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Not as good as advertised Approximately two weeks ago, I received the updated version of the popular program. I have played with it quite a bit, used the various features, etc. This is the fantastic new software by Ubisoft, CM has now been around for quite a while. The software itself IS excellent, there are many training tools that you can use. (The tutorials by IM Waitzkin, GM Christiansen, etc.) The program is very powerful, a friend sent me a copy of a {chess} beta-program - I tested it in a brief match, the games were at a time-limit of 15 per game, plus 3 seconds a move. ChessMaster routed its opponent: six wins, one draw, no losses. I would venture to say that no human ... save for maybe one of the "Top 50" players in the world, even stand a chance of ever defeating this program. (And at fast time controls, chess programs are simply untouchable.) I could take up pages with what is right about this program, there is plenty of eye candy too. 3-D sets galore, and a lot of other stuff that you could play around with forever. The average amateur could probably enjoy this program for a lifetime. But I am a serious chess player, I like to both play AND analyze games. And this program is a LONG way from perfect. So let's discuss a few of the drawbacks of this program as well. The chess sets are NOT that great, nor are they that easy to manipulate. The designers spent nearly all of their time on the 3-D sets, and people like me ... who prefer 2-D ... are pretty much left out in the cold. Very often you cannot control the size or the color of the 2-D boards, the range of choices here is pathetic. (Especially when compared to the almost endless set of choices in the 3-D selection.) I also like to play chess. I won't bore you with stories of past victories, other than to inform you that I have won dozens of events - at a variety of different time controls. (I was leading 5-0 when I had to drop out of a "U.S. Game-in-30-minutes Championship." And I was the U.S. Champion for "Game-in-60-minutes" for the Expert class in 1992.) I thought I would enjoy playing CM ... and I did. Yet I feel it is my duty as a reviewer to point out things that I noticed were simply absurd in this program. The "personality" (T.C.) has a supposed rating of 1701, yet I found I could not defeat it in three-minute chess. It makes unsound sacrifices, sure. It plays bad openings sometimes as well. But in order to defeat it, you have to play PERFECT chess for 80-100 moves ... all the while insuring that you do not lose on time! The personality "Vlad" is also grossly under-rated. (1800) It will play WHOLE GAMES in 2-5 seconds at a three-minute time control. No that's not a mistake, an exaggeration, a misprint ... nor anything else. You can LOSE to "Vlad" at a game of 3-minute, (with no increment); and it will have used only 2 seconds on its clock!! There is simply no human alive that is capable of this trick. (I also recognize the play of this aspect of CM, many cheaters on the Internet use it to avoid detection of the full-blown program. The "Vlad" program also has a certain style of play and plays certain opening variants in a very specific, unique way.) Another problem with CM is that I like to do analysis with the program, basically ask its advice at what move it might play in a certain position or opening line. There are several ways to simulate what I do in ChessBase with this program, but none of them are perfect. (Or easy.) Probably the best bet is to load the game or set up the desired position. Then using the "set up game" feature, you can make CM play itself, and stipulate the time limit. But there is no good way so "see" into its thinking processes as you can with several other programs. And this brings us to the final, and for me - fatal - flaw in this program. It requires the disk to run the program ... ALL THE TIME! In other words, if the CD-ROM/DVD/disk isn't in the machine, you can't use the program. And this plain SUCKS!!! And it also undermines the basic Windows concept of "multi-tasking." And to make matters worse, after I run CM, I have to re-boot before I can run ChessBase again. (Some type of conflict. And after reading all of the other reviews here, I can see that I am NOT the only person to greatly object to this facet of the program!) I posted a notice on my website. I asked users of this program to send me an e-mail, telling me what they thought. And to be honest, the feed-back has been positive ... probably 95% of the time. (Over 35 e-mails.) Which means you will probably buy and use this program ... and never notice the little ticks I have pointed out. But - in my opinion, the flaws of this edition of this program ... far outweigh the potential benefits. (Yet many of my students enjoy it tremendously!)