franco@bbn.com (Frank A. Lonigro) (12/09/87)
Hi: I'm interested in getting a chess game for my Mac. Does anyone have any suggestions? I would imagine that Sargon III is out classed by something new. Chess Master 2000 anyone??? Here is a wish list of possible features: 1) A chess rating of 2000+. The higher the better. 2) Have an option to select level of difficulty. The more levels the better. Should have postal chess feature and mate in two puzzle solvers. 3) I would like to be able to print a listing of the game just played to the laser printer and(or) save it to a file for latter printing or viewing. 4) Save and restore feature. 5) Excelent graphics, 3d if possible. The priority of these is not important but I would like to get these features if they are available. Please send replies to me or send to the rec.games.chess list if you think others would like to know. Thanks much, franco@bbn.com PS. GNU Chess for the MAC anyone????
stubbs@astroatc.UUCP (Dennis J. Kosterman) (12/09/87)
In article <19121@bbn.COM> franco@bbn.com (Frank A. Lonigro) writes: >Hi: > I'm interested in getting a chess game for my Mac. Does >anyone have any suggestions? I would imagine that Sargon III is >out classed by something new. Chess Master 2000 anyone??? > > Here is a wish list of possible features: > > 1) A chess rating of 2000+. The higher the better. > 2) Have an option to select level of difficulty. > The more levels the better. Should have postal chess > feature and mate in two puzzle solvers. > 3) I would like to be able to print a listing of the > game just played to the laser printer and(or) save > it to a file for latter printing or viewing. > 4) Save and restore feature. > 5) Excelent graphics, 3d if possible. > > The priority of these is not important but I would like to >get these features if they are available. I have both Sargon III and Chessmaster 2000 (but for the Apple IIe, not the Mac). Both programs have features 2, 3, and 4 above. Chessmaster has more levels and supposedly is stronger on its higher levels than Sargon is. Sargon's highest level is reputed to be rated around 1800. However, this level is too slow to be very useful (something like an hour per move). I think Chessmaster is faster. My rating is only about 1300, so I never play either of them on the higher levels, and indeed, rating is immaterial for my purposes (I have enough problems beating them on the lower levels -- I'm not worried about the high end). If a high rating is important, Chessmaster is probably better. I prefer Sargon, for two reasons: (1) Sargon's graphics are much better, at least on the IIe. Sargon uses the standard symbols (same ones used in chess books), whereas Chessmaster tries to make the pieces look like real pieces; the IIe just doesn't have the resolution for this, and they end up looking terrible (you can hardly tell the difference between pawn, bishop, and queen). Chessmaster also has a 3D mode (Sargon doesn't), but it's useless on the IIe -- again, not enough resolution to do it justice. Based on the pictures shown on the box, Chessmaster has stunning graphics on a high-resolution computer like the Mac or the Amiga (although color seems to be an important part of the graphics, and the Mac doesn't have color), so you might not care about this particular problem. The 2nd problem is more serious: at least on the lower levels, Chessmaster tends to occasionally make illegal moves (like "Queen's Rook captures itself"!). I have never seen Sargon do this. It seems to happen primarily when using the 3D mode, so it might be some subtle bug related to the IIe's limited memory (not enough to handle both the 3D graphics and the program, maybe?). If so, this problem might not happen on the Mac. But it makes me distrust the program -- if they couldn't make it work properly on a IIe, why bother to sell that ver- sion? My conclusion is -- Chessmaster (on a Mac) is potentially a much better program than Sargon, IF the Mac version does indeed have better graphics and lacks the bug described above. On an Apple IIe (or II or II+), Sargon wins hands down, unless speed and quality of play on the higher levels is top priority. Dennis J. Kosterman stubbs@astroatc.UUCP
bds@lzaz.ATT.COM (BRUCE SZABLAK) (12/10/87)
I've heard good things about the Psion chess program, but I've not seen any advertisements for it (but I believe it's available in europe). Can anyone give more info on this program?
ray@cs.rochester.edu (Ray Frank) (12/10/87)
In article <640@astroatc.UUCP> stubbs@astroatc.UUCP (Dennis J. Kosterman) writes:
< I have both Sargon III and Chessmaster 2000 (but for the Apple IIe,
<not the Mac). Both programs have features 2, 3, and 4 above. Chessmaster
<has more levels and supposedly is stronger on its higher levels than
<Sargon is. Sargon's highest level is reputed to be rated around 1800.
<However, this level is too slow to be very useful (something like an
<hour per move). I think Chessmaster is faster.
<
< Dennis J. Kosterman
< stubbs@astroatc.UUCP
I believe the longest tournaments allowable by USCF is 3 minutes per move.
Any rating given a machine over this time limit is meaningless and cannot be
used as a means of judging how good a machine really is.
raycracraft@venera.isi.edu (Stuart Cracraft) (12/11/87)
In article <19121@bbn.COM> franco@bbn.com (Frank A. Lonigro) writes: >Hi: > I'm interested in getting a chess game for my Mac. Does >anyone have any suggestions? I would imagine that Sargon III is >out classed by something new. Chess Master 2000 anyone??? > Sargon III or Chess Master 2000, the latest versions of each, would seem to be your only off-the-shelf choices at this time. > Here is a wish list of possible features: > > 1) A chess rating of 2000+. The higher the better. > 2) Have an option to select level of difficulty. > The more levels the better. Should have postal chess > feature and mate in two puzzle solvers. > 3) I would like to be able to print a listing of the > game just played to the laser printer and(or) save > it to a file for latter printing or viewing. > 4) Save and restore feature. > 5) Excelent graphics, 3d if possible. > > The priority of these is not important but I would like to >get these features if they are available. > I know of no 2000+ programs for the MAC. Most are around 1800-2000. The graphics all seem to be good and levels as well as save/restore are adequate in most of them. GNU Chess could be ported to the Mac. Please see me if you would like to do this -- or you're welcome to go ahead and do it, but please share your results with others. Stuart
cracraft@venera.isi.edu (Stuart Cracraft) (12/12/87)
In article <34@lzaz.ATT.COM> bds@lzaz.ATT.COM (BRUCE SZABLAK) writes: >I've heard good things about the Psion chess program, but I've >not seen any advertisements for it (but I believe it's available >in europe). Can anyone give more info on this program? Psion certainly comes with good credentials (author = Richard Lang, the programmer of world micro-champion Mephisto 'Dallas'/'Rome') It has a nice three-D display and seems to make decent moves. However, Sargon III and ChessMaster 2000 for the Mac may be stronger than Psion for the Mac. Stuart