Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition - why so hard to find reasonably priced?

(For PC)

I've read that this version is good for basic strategy and tactics - that the tutorials are good. I've also seen people write that they've found it for $10 lots of places.

When I look on Amazon or Ebay, I find it starting at $50 or more. On Ebay, $57 BIN, and there are only about 5 for sale - all more expensive.

Additionally, this last version was released in 2008. Have they just stopped making new versions?

I havent heard of a more recent one. I don't know if ubisoft is still the maker...you might go to their site. there's lots of free tactics servers on the internet...and lots of good free instructional sites, mark weeks, exeter chess club, wikipedia has awesome articles, great instructional material on here chess.com, lots of blogs, articles, chesstempo, chesstactics.org, lots. no real need to buy chessmaster anymore...its a bit of a dinosaur I think, but it has its fans. I think it was important before the growth of the internet, and now the internet is the main source of all things instructional.

CGE (alias Chessmaster 11) is the most recent version. Ubisoft hasn't said whether there will be a newer version; I doubt it. I've also searched for CGE, with results similar to yours.

I'd say if you see a copy of Chessmaster 10th Edition at a reasonable price on eBay or Amazon, just get that. I've heard that the extra material in CGE is the Art of Learning section, but I'm not sure exactly what that is. The Chessmaster 10 tutorials are still very good; I doubt that you're missing much by not getting CGE.

and you have to check if its compatible with your operating system, because I've read of people having trouble with chessmaster on windows more recent than XP. Some have trouble with vista, many have trouble with windows 7, and I'd imagine its a non-starter with w8. 

      The reason people are having trouble with Vista, and XP is because Microsft won't service them. THE'RE DINOSAURS. I got Chessmaster 10 and use it on Windows 7 with no problem. (I got it at Staples for $20.)

Someone in another thread said that Ubisoft had lost the rights to some of the tutorial material so if it does come back, it will be quite different.  I don't see Ubisoft making the effort to bring it back although the franchise name has got to be worth some bucks.  Pity, I don't remember the first version of it I had but it came on 5" floppy disks.  Be careful of used versions of the Grandmaster version.  Ubisoft had a rather Draconian protection scheme to prevent you from installing it more than twice.  It's on DVD and would activate your burner to kill a few key files.  The sneaky thing of course is that after a second successful installation Windows would kindly inform you of a corrupt file.  Naturally you don't want that, and so you would try a fresh installation with predictable results.  Why yes I was pleased....

Probably one of the reason it's dying a slow death. Punishing your paying customers is a bad business strategy.

Thanks for the tips, Somebodysson. I've been looking up those sites today - very helpful.

Regarding compatibility - I read that version 10+ works with Win7 and above, and prior versions don't.

Exactly, it works under Windows Vista or Windows 8/8.1 no problem. There's a guy named Beeryus who created a few mods and updated the characters and their openings, and even added new tutorials, games and characters to play with.  Ubisoft doesn't care anymore about this game anymore, so you might as well download the game from the piratebay. 

PS: I'm talking about the GM Edition.

More related info: http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-equipment/chessmaster-10th-edition

For all intents and purposes, this product line is dead.  Maybe one day it will be resurrected, but until then ...

I believe the only thing of substance (changes to the engine aside) that's different between CM 10 and CM 11 is "The Art of Learning" with Waitzkin ... he has a book by the same name. It might be worth it to just get CM 10 from ebay for like 10 bucks and buy the book instead of CM 11.  I'm not sure though. Maybe someone who owns both can comment?

I used to buy this for my students for about $10 on amazon.  I agree...weird that the price has suddenly skyrocketed.  Makes no sense.  I usually recommend it to ALL my students but...probably not now if its that much. 

Nothing weird about it and it makes perfect sense.  The last released version is seven years old.  Ubisoft no longer sells or supports the product. The Chessmaster website is closed.  You can't download a legal copy anymore, so you're left with a finite and shrinking supply of used Chessmaster discs.

I have the Grandmaster Edition and have used it on both Windows 8 and 10.

Anyone got the beeryus mods? Cant find them anywhere

just get chessmaster 7000, 8000 or 9000. just as good but cheaper. the products barely added anything from one edition to another except marginal playing strength to the program at full strength.

Hello, I'm here in December 2020, to inform you that I created new modifications for the Chessmaster XI chess sets, but I think they also work with version 10. In addition, there is a modification of the skin "Black & White" to make it dark instead of light gray as it is originally.

Please, for more information, visit: CM Awesome!! (Blogger)
The blog was created just to display and share the sets, there are no ads and all downloads are free. I am trying to keep this game alive. All I ask is that you leave a comment and share it with your friends if you like the mods.