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A must for a serious chess player of any skill level Though I prefer human players, like most people, I went hunting for a computer chess game because my skills had degraded playing less skilled human opponents. Maybe you arrived at this page with the same motivation or additional ones. Without hesitation, I turned to Amazon, because it beats the price and selection of ANY retailer, and E-bay is simply hit-or-miss with the Amateur Hour sellers. E-bay is known in my house as Ripoff Central. I really dig Amazon's reviews, especially negative reviews (I LIKE a merchant that gives me reasons NOT to buy something...then I usually buy something else anyway). I compared Chessmaster to Fritz, really the only major players I am aware of. I did not see that Chessmaster really distinguishes itself, other than notoriously incompatible copy protection, though it is true Fritz has copy protection as well. I have bought versions of Chessmaster in the past (the last was 3000), and it is roughly equivalent to Fritz in play, so if a sizable price difference arises, you might keep that in mind. If you hunger for really funky sets, Chessmaster might be your choice as well. I favor the Stanton wooden 3D design myself. Things I really like about Fritz: strong, very fast game. Unless you are very, very good (a Master), Fritz can beat you with only 5 minutes/game, assuming you have an average PC. Very good graphics. This is also true of many other chess programs, but I get the impression Fritz is among the stronger programs because of its frequent mention by chessmasters in Chess Life, where there is often an aside that "so-and-so checked his end game play against Fritz and discovered that..." This impressed on me that Fritz had developed a reputation among world-class players that Chessmaster had not. What the reasons for this may be, I am not sure. Two novelties deserve comment. First, let me mention that Fritz makes witty, rude comments in a variety of European accents. You can turn this feature off if it annoys, but I found it rather amusing, relieving the tedium of playing a pulseless computer, giving game-play more of a human touch. The second novelty is The Coach, a cigar-chomping bald old man who pops up when you mess up, giving the option of taking your move back. You can ask for a Subtle Hint or a Broad Hint. I often choose the Subtle. And sometimes require Fritz to prove it to me. One minor peeve about Fritz is the mouse pointer is jumpier than normal. But I quickly became accustomed to this and am not bothered by it anymore. The massive calculations Fritz performs in the background is, no doubt, responsible for the sluggish mouse response. I have not even begun to plumb the depths of Fritz's other features, but it is clearly feature-rich. I do feel as though I got my money's worth and that this will be the LAST computer chess game I buy (please may computers remain backwards-compatible!)