Chessmaster 11: Grandmaster Edition (Is it worth the upgrade)

Hello Everyone,

I have Chessmaster 10th edition installed on my laptop for between class fun. I have considered paying the $20.00 to upgrade to Grandmaster edition (11ed). I have read many mixed reviews and was wondering if anyone has both versions and can answer the question: Is 11th edition worth the upgrade from 10th? What features make it so, or what features are lacking which would make it so if they were present.

Thanks

Hi,

This may not be helpful as I do not have the 11th edition. I think I have the 9th edition, and I rarely use it because I use Fritz. Whatever the case, my reasoning for upgrading or not upgrading would go like this:

Why do I want to upgrade? Is there something missing from the current version that I have been wanting to have? Are there chances that I may lose some data/information from the upgrade? Can I use the $20 for something better?

Personally, I would stick with what I have unless I had completely "used up" the old version.

Take care.

I have Chessmaster 10  for the tutorials.  I, too, was wondering whether to upgrade or not.  A search of reviews on Amazon revealed the following:

"True, compared to CM-10, this edition is not that different - with the exception of some visuals and animated board options. I could not see a reason to upgrade if one already owns CM-10"

Therefore, I chose to stick with Chessmaster 10.

I own Chessmaster 11, I bought it for the tutorials as well. I definately like it, but I cannot imagine the tutorials and personalities to play against are different enough to make it worth your money.

If you want another chess program I would recommend trying a different one, such as Fritz, which would provide you with stronger analysis tools.

I am thinking of getting Rybka 3 for analysis, but am thinking that I will use that as a "milestone reward"(Like achieving 1600 or something).

I think the "art of learning" lectures alone are worth the money, but you should know that there isn't one single improvement in the program. even the chess player bio's aren't updated. I could do that even for free, it would only take a few hours! They've just added new chess variants and give the engine multi-processor support.

Chessmaster GM Edition is not really a breakthrough, like the 10th Edition has been previously, but I think it worths 20 bucks anyway. It comes on DVD (not on 3 CDs like the previous version), it adds support for multiprocessing and contains the new "Art of Learning" lessons. It also has several new skins and chess sets, and Ubisoft claims to have added some Elo points to the engine's strength. However, if you don't have a decent computer (preferably with dual-core processor) my advice is to get one before updating, as the 11th Edition requires considerably more resources to work properly.

Yea, if you want a few extra lectures, check out Youtube haha.  Seriously, put that 20 dollars toward something else, such as Fritz, as has been mentioned.  Or see a movie.  Or eat out somewhere nice.  That's my 2 cents :).

I appreciate everyones thoughts. Sounds like there are some benefits to upgrading but it might be wiser to wait for another release or 2 when they add a few more things (Hopefully). The art of learning lectures sound interesting but I am already paying to access video lectures here at Chess.com so I don't think I need anymore. I have a stack of books to get through anyway ;)

I am interested in the multicore support though.

Here are the lecture titles under Art of Learning:

• Investment in Loss
• Two Approaches to Learning
• Loving the Game
• Breaking Stallions
• Using Adversity
• The Power of Presence
• The Soft Zone

I don't think any lecture would come even close to the art of learning in certain aspects. But if you've already seen Waitzkin's other stuff from the older version, then you could evaluate it yourself.

I seriously doubt if there'll be another version by the way.

I have the 10th edition...and why pay for more bells and whistles?  What have they added that you have to have?  Is the chessmaster engiines 20 points stronger?  And if it is so what? More 3d sets?

I use the free older version 5.32 of fritz.  Its great...it was free...and i dont really care if the newest addition is a few hundred points higher.  Im a b/c class player and a engine rated 2700? is fine.

I have both versions and I think it's worth the money to upgrade. It's got allot more stuff than the others.

He he, I am reading Waitzkin's book right now, looks like the lectures you mention corespond to some chapters in his book(Which is to be expected considering the title of the software):

• Investment in Loss - Chapter 10
  
• Two Approaches to Learning - Chapter 3
  
• Loving the Game - Chapter 4
  
• Breaking Stallions - Chapter 8
  
• Using Adversity - Chapter 12
  
• The Power of Presence - Chapter 15
  
• The Soft Zone - Chapter 5

The book is very interesting and readible.

Why do you doubt there will be another version?

Because they have done absolutely nothing to get rid of the bugs or other annoying stuff in the previous version.

I was a loyal Chessmaster customer once. In the forums, in a thread about the expectations from the new version, we had explained everything in detail, there were a lot of very simple and easy-to-fix things (not only bugs) that created great annoyance for the users. There were very good, again, simple suggestions to get rid of them.

And how did the chessmaster staff respond to all those? (I don't think there is a staff actually. I think they've hired some guy to work on variants and that's it) They have done nothing. Nothing. Seriously, not one single small thing. Only Waitzkin's new lectures and the variants. the interface is exactly the same. 

As I said, even the chess players' biographies aren't touched. I mean, come on, it says on Kramnik's profile that a reunification match with Topalov is expected. Oh really?

So, I think Ubisoft has already abandoned the project.

I have Chessmaster 11, running on Windows 7 64 bit.

Problem: When I play in the training game window, everything works well, except there is no menu across the top of the screen. Therefore, I can't save any of the games I play. Also, I can't reopen an older game to study it. I have Chessmaster 9000 and it works fine.

Anybody know why there's no file menu or other menu items?

Help would be appreciated.

You could try this, I found it in the CM11 FAQ:

Q: I can't see the menus. What's wrong?
A: Lower your DPI settings (in the Control Panel\Display\Settings), or click on the empty space where the drop down menus like File, Edit, etc. are supposed to be and they will appear.

P.S. Also, it can't hurt to ask - Have you checked to see if the two patches for CM11 have been installed?

when it comes on chess softwares or even on web there's nothing that beats the chessmaster interface.

this is the best 2d interface... i just hope that someday chess.com will adopt this design someday.

chessmaster has everything except players around the world. 

lack of popularity...