quote:

Originally posted by Madzunkov:

ACTIONS - Draw, resign

There must be rule - if CM plays with 2100 user, its very stupid if he continues to play with king against rook and queen. In rated game, it may be devastating - to lose by time a wining game only because of long sequence for checkmate.

I agree that Chessmaster should resign more. however i dont agree with that reson given. There If you lose becasue of time then you lose. even if you are 3 queens and a rook up you have still lost if you run out of time.
If you have 10 min left on you clock and have mate in 2 moves then your oponent may chose resign as both players can see that you should win easly with in the allowed time. however if you oponent can see that by carfull play they can keep from being mated till your time runs out then there is no rule that states the have to resign even if it is almost deffinate that they will lose.
a computer should not take time in to a factor when deciding on resign.
But i do think that haveing a computer resign at the correct point is probable one of the most dificult parts of a chess engine. simply for teh fact that even humans playing from the same postion on different days may one day resign and one day play on.

Its enough that you agree I saw many propositions from the others a propos this theme; my reason is new one, I know that it doesnt hold the water, but if we give many different reasons, its better. However, I am pretty sure that this inovation we will not see.

First of all I have to say that I really enjoy this version of chessmaster. I like very much the Josh Waitzkin's Academy. So I think it would be nice if there were something like that in a more expanded (more detailed) version. It could be an e-book of learning chess (a real book from the beginning to advanced futures) under the form of an expansion pack.
After that I would like to see a cluster future. That is to connect 2 or more pc's that are in a LAN (but not necessarily form a cluster) and then have to beat the pc's which would think as one.
Finally I would like more realistic chess sets. I mean ok all these modern sets are nice to see them. But when you play you want classic 3D chess sets (like wood, dark wood, light wood, marble, glass, luxury wood or metal - but classic. Take a look at the custom-made sets to see what I mean).
That's all. Keep up the good work.

quote:

... So I think it would be nice if there were something like that in a more expanded (more detailed) version. It could be an e-book of learning chess (a real book from the beginning to advanced futures) under the form of an expansion pack.

Well, what I mean is a tutorial but based on a real book, or covering all the subjects of a real book in depth, in the form of an expansion pack.

quote:

Originally posted by mathman1982:

After that I would like to see a cluster future. That is to connect 2 or more pc's that are in a LAN (but not necessarily form a cluster) and then have to beat the pc's which would think as one.

If any one can regualy beat Chessmaster on top level, with a resonable good time to think of moves. then even doubbling the processor power will not affect the rateings much.
In fact if you can beat it with say 15min a move then you will most lickly be able to beat it with almost any processing power you care to throw at it. the only thing processing power will do is speed up the moves slightly.
If you look at the amount of moves possible in a tipical game between say 13 and 14 moves ahead the numbers are hugh. even having hundrads of pc working togather it would still take a good few mins to computer them all. it is in fact not that many more movesd in to a game than 15 or 16, that with all the PCS in the world working togather would take thousands of years to compute.
If you want a hard game give the computer longer to think.

So one cpu better than two ??

That may explain why so few husbands ask their wifes !

nope not better.

but 2 cpus is only going to give a small bost over one cpu.
If you watch thinking lines you will see that even on a single average CPU u will see that it reaches 12/11 half moves and 3 full moves with in a few min. after that it will take a long time to reach the next level. will take ages. throwing in a second CPU will speed it up yes. but still take a long time. It will not sundly make a increadble fast chess computer thats amaziling powerfull.
Hydra for example has 10 of times the computing power of a desk top PC. but given 10min a move its is not any where near 10 time the power of a desktop running chessmaster 10.
It ows as much to a better programed and though out chess engine for its extra strenth as to its extra power.

I am using CMX as a learning tool.
It is very feature rich compared to other Chess programs.
My suggestions are as follows :
1. In all academies (Woznik etc.), CMX doesn't work like a single unit, it means that voices, and actions doesn't synchronise properly on slower machines. It appears that in the background there are many threads running parallely and they are not in unison -in tune with each other. This needs to be improved.
2. CMX's UI sometimes appears very clumsy, there should be some option wherein, user should be able to set windows in default position and there no window should be cut or overlapped.
3. If you set colour quality (in display properties->settings) other than 16 bit, CMX will not display first menu screen (i.e. where you can change user etc.)

Hi all,

First I would say many thanks to the makers of Chessmaster, my #1 since CM4000!

my wishes for "CM eleven"

1)much better endgame knowledge, CmX has here sometimes realy big blackouts. Most looses against other Top-engines are in endgame.

2)support for dual-cpu and 64bit, as seen on other engines this gives big boost

3)support for UCI protocol

4)automatic tournaments

I use CM primaly against other engines, that why I wish a stronger engine.
For myself King is strong enough, I have my problems with Lucy :-)
Sorry if something is postet befor, I didn't read all posts.

Best wishes
Wilhelm
CEGT-Team

The next Chessmaster needs to have full statistics kept for LAN play! Like who you played against, wins and loses against them, etc. Additionally, there should ranked LAN games that affect your official rating.

Te rog frumos!!! Mersi foarte mult!!

Game Chart

I like viewing the game chart after a match, visually seeing where my better and worser moves are. But I can't scroll through the move list while the game chart window is opened, if you could allow this or incorporate a click feature move the pieces to the selected move.

Thanks for the awesome game

I got a feature suggestion.

Split a game. By that I mean that sometimes I find myself trying to evaluate more than one possible move and going into "vapor lock" trying to work out all possible variations, in-between moves, etc. I've often wished I could could break it into two games, starting from that point and try each option out simutanously.

I think I'd develop my play strenght faster if I could do that.

quote:

Originally posted by vibes33:
First great program! Nicely done and well improved from 9000.

I have CM9K and just love all aspects of it.
I have refrained from buying CM10 because I could not see much improvement over CM9K.

How is CM10 well improved from CM9K?...Jaimes

MIDI
The background music option (MIDI or even mp3) like the one in cm5000 should be included;

CERTIFICATE
The certificate from the 3000 version (when you win the computer in the most strenght setting) could be brought back. Well, considering how computers are fast today and only few could be able to beat the cm in this full strenght, it should be adapted for level-certificate. For example, if you want the certificate of EXPERT you should beat the computer in a certain level without help (without hints, taking back moves, etc). The same for winning the certificate of GOOD PLAYER, with the computer playing in a diferent level. Something like that.

PERSONALITIES
The personalities could be a little more flexible and change accordingly with the adversary (a human player plays diferently against a stronger opponent than against a weaker), the situation in the game (winning or losing) and the point of the game (opening, middle game and ending). The last option is already possible with the prodeo engine.

GRAPHICS
I heard some people complaining here that some graphics could be better (to make audience wider it doesn't require a top level graphic card and some have it). At the oposite side, some people (like myself) are having troubles because they don't have a G-Force (or better) graphic card in their computer (that's why I am still sticking with cm9000). Why not to let the user to choose the renderization level and colors to make sure that the graphics are as good as they want? Chess is not the kind of game we should expect to require a G-Force. Specially if some of us think that the cm9000 visual is already perfect. At least, let some options to set the graphics level and let one with the cm9000 visual (what would it cost? You already have all the cm9000 graphics done).

TOURNAMENTS AND ENGINES
It is in here that the chessmaster has the bigger room for improvement. I (like many people) enjoy watching (and playing) tournaments against diferent engines and personalities, and I still didn't find the ideal software to use for that. Arena (www.playwitharena.com) is not good enough: the interface and 2D chess board are ugly and old-fashioned, and still there are some lack of funcionality in it.
When I heard that cm9000 (in opposition to cm5000) was a winboard-compatible interface, I though it has come to substitute Arena. But it decepcionated in many ways. So my hope is that cm11000 would be the real substitute to arena, if it come with: a lot of arena users would buy cm11000 if you give the similar functions):
1) compatibility with winboard type 2 and UCI protocols;
2) the possibility of manually editing results in the tournaments (the adjucate function in the menu is not good enough);
3) auto-configuration for instaling most engines (like arena). It will be very easy to implement and it would be very pratical (it took me a long time to discover how to set up bringer engine in chessmaster);
4) we should be able to see the results of the tournament even in the middle of a game;
5) there should be an option to be set to the GUI to adjudicate the game in the tournament if the score of the engine goes below a certain number (Arena has that option).
6) support to DGT board;
7) time control options are VERY problematic: if you like to play long games, it is almost impossible to play tournaments against the computer (you will wait for days watching the computer playing alone until your next match starts). The option "Strenght" from arena (that mades the engine think that the time he has to think is smaller than it really is) should be implemented. Another idea (which essencialy is the same) could be the possibility to change the time that a given participant in the tournaments has to play (put all the computer players with five minutes and the human players with two hours, for example. The option of turning off deep thinking is necessary too).
I EMPHASIZE HOW SERIOUS IS THAT MATTER IN TOURNAMENT MODE. Since the cm7000 I have given up playing tournaments in chessmaster and using other software (at least, the cm5000 would let us set up tournaments with time control basead on "depth", but that option has disappeared since then). Considering how serious is not being able to play long time controls in chessmaster, I am not going to buy cm11000 if the problem is not solved. I have seen at least one other person on this topic complaing about the same thing (and I didn't even read the whole big topic).

Chessmaster could even be superior to Arena:
1) it could be possible to set the "strenght" setting from Arena to fractional values. Some engines are so stronger and computer are so fast today that even playing only with 1% time of the human adversary, they will beat most of the them.
2) creating a meta-language (or a VERY good and flexible interface) to allow people create their own rules for tournaments (not only robin and swiss). Most people would find the possibility of changing the rules very interesting (for example, if there are too much players, dividing the participants in two robin groups and let the first players at each group compete in a new robin group is a good way to diminish the number of games - or you could made it eliminatory (if you lose you are out) - the possibilies are ilimited). I already have seen at least two people in this topic asking for diferent tournament rules.
3) auto-flag could work properly even if someone is using the "Strength" setting from Arena (in Arena, it doesn't).


CONCLUSION
I have been playing chessmaster since the 2000 version, and only missed 8000 and 10000 versions (the last one just because you are requiring powerful graphic cards now - vide my observation about graphics).
In my opinion you have been making an excelent job. When I played the 5000 version, I thinked: "It is already perfect, there's nothing else to improve". But you managed to do that. The 7000 version improved in graphics and tutorials and the only great new thing (beside the graphics and tutorials) about the 8000-9000-10000 versions was being winboard compatible.
My feeling now is that you should work mostly on this and made it a substitute for arena/winboard. It is there where you will be able to get more new costumers (remember all those people sending messages to you trying to deal with the OPK number, it is a quite big market).
Of course, no one expects the 11000 version to have the same graphics and tutorials as 10000, so it should be improved. But I think it shouldn't be the focus.
And you have to be carefull about assuming that the costumer has a powerful graphic card (you are downsizing your potential market!). Powerful graphics should be an option, for those who can (and want) to waste a lot of computational resources with this. Chess is not the type of game we would expect to require a powerful graphic card, and I think that a lot of players (if not most) don't give a damn for graphics (for me, I would be playing with the bird's eye board from 5000 version without complaining). Even understanding the need in the games industry for better graphics, just DO NOT ASSUME that everybody has an extremely good hardware or care that much about graphics to play chess).

Apologizing for this cold murder of the english language
(and really hoping that someones reads it and take it under consideration
- it took me a long time to write it),

Anderson Brasil (from Rio de Janeiro/Brazil)

Introduce the "perft" test.
"perft" must return the exact number of legal moves for each Ply; for example:

Initial position:
rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1

Ply Nodes
1 20
2 400
3 8902
4 197281
5 4865609
6 119060324
7 3195901860
8 84998978956
9 2439530234167
10 69352859712417

Thank's
Andrea Lanza

Hi.

Huge Chessmaster fan here. Just recently bought the 10th Edition and I find it a beautiful creation. I mainly play using the animated Clash chess set. I love this humans verses orcs set but for future editions, any change of improving on this? Make the figures easier to recognoise. I remember playing a chess game on the Amiga a few years back and the figure on that were great. The rook was a castle that came to life and bashed up pieces it was capturing. Something like this for future versions would be great. Other then that, I have no complaints. I love the game!!

Thanks.

Paul.

1) stronger engine - hopefully better than fritz 9 or shredder 10.

2) computer can now resign or offer draw to player like fritz 9 - option either resign early, middle,late or never.

3) let player set the computer strength instead set by chessmaster - give us option choosing computer strength,computer character and etc.

4) computer chatting with player like fritz 9 - example "didn't i tell u got to study the opening theory" when you are out of book opening.

5) complete lessons in the academy like opening (include opening traps), middle game and endgame( all endgame not like CM10 which left out 2 bishops endgame and etc). make it compact(meaning all in 1 and don't split it) instead of bruce pandolfini,josh waitzkin and yasser seirawan teaching opening principles. WE NEED 1 THAT HAS ALL.

6) improve natural language advice and game analysis.

7) add background music, analysis board so that we don't make a blunder and a position tutor that tell you about your current position.

8) option of installing academy, learn basics, puzzles and etc.

9) option of setting computer make some tactical mistake like fritz 9 in sparring mode.

>> overall, CM 10 is good but lack of this few things

I'd like to see rapid transit chess available, both against virtual opponents, as well as online/LAN opponents.

chessmaster10th edition was totally awesome! i have a few ideas foor the next chessmaster.
1st: number 1 prority. better engine. at least beat rybaka engine. also, 2ng:make the personality feature much easier to use! i stil dunno how to use it. also make other features eaier to use.

I want my dog chesspieces from Chessmaster 9000 back. I seriously can't find a decent chess in CM10 that i can play with, and i find myself playing CM 9000 more and more :/

Thats really all i request. Possibly more stuff from Josh would be great.

ermm btter personality, eg, clusters posion, trades pawns, etc. oh and make the choose thepersonality u created easer to use,m eg, shows 1 char at a time, lists all the personality to it.

I would enjoy more tutorials by Josh. He has a unique style and introduces a philosphy to chess which is really encouraging.
Also more user friendly game analyses. I mean a real 'real language analysis', not just the occassionl word. I find it overwhelmingly tedious and unhelpful just to get a long series of long variations.
Also if you could program a computer personality to play a particular opening.
thanx

I love this game!! I would like to be able to:

1) Save my games and be able to load them and replay them at will

2) More tutorials by Josh and other GMs

3) More Annotated games, I gain more understanding from these than anything else

4) Somewhere to enter/load played games and be able to save and watch them

Thats my wish-list!! Thnaks for the great game!!

Hi all,

I think CMX is an excellent learning tool. Although I haven't been through the entire program as yet I do have a couple of suggestions for the development team.

1) When in the fabulous tutorial sections it would be really handy to be able to select an option that would allow the diagram to become a playable board set-up. Currently when in tutorial mode you can only answer the question asked and sometimes this is not enough for a learner to understand why a particular move is good or bad. Following the philosophy of "Show me and I can repeat, let me do it and I'll understand." It would be good to let a learner play out various scenarios against CM and learn visually and very quickly why one strategy or principle of play is generally better than another.

2) I may not be on the right track here for reasons I can't see given my level of experience but, as a player with a rating somewhere between 800-1000 and starting to play at a chess club it would be great to get more guidance on learning opening strategies. When I go into the 'Openings Section,' I'm overwhelmed by the number of openings let alone the number of variations. A bit more hand holding for beginners in this area would be really really helpful. Perhaps a filtered view which highlights the most 'likely' openings a player is going to come across playing against opponents of chess clubs. Perhaps more tutorials focussing on popular openings would be good.

Thanks
James

When will the next ChessMaster release be?

Something to add would be a place where you can type in annotation from games a person has played off of their score sheet that will analyze the game. I played a game where an illegal move occurred by a king in check. I did not notice it and the game continued. I want to analyze it but the chessmaster will not allow me to make the illegal move, thus the rest of my game is not able to be analyzed.

There are many improvements of those already said that I completely agree with. What I'd also like to see in future versions is the ability to preview the chess sets/skins either by sole clicking on them or clicking on a "Preview" button.