PC chess teaching program

My son is playing chess and is getting better every day. Can anyone suggest a good chess program for PC? We have Chessmaster 8000 and Moris Ashley teaches Chess. Any other good ones? I am hard pressed to say what level he is on, but he is a freshman in HS playing 3rd board on the varsity team. Is this any indication? He is learning fast and is getting better. Spends hours learning and playing with computer. Please help me provide him with the tools he needs. Thanks

one of the greatest chess tools is chessbase used in conjuction with a chess playing engine like fritz. Latest versions are fritz 11 and chessbase 9.0. These however are only 'tools' and dont make you a better player because you buy them. They can be used effectivly but maybe with assistence from a chess coach. its expensive but really the way forward for any ambitious player wanting to compete.

Lots more information on the chessbase.com website, so i recommend you go to the shop there, even if its just to research different available programs. A shop near you may sell the items cheaper. Hope this helps!

What puts fritz ahead of chessmaster software wise?

Fritz' analysis mode is way superior to Chessmaster. Analyzing your games is supposedly a good way to improve. Fritz will pinpoint your bad moves, so you can learn not to make moves like that in the future.

Fritz 10 is only $20 at Amazon.com. (There's hardly any difference between Fritz 10 and Fritz 11 to justify spending an extra $30 on Fritz 11.)  Any version of Fritz includes a 1 year subscription to the online chess features.

I have Fritz and Chessmaster, and I never use Fritz. Fritz seems to be the game of choice for the chess experts and computer scientists for all it's proported analyzing features and powerful AI but for the average player and the beginner Chessmaster is THE BEST game to learn from. Get the latest version, 10th edition or the new 11th edition ($40 - 60 but worth it) and you will enjoy the beautifully designed and smooth 3d rendering sets, and you can customize the interface, which is pretty sparce and minimal so you can focus on the board only with out all these windows and menues popping up everywhere. You can also train and get interactive mentoring in beginner, intermediate and advanced, lessons, tests, drills and puzzles, complete with a voice narration, and a rating exam. I've had that game for a little over a year and I've only scratched the surface in terms of features and getting through the 'Acadamy'. My understanding of the game has matured and I'm getting a more intuitive sense of how to win games, and am able to beat the computer at my level occasionally because I now understand the rules that it operates under.

I'm probably going to get a lot of negative comments but,

- Fritz chess sets are poorly designed, the color schemes suck

- The 3d rendering for some reason eats up all your cpu and WILL crash the system

- The tutorials are nothnig more than textual lessons written in html, no interactivity 

- If you want to learn and use the multitude of features that the game offers it's going to take some trial and error 

But the features that I do like are one option that shows how the computer evaluates moves and it's given in plain english and ordered in terms of best to worst options, and for every possible move that you can make it will list the pros and cons 'i.e. gains material but loses ground, or tactically incorrect at this point in play, etc' 

I find this to be an interesting feature, but not as compelling as the Chessmaster

Another good one is called Majestic Chess and I believe it's made by Hoyle, I found it for $12 at Future Shop, probably also available at Best Buy or Staples. In this game it incorporates a little more fun, you have to cross a medieval terrain on a Horse and beat challenges at various locations like beat the Troll to cross the bridge and at every challenge you're instructed in different strategies. For example you'll be asked to beat the opponent with only a bishop and knight and a few pawns etc. So you can play in Quest mode and go through the various levels and explore all the mythical regions on the map, and for a $12 game the graphics and gameplay and soundtrack are actually really well done, a bargain value on that one, plus you can play standard games and drills. BTW the chess sets are set in locations like in dungeons and caves and old Greek Ruins, I can't praise the creativity and artistic merits of the developers enough!

I'd reccommend this one over the Chessmaster for a younger player because it's got elements of the RPG video game and gives you Chess skills in bits, as opposed to going through a course, and the learning curve is quite steep, still can't beat that third level against the rock monster ;)

ebaskin> I am hard pressed to say what level he is on, but he is a freshman in HS playing 3rd board on the varsity team. Is this any indication?

We can't tell you the best software for your son unless you tell us how strong he is. If he's spending hours playing the computer, ask him what's the strongest CM personality he's beaten and which ones he can beat consistently. That would be enough information to give you a good recommendation.

for LEARNING chess concepts and strategies it doesn't help that much to use programs like fritz/chessmaster. they mostly just play and analyze tactics :)

for improving in fundamental chess understanding of concepts (and i'm not talking about just beginners, i'm talking about everyone from 800-1800 who have flawed evaluation) you really need to read books, get a coach, or try a virtual coach like Chess Mentor (it's ok for me to recommend it, right? :D ) 

for teaching program' I'll go on chessmaster, but in other ways, fritz and other programs are better.

A database app like Chessbase is essential if you really want to learn from your own mistakes (there's a limit to how much you can improve just by playing, and playing, and playing--as I'm becoming increasingly aware).  It's also a great tool for evaluating your effectiveness in certain openings, endgame situations, etc., etc.  Of course, you can also use it to explore grandmaster/instructive games in ways that are pretty difficult with books.

For tactics training, you may want to check out http://www.personalchesstrainer.com/

(It serves up heaps and heaps of tactical problems, from easy to hard, and tracks your progress along the way.  It's an alternative to CT-ART, which I admit I've never used.) 

A friend at work just today recommened ChessLecture.com.  Opinions on that site?  I know there's Chess Mentor right here.

Paul

AquaMan> Opinions on that site?

A 1-month membership gives you access to dozens of videos relevant to your repertoire, level of play, and areas of interest for only $13. But new content is added slowly... and there are no long-term membership discounts. My plan is to sign up to them for one month each year unless they make significant changes.

anyone can send free chess software....saurabh.shiv786@gmail.com