Chess Program per Skill Level

Hello, my friend recommended a program called Chessmaster for me to use, but I can't find a copy that works for my operating system. I was wondering if there were similar programs that you guys would recommend? I am about 1000-1200 skill level, thanks in advance.

A player at your level does not need any program- rather the opposite, playing against a computer can be detrimental to your chess evolution.

What's your operating system?

I agree somewhat with @pfren about playing against a computer.  Most computer programs do not "dumb down" to lower levels very realistically and if you set them up a bit, they always win.  However, the OP shows an "international" location which may indicate that (s)he may not have access to a local chess club or opponents.  What I would suggest is to play online chess here on chess.com, either live or correspondence, and find a lot of players at your level or slightly higher to challenge you to get better.  I like the 3-day games which allow me to be away for a couple of days without an out-of-time forfeit.  I think most chess coaches would discourage playing fast games when starting out so avoid those and play with longer time periods.

Also, there are a number of us who will play a new or unrated player and offer advice after the game.  Keeping track of your moves and going back over your games is one of the very best ways to learn from your mistakes.

+1

Since you are a premium member you have unlimited opportunities to have chess.com computers run an analysis on all of your games. Do that and look and the big mistakes you make and work from there.

As for chessmaster, I have chessmaster 10. I bought it at office depot for $10. You can play against the characters and also analyse those games afterwords (the longer the time limit per move the better). Is it the strongest engine out there? Heck no! Is it stronger than you and I ? Heck YES! It does have a lot of GOOD lessons in the "learning" section.

Could you please elaborate on this, pfren? I have heard Dan Heisman say that engines don't make the same mistakes,but what if you prefer playing with engines? I prefer engines over humans, does it mean I will not progress or my progress will be slower?  

There is absolutely no point playing against an engine.

You can play here, and set your opponent requirements to play against stronger players, but not MUCH stronger (say from equal rating, up to +250 points). Playing against humans at regular time controls (25 minutes and up per game) and then analysing your games "thoroughly" is the best way to learn.

An engine's play won't help you, no matter how well the engine immitates human play (usually it does that very badly).

Engines are useful only to chess professionals- class players could (and should) forget their existence.

Wow, that's shocking for me, but I'll sure follow your advice. Thanks pfren.

Yes,,,,Chessmaster is perfect! When and if you should get into chess more religiously then I'd suggest Fritz.  

chesslover1995, my question wasn't exactly  about using engines as analysing tools, but using engines as opponents. Anyway, pfren understood exactly what I meant.

I think there should be a distinction between playing against a chess engine and using one after a game to aid in analysis.  I am not a strong player but I am getting better.  One thing that someone here suggested that is working for me is to play correspondence games where you have adequate time to think about candidate moves and variations.  Write down what you see - possible threats to meet, pawn weaknesses, points of attack, weak/strong squares, overloaded pieces, positional advantages to seek and other things.  If I discarded one of several possible continuations, I note why I chose the one I did and why I didn't like others.  Then after the game, I run the game through a chess engine and go back (especially on a loss) and re-play the game over the board.  Only after I have re-considered my moves do I check the engine analysis (I use Fritz 13 with Houdini 1.5a x64) and compare it with my own assessment to see if I missed something.  Usually I didn't, but it does give me an occasional suggestion or idea of how to continue in a position.

So...play against an engine, no.  It is only the hard work of doing your own analysis that pays off.  A chess engine is only a backup to your own work if you can't afford a coach.  You can't learn anything from it if it is doing all the work.

Excellent explanation, mldavis617 

I play against my old Fritz 2.5.1 on a 5-year old laptop and give it 5 seconds per move but allow myself unlimited time.  This way I can draw it about every 4 or 5 games.  This way its not as discouraging as losing 100 games in a row to an up to date engine on up to date hardware.  But still it is a very punishing opponent if I slip up tactically and I think it helps me to be mindful of this in playing OTB as an 1800 or so USCF player.

Do you think this might at least be a compromise way to get value from engine usage even as a class player?  I also use them to help me find opening moves by leaving the engine running as I browse the database.

Interested in your thoughts

@ chesslover1995:

What I meant is that you must use your brains and not an engine, provided that you have some of it.

Apparently, YOU are obliged to use an engine.

If what you are claiming is true, then shouldn't you be a better player than IM pfren??

Actually, he is- but due to a couple of unlucky coincidences, hae is just 1,300 points lower rated.

He has already fullfilled the requirements for the GP (Grand Patzer) title.

IM Pfren is correct.  I used to play and beat a lot of "1300" and "1400" players on Chessmaster 11.  I even drew one game against an "1800" Chessmaster player.

I tried playing here and found that I could not even beat most 1200 rated players in a 30-minute game.

I have not played the computer since.  Computers are great for lots of things, but having them as Chess opponents is not of them.  Not if your goal is to beat human players at the end of the day.

+100

My gripe is how the bloody engines are always cheating. Humans I can often beat, but engines...... no chance

PS that's irony, little boy