''Chessmaster 6000'' is a 1998 chess video game developed and published by Mindscape for the

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operating system. It is part of the ''

Chessmaster ''Chessmaster'' (originally ''The Chessmaster'') is a chess video game series, currently owned and developed by Ubisoft. It is the best-selling chess video game series, with more than five million units sold . The same cover art image featuring ...

'' series. The

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port was published by

Mattel Interactive Mattel Interactive (Known as Mattel Media until 1999) was a video game publisher and software distributor. History Mattel originally founded the company as Mattel Media in February 1996, as an aim to expand into the multimedia unit by producing ...

in 2000.

Gameplay

The game's database includes over 300,000 matches. ''Chessmaster 6000'' expands the tutorials from previous game, adding more topics. All the tutorials feature voice commentary. International Master Joshua Waitzkin, voice-annotates 14 chess matches. For computer opponents, there are 64 "personalities" that simulate a human opponent by having a biography, photo, rating, and playing style. By playing against computer opponents, players are rated similarly to real-life tournament chess. Other features include the natural-language advice option, which analyzes the position and suggests moves; auto-annotate, which builds an analysis of a game or position; Opening Book, a database coach that identifies openings and demonstrates how the game can proceed. The internet multiplayer component, ''Chessmaster Live'', is again included but was done this time through

MPlayer.com Mplayer, referred to as Mplayer.com by 1998, was a free online computer games, PC gaming service and community that operated from late 1996 until early 2001. The service at its peak was host to a community of more than 20 million visitors each m ...

service instead of Mindscape's own servers. Internet play is not included in the Macintosh version.

Reception

'' PC Gaming World'' said: "Mindscape has produced an extremely confident new version of its flagship chess title. Visually polished and feature-wise comprehensive. Very nice." ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' recommended ''Chessmaster 6000'' slightly over Sierra's '' Power Chess''. Major criticism was the long waiting times on the MPlayer service. ''

Computer Games Strategy Plus ''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...

'' concluded: "if you don't plan to use the tutorials, this is a great chess program for the mainstream player. If you plan on using Chessmaster 6000 to learn to play, you may want to wait to see if Mindscape fixes the tutorial errors." ''

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'' recommended

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. Titus Interactiv ...

's '' Virtua Chess'' over ''Chessmaster 6000''. ''

Macworld ''Macworld'' is a digital magazine and website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG. History ''Macworld'' was founded by David Bunnell and Cheryl Woodard (publishers) and Andrew Fl ...

'' summarized: "If you’re looking for a fun way to learn the game or for a tough sparring partner, Chessmaster 6000 is a wonderful tool. If you want heavy analysis of moves and strategies, you won’t find it here."

References

External links

* (archived) * {{Chessmaster 1998 video games Chess software Chessmaster Classic Mac OS games Mattel Interactive games Mindscape games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer online games Video game sequels Video games developed in the United States Windows games