Xref: utzoo rec.games.chess:577 comp.sources.wanted:2638
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!uwvax!astroatc!stubbs
From: stubbs@astroatc.UUCP (Dennis J. Kosterman)
Newsgroups: rec.games.chess,comp.sources.wanted
Subject: Re: Chess for the Mac...
Message-ID: <640@astroatc.UUCP>
Date: 9 Dec 87 13:48:58 GMT
References: <19121@bbn.COM>
Reply-To: stubbs@astroatc.UUCP (Dennis J. Kosterman)
Organization: Astronautics Technology Cntr, Madison, WI
Lines: 61
Keywords: Looking for a good chess game for the Mac...

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