CHECKMATE

 There are quite a few PC owners who believe that the primary reason computers
have been invented and developed over the years is to give chess players an
opponent when no human is available. CHECKMATE is made for them. It is quite
possibly the most serious, in-your-face chess program ever developed for the
home computer market. If Accolade's claims can be believed, it is smarter than
CHESSMASTER 2000 or 2100, smarter than PSION, and smarter than SARGON. I know
it's smarter than me. (This review is based on the Amiga version.)

 With so many chess programs available, the criteria for making the choice boil
down to: (a) what's available for my machine; and (b) how badly do I want to get
beaten? The rest is icing on the cake. If you want a fun and not-too-difficult
game of chess, buy BATTLE CHESS. If you want an opponent who has the ability to
learn from its errors, and become more intelligent, more perceptive, and
basically more _human_ each time you play, go with CHECKMATE. I played 25 games
against the computer and won only once: We're talking serious chess here.

 The Amiga version of CHECKMATE requires at least 512K of RAM, and performs
better with additional memory. In essence, additional RAM allows the program to
think further ahead. This makes it unique, as one of the few games where the
average computer owner might wish he had _less_ memory available. The disk is
easily copyable and installed on a hard drive, and the program uses manual-based
copy protection.

 Anyone _not_ familiar with the rules and object of chess? I thought not.

 CHECKMATE has both two- and three-dimensional board views. It allows you to
change perspective (or even change sides in mid-game), and has four types of
chess sets to choose from -- although two are designed with children in mind,
and one futuristic set I found rather ugly (when it comes to chess, I'm a bit of
a purist). You can move your pieces in a variety of fashions -- sliding,
point-and-shoot, and even "intuitive," in which you click on a square and the
computer decides which piece (among those legally moveable to that spot) you
want to move there. In the 2-D setup, you can type in your moves with the
keyboard; otherwise you have to use the mouse. You can play CHECKMATE against
either the computer or a human opponent, in which case the computer acts only as
a referee, letting you know when you've made an illegal move. You can also set
the computer to play itself, if you're kinky that way.

 CHECKMATE starts off with a library of 300,000 opening lines of moves
(compressed somehow into 150K of disk space). When it loses a game, it can
review the moves, recognize its errors, and adjust itself to compensate for that
mistake. This is a remarkable function. Accolade rates the game's chess-playing
ability at around 2175 ELO, or just below master level. On the other hand, the
poor beleaguered human opponent is not likely to be a master player. However,
you can ask the program for suggestions or recommended moves, offer it a draw,
or shorten the time the computer is allowed to mull over its possible
strategems. You also have the ultimate power -- that of turning off the
computer. In the process, if you keep an open mind and pay strict attention, you
can learn from experience, as well. CHECKMATE can be played at a variety of
levels of computer-opponent ability, from bonehead beginner to seasoned master.

 Whatever you want from a chess program is likely to be here. You can save
games, print them out, analyze what would've happened had you made another move,
and be graded in terms of your chess savvy in solving problems. Amiga players
who also own DELUXE PAINT III can even design their own chess sets. But
CHECKMATE is not really intended to be a Construction Set: It exists solely to
disabuse you of the belief that you can beat any old computer at chess, hands
down.

 CHECKMATE is published by Interplay Productions and distributed by Mediagenic.

*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253