Chess programs have improved steadily with advancing computer technology. A few years ago, Socrates 3.0 literally made headlines in beating a surprising number of grandmaster level tournament players at Harvard University's annual man versus machine chess challenge. As this review is being completed the unthinkable has happened. Gary Kasparov, lord-god of the chess world for the last decade, has lost a game to the latest incarnation of Deep Blue, IBM's special design team's chess monster. He may be in for a serious fight for the rest of his match. Once thought only competent enough to challenge the casual chess player, the latest programs have become a tool in every tournament player's training routine. These though are austere professional programs, often costing several hundreds of dollars and providing only bare-bones graphics and sound. Virtual Chess, a Windows 95 game by Titus and published by I-Motion hopes to deliver similar quality plus CD-chrome at mass-market prices.
The biggest hook Virtual Chess promises is its graphics. Its default graphical display provides a 2-D board and 3-D board, each approximately a third screen in size, side-by-side. The 2-D board has four styles of pieces and the 3-D board has three different sets of pieces. We found this disappointing given the CD format, but the game appears to allow the import of additional board styles that may be available in the future. The boards are attractively presented in SVGA. The 3-D board is rendered along true X-Y-Z axises, allowing the board to be rotated and viewed from any direction and virtual distance. The pieces glide smoothly, even on lowly 486 machines. The 3-D board may also be toggled to full screen (although the 2-D board can't) and provides the best illusions of a chess board we've seen to date.
Virtual Chess also has available a variety of optional sub-screens. These include windows that display the computer's move calculations, game status, move list, analysis and comment, and chess clock. These screens may be layered or reduced to just their title bars and then recalled with a click. Annoyingly, the screen takes on a cluttered look when more than one or two of these are fully opened at once. The players will find themselves sacrificing either the 2-D or 3-D screen to fit all their favorite informational windows on the screen at once. Surprisingly, we found the well-done 3-D board to be the most expendable. Even with the most realistic 3-D presentation to date, it's difficult fully take in all of the nuances of chess positions from an on-screen 3-D display.
A chess program's strength has always been directly proportional to the speed of the cpu on which it runs. Virtual Chess's engine appears comparable to other leading commercial programs. Spot checks on similar machines yield comparable results (hundreds of games must be completed for accurate comparisons and ratings). Its strength can be adjusted to a variety of levels, including standard tournament play of setting a particular number of moves per two hour period. The game also includes adjustable hash tables which allow for stronger end-game play. In addition, the program can be set to emphasize pawn structure, king safety, or mobility in its thinking. A nice touch is the ability to set the computer to play at an ELO rating of 1200, just right for advanced beginners.
Virtual Chess provides most of the options that have become standard in current chess programs. This includes the ability to swap sides any time, take back moves, and ask for a hint. The game can provide a running commentary as the game progresses in standard notation, including pointing out questionable moves. At the end of the game or if the player wishes to suspend play, Virtual Chess will provide a more in-depth analysis that can be displayed on-screen or printed.
Virtual Chess appears to have a large number of openings divided into normal, tournament, and blitz books. Unfortunately with the copy reviewed there did not appear to be a way to directly pick the opening one desired to play. The program does include the ability to set up game positions, but this is a step back to earlier generations of chess engines. Advertisements for Virtual Chess also stated that the game included a library of over 740 of Fischer's games and 46,000 historical games, but there seemed to be no way to access these functions with the copy reviewed. The game also did not provide a feature to give a USCF or ELO rating for the human player. This aspect, when provided in other commercial products, is generally highly inaccurate, but considered an entertaining perk in modern programs. Finally, the audio was disappointing for a CD product; itt can be toggled from no sounds, to simple buzzes, or to somewhat more comical beeps and zings. There is no use of digitized speech.
Virtual Chess does provide a very strong chess engine and the best 3-D presentation of the game to date. Most casual players will find that it more than meets their needs. Tournament players hoping to fine tune their opening play will need to stick to more expensive professional programs.
