Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition
Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition is a chess video game developed and published by Ubisoft for the Windows, Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable. It is part of the Chessmaster series. The game was announced in August 2007 and released in October 2007.
Gameplay
The game is narrated and contains detailed tutorials suitable for beginners and advanced users by Josh Waitzkin, using principles from his book The Art of Learning. The game uses an updated version of the King chess engine. The game database includes 600,000 matches and 190 personalities of computer opponents. The PSP version supports Wi−Fi multiplayer. It also offers 3D animated chess sets, including children's Raving Rabbids set.The game includes six minigames: "fork my fruit" where the goal is to fork two fruits using any of the given pieces, "masterpiece" where the objective is to paint a picture by making as few moves as possible, "breaking the lines" where the aim is to capture pawns using only knights and "chain reaction" where the target is to link three or more pieces by placing them within opponent's attack range, "pawn charge" where the goal is to reach the eighth rank without being captured, and "minefield" where the objective is to defeat an invisible enemy. Multiplayer modes include "progressive chess", where opponents gain moves each turn, "dark chess" in which opponent's pieces are invisible unless under attack, "losing chess" where the objective is to lose pieces, and "extinction chess" which replaces checkmate with the win condition of capturing all of opponent's pieces.
The portable version Chessmaster: The Art of Learning contains fewer tutorials and lacks, for example, a strategy chapter, classic grandmaster games, or an offensive chapter by Larry Christansen. The DS version supports multi-card wireless play but doesn't support Wi-Fi. The PC network multiplayer is either via the internet or LAN.