I’m looking for a good piece of chess software and was wondering, do any of you chess players out there have any recommendations for this?
What I was specifically looking for was software that has the option of using descriptive notation. I’ll admit, I’m an old fart who has never learned algebraic notation, and have no desire to do so at my advanced age. I can easily visually a game recorded in descriptive notation, but cannot come close to doing this with the algebraic system. Another factor is that every one of my chess books use descriptive notation, and don’t really want to replace them all.
Anyway, after a lapse of many years I’d like to get back into the game a bit. I read that Chessmaster 9000 had the option of using D.S., but after purchasing it, found that it won’t install on any computer after XP, and since mine is Windows 7 that didn’t work out.
So any advice would be much appreciated.
BTW: Bought Chessmaster 9000 from Amazon, and found out today that they have a really painless return policy.
Which notation are you talking about, e.g. KP 2- Kp 4 or D2-D4? Afaik, no program ever uses KP 2-KP 4.
Afaik, no chess computer for windows will do it. However, internet chess probably does.
In most cases, however, both mouse and arrow key options are available.
Also, if you still have chessmaster 9000, it’s not hard to get older programs to run. It would probably be easier to teach you how to use emulation or dosbox than to find a new program that works like an older one.
Ps. I would recommend Kasparov Chess, very educational.
AFAIK, nobody else does either. Horribly though I suck at chess, I know the notation reasonably well, and I think what you’re trying to convey is “P - K4”, Pawn to King Four. “King’s pawn two to king’s pawn four” is the kind of nonsense* perpetrated by novelists who are trying to have their characters play chess but haven’t done the basic research needed. Descriptive notation names the files according to the pieces that stand their in the initial position, and numbers the ranks from one to eight from the point of view of the player whose move it is. The “King’s Pawn” doesn’t have a file of its own - as its name suggests, it’s just a pawn that happens to be on the King’s file.
Some chess computers that used a 7-segment display just used “D2 - D4” or similar rather than use proper notation as a book would, but that was back in the steampunk days.
*meaning “not making sense”, not meant pejoratively.
I think the biggest difficulty is that the simple form of descriptive notation is sometimes ambiguous, if, for instance, both knights are attacking the same square. In such a case, you have to also specify the square the piece started in. And recognizing where those ambiguities exist would be a pain to program (not impossible, of course, but a pain).
I don’t see why this would be a pain to program. It seems fairly trivial to me (surely a chess program already has a method for determining each piece’s legal moves, so just use that to determine if two of the same types of pieces have a legal move to the same square) and, in fact, Chessmaster 9000 (as mentioned by the OP) does have that option. That said, algebraic notation is pretty straightforward and easy to learn. I learned descriptive first from reading books, but picked up algebraic quickly (as in pretty much instantly), as all it is is a coordinate system, with minor caveats.
But this is the same with algebraic notation. Nf6 might need to be represented as N4f6 or Ngf6, say, if there is ambiguity. I’ve developed a chess app and it wasn’t too difficult to such rules.
On the subject of Chessmaster, I can vouch that Chessmaster 11 (the latest version, although it’s some 8 years old now) has excellent learning resources and supports descriptive notation.
Honestly though, if you need a way to use notation, we can help figure it out.
Or, if you are looking for any chess program, there is a default one that comes with windows that I usually spank at level 9 out of 10, split at 10. Afaik, windows chess is free up to windows 7, just hidden in the cabs. 8+ i’m not sure.
I’ve been trying to find a copy of Chessmaster 11 (recommended by MIJIN), and am running into a bit of a problem. I have found it on Amazon, but a used copy (in “good” condition) sells for just under $80, and a new copy for upwards of $200. I thought this was a little pricey for an 8 year old program, particularly as I am not in training for the next World’s Championship.
I also found a program called “Chess Translator”, from swissimmaculate.com which is described as a translator from between algebraic and descriptive, but when I downloaded it all that came thru was some weird audio file that I can’t open.
BTW, in searching for a chess translator one of the suggested sites that came up was a translator between Uzbekistan and English. You gotta love Google.
Chessmaster has every generally used notation that exists, including descriptive. You’ll have to get it used, but there are some copies out there.
Personally, I’ve always liked descriptive. It just looks elegant to me. Algebraic’s brutal, minimalist economy always struck me as serving a need that never actually existed. I actually prefer coordinate (e.g. a2-a4, c3Xd5) to algebraic.
Hmm that’s interesting. I bought CM 11 maybe a year after it came out and paid about $10 for it. This is looking like a great investment…
Seriously though Ubisoft’s support for titles older than a couple years is terrible; why they can’t just put this game on their online shop I don’t know. IMO they deserve the widespread bittorrent-ing that’s happened for this title.
