I know that everyone is allowed a certain amount of time with the chess mentor system here on chess.com, but isn't an hour for everyone who is not a premium member a little bit limited. I understand that the site must do whatever it has to, to remain relevant, but don't you think a little more time should be given to at least go over what you may have learned?

you don't get 1 hour - you get 10 trial lessons :) for $5 you can try out 5 hours. that's about the cost of lunch.

I tried the same logic with the Ford dealer down the street.  He'll let me test drive the thing, but for some reason I can't take it home for a week to see how it REALLY feels to own it.

I can definately relate to that...lol

Ummmmm.... FREE. Shoooosh people. Go buy a program or something and stop whining. OR, you could look around the next and find an interface, drop an old fritz engine in it, and learn about chess as it cracks your skull. That's how I used to learn before I escaped from the circus and saved up money for Ct-art and Strategy. Stop knockin free stuff, there's not too much of it out there, and even less that's worth your time. Erik put something nice out there for us all, lets cheer up a bit.

that's what I'm saying...it's such a good engine, it's almost a tease to give us just a taste of it like that. LOL.