I am looking at buying something similar to this http://www.classicchessandgames.com/MephistoTalkingChessAcademyModelCT06.htm

Can anyone recommend features, to look for.  It must play very strong, though.

Thanks

hello

If you want something to teach you chess I think there is software available that would work better than a dedicated chess computer. I think a chess computer is more suited for just over-the-board practice or for study against openings or positions.

I haven't used a dedicated chess computer in years but here are some things I'd look for:

Opening book with random errors - chess computers are great for studying openings but they should have a setting that causes them to deviate from the best lines in random places. This will teach you why some opening moves are bad and how to play against them. Memorizing openings is no good if you don't know why the deviations are bad. Also, you should be able to direct it down certain variations of an opening. One computer I had would choose an alternate line if I made it take back a move in an opening book.

Overall rating - As high as you can get. I don't know how the games are today but twenty years ago games got pretty slow from around 1700 and up rating range. I didn't set mine any higher because I would just lose patience with them. I would hope todays games are much faster at stronger levels.

I never played a computer with an LCD display but I think I would prefer an LED system. Either LEDs on every square or on the ranks and files to indicate from/to squares. I think it's easier to stay focused on the board without having to look over at a display.

Again, I don't know much about today's games but I would love the ability to dump games to a PC for analysis or storage in a database.

And last (because I actually need to get to work) I would like to have near-regulation sized men. I used to play against a chess computer but I would study a regular board because the chess computer's men were too small to suit me. That gets to be a real pain.

Good luck

(take a look at the Excalibur Grandmaster, I'm not recommending it but it might be an option for you)

I had something like this back in the late 1990's. Not bad....but something like Fritz or ChessMaster for your computer would offer so much more.