Best Chess Software for Casual Players

For playing against a dumbed-down engine, I like Shredder best. The problem with Chessmaster is that on the dumbed down levels it will throw away pieces every now and then, whilst playing relatively strong moves the rest of the time. I rarely seem to get to play combos against Chessmaster, I just take the pieces that it gives me. 

  Shredder will rarely drop pieces, but will walk into simple combos that win material or mate.

get chessmaster. chessmaster is most fun in my opinion. its not true that it just throws away pieces. Its very fun to play with.

Chessmaster GME is "the" tool for casual players. On top of CMX, which was a success on its own, the GME adds two additional audio courses - supported with a board that shows the moves. The game is fun itself, and it makes sure you come back to meet the stronger fictional character if you beat the last one. It works fine on Windows 7, without any fixes whatsoever.

^ I have no idea what you are talking about...

Thanks alot for your replies, quite helpful,

Uh oh, maybe I should be worried - I understood him perfectly. Which is amazing actually, since the kid can't be over 1 year old.

Tetsuo, what version of CM are you using? I don't think I'm the only person who has this issue with CM, see http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/chessmaster-insulting-to-1590-rating?page=1

I'm using version 10, maybe the later versions are better.

i dont have mine anymore, i used 11 and grandmaster edition. but i also used the early one on you could download on xbox ??dont know 9 or 10. i havent seen that flaw yet.

the latest on pc were definetly ok i believe. I cant remember though playing the caro kann.

Thanks for the response. Maybe I'll upgrade to the GM edition.

I started with CM 2100 in 1989. As new versions came out, I bought them. By CM 7000, it had failed to keep pace with the competition. Around that time, gamers took over the development and marketing of a product that once had the attention of chess professionals.

I bought CM X because of claims that it had dramatically improved. I found that the software had peaked with CM 7000, although they keep adding tutorials. These tutorials contain many flaws that would be caught if they hired a tester/editor with some chess skill, say B-Class or higher.

Ziryab i thought the tuturoials of chessmaster were all made by titled players. I mean one was john waitzkin and wasnt one made by a GM even?

I had Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition for play station psp and the "lessons" were by Josh waitzkin but they were dumbed down to get young kids interested( capture the fruit with one real chess piece). Although I would buy it if they had it downloadable for the play station vita because the rest of it was good

well i know pc had the fruit games and real lessons, i cant remember if they were any good. I think they also had GM lessons but i might be wrong. Well psp edition doesnt come anywere close to the pc edition, in my opinion not even close to the 5 Dollar xbox eidition.

PC edition will always be the best...but I don't think I could ever play chess on a tv console. That's where madden football and halo should be played ;)

Chessmaster on a tablet would be AWESOME

Yeah, there are some mistakes in the tutorials that Ubisoft has never bothered to fix, and that fact reflects poorly on Ubisoft. And many of the personalities do give away pieces too much. (There are some personalities that play reasonably; You just have to find them.) And you can't directly import UCI engines. And you can't easily export TheKing engine to another GUI. And the Mentor lines window seems to be broken for imported engines. And the endgame tablebases don't work in analysis mode. And the opening book isn't very deep. And it's not for the diehard chess power user. And Ubisoft no longer supports the program. And...And...

But for the money, it's still an entertaining program for us novices.

i disagree i find it much more relaxing and fun to sit on the couch and play on tv. Shame too little used it, its really relaxing much better then pc. 

best buy has a ($9) version of chessmaster.they will mail it to you.

Rather than start a new thread I hope you dont mind me posting here. How does the Chess Mentor program and Analysis function on this site compare to Chessmaster Chessbase And Fritz etc.

I use the Chess.com App ICC App and Shredder App on my Phone. Im not sure whether to get the Premium Chess Mentor program on this site or get Chessmaster or Fitz with Chessbase. What would the experienced people here recommend to cover a training program, analysis and a datbase