 360 version of Chessmaster Live. Some friends and I recently purchased this game from the Live marketplace with the intention of playing "message chess" together in unrated matches. However, we discovered that there is no way to create private matches with friends. The game will only put us with random opponents.

I'd like to ask if Ubisoft has any intentions of possibly patching the game at some point to allow us to create private matches in message chess? It would certainly go a long way in getting me to recommend the game to others in our gaming group.

Thanks for your time.

What is this "message chess"? You mean correspondence chess?


I somehow doubt that you can't chose your opponent. You have to select "create game" and not "get game".

'Message Chess' is Chessmaster Live's answer to 'correspondence' chess. CML is mostly about playing speed chess (5 minutes up to an hour a piece...so not all 'speed'). However they also have this 'Message Chess' which many folks were very happy about and were ready to buy the game till it was found out one could not use ones friends list to get opponents. A real bummer to many folks and loss of many sales. If they fix it, then this will reverse that, for this was to many, 'the' aspect they wanted the game for.

can you play with your friends on other formats?

Well, I don't know about the Nintendo DS, the PSP, or XBox Live; but when you play online in the PC version, you can create a correspondence game that you can challenge a friend to.

The bad part is there's no e-mail option to it. In order to know if the person you're playing with has made a move, you have to log onto the game server.

The differences between "create game" and "get game" are negligible. If you create game, you basically start a game and wait for the server to randomly assign you an opponent. If you look for a game, you become that random opponent who gets assigned to someone who has already created a game.

It seems like an absurd system to me, since most people would prefer to play chess with a friend or acquaintence.

There were dozens of people in our gaming group who were ready to purchase Chessmaster Live, but I've warned everyone not to unless Ubisoft patches the game to fix this.

Not true. If you create a game then the game is created and is on the game list where everybody can see what the time controls are and which colours is available to play The opponent choses if it will join the game or not. I you click get game you are paired with someone who has created a game (you don't know what the time controls are and what colour you will be playing).

So you should create game and your friend should join your game from the list.

On the PC version there is also an option to directly challenge a person (so that nobody else can join)



At least thats how it works with PC version. I see no reason why it would be different on other platforms.

I use it on the XBox 360 and I also do not like that you can't have unlimited time to play a game against the computer. I would like to think through my moves. The computer shouldn't need much time to make its move. I am still learning and am not a professional. I need time!
It would be great to save the game also so you can pick it back up later when playing against the computer.

I am also very dissapointed in the difficulty I have selecting a piece and then selecting its destination using the XBox 360 controller. Its very jumpy.

I would like to hope for, and, request a patch also please.

Thanks for listening.

Related thread:
http://forums.xbox.com/18639086/ShowPost.aspx

Regarding the XBox Online Chessmaster ranked games, is there going to be a Patch for the clock not automatically starting after x seconds after someone joins an online ranked game? The current situation makes it imposible to play black and not lose the game due to the stalling of whites first move.

Unfortunately, there is no news on updates for Chessmaster - PC or XBox version.

I spoke to a representative from Ubisoft Technical Support about a week ago; they have no advance information on updates -- if there is an update, they hear about it the day it is released.