In our review of Virtual Chess last month we mentioned that IBM's chess monster, Deep Blue, had actually managed to defeat world champion Gary Kasparov in the first game of their match. It was looking to give Gary a good run for the rest of the tournament. Well, scratch that. Kasparov thumped Blue 4-2 taking three wins, two draws, and only losing the beginning game. This man versus machine event did renew strong public interest in computer chess programs. Articles about the match and computer chess turned up in mainstream magazines and newspapers across the country. Some software stores reported sales runs emptying the shelves of their chess programs. Most of these commonly available commercial programs will whomp all but the most accomplished tournament players. Very few programs, however, actually provide effective tutorial systems that will help the struggling player understand why they're getting beaten off the table. Chess Mentor by Aficionado, Inc. is an absolutely brilliant effort to fill this void.
Unlike other common chess programs which strive to play a superior game of chess, Chess Mentor was designed from the ground up as a teaching aid . The program does not contain a chess engine to play against. Chess Mentor instead provides a framework for some of the nation's leading chess coaches to provide lessons on the finer points of the game. These lessons are modular which will allow the import of future lessons and will even let chess coaches write their own pet challenges! Players who haven't been able to win a game since playing Chessmaster on a 286 will have the opportunity to vastly increase the quality of their skills in a systematic manner.
The heart of Chess Mentor's teaching system is its "Learning Engine-TM" algorithm when playing in "Solving Cycle-TM" mode. Chess Mentor will monitor the player's progress as it presents a series of lessons. The program will automatically structure its challenges to the concepts and problems that the player is having difficulty solving. Chess Mentor will allow the player to make forward progress through its data base of lessons but will continually bring up past lessons until they're thoroughly mastered. For those not wishing to have past failures rubbed in their faces, Chess Mentor allows the Solving Cycle(tm)to be toggled off. Players then can proceed sequentially through the entire set of modules.
Chess Mentor's visual display presents a 2D chess board with standard modern icons and notation in the bottom third of the screen. Across the top are fourteen cleverly designed icons that offer information such as difficulty of the current challenge, difficulty of the current move, object of play, key squares to consider, key pieces to consider, and material balance, among others. The icon for current challenge difficulty is especially humorous as it presents a man lifting a barbell with weights that become proportionally larger as the difficulty increases. Below these and to the right are a commentary window which presents the current situation and goals to be achieved. Under the commentary window are three "counsel" windows which offer advice graded from subtle to strong.
After inputting a move, the commentary window will expand, explaining why the move was correct or weak and providing an implication of its ramifications. Both white's and black's moves will be analyzed. Commentary is conveyed through text. The audio in the game is limited to simple beeps and buzzes. Aficionado's advertisements make hay of Chess Mentor providing feedback in a supportive, positive manner. However we couldn't help but let out a belly laugh when we received a retort that went something like, "If you do not move piece X, you must be brain-dead!"
For those who feel compelled to assign a score to their play, Chess Mentor will offer a grade of 0-100. Ratings can be obtained for the current individual challenge, recent play, or complete history of play to date. Points are taken off from a perfect score of 100 depending on the amount of time taken to arrive at a solution, types of hints accessed, or wrong moves. Wrong moves have the most penalty. Aficionado hopes players will come to correct solutions through thoughtful analysis rather than outright guessing.
Chess Mentor comes with four modules written by international master Jeremy Silman, whose books are respected as among the best for improving play in a practical manner. These modules start with the basics and proceed to advanced strategy that will even challenge advanced amateur tournament players. These modules provide hundreds of specific challenges. The latter lessons take off the white gloves and are down right difficult. Mastering these modules should allow most players to give a decent account of themselves at local tournaments.
There are four additional modules which may be ordered with lessons from international masters Eric Tangbom and Craig Mar. These cover such topics as pawn endings and combinations used by world champions. Aficionado notes that four more modules are under development and will be available soon.
Despite this gushing review, there are areas which Chess Mentor can improve upon. The program only tracks a single user through its learning cycle and performance scoring. It's possible while showing off the program to a friend to have your hard fought 90 performance score drop to the ground as the keyboard is turned over to someone else. Aficionado does promise that tracking of multiple players will be available in a future free upgrade of Chess Mentor. The game does not allow a trial line of moves to be played before responding. Purists will argue that playing a line hampers the development of visualization skills, but first we walk then we run, and all that stuff. There were also a surprising number of situations that unfortunately didn't provide counsel, subtle or otherwise (where's Bobby Fischer when we need him?).
Between the dozens of commercial chess playing programs on the shelves, Chess Mentor almost stands alone in providing a systematic way of improving your play. It's a bit pricey at a suggested retail of $120.00, but it will be one of the best investments a fan of the royal game could make. There are additional modules that can be ordered and more are on the way. This should ensure Chess Mentor will have a permanent place on any chess lover's hard drive!
