31 Dec 08
I play CM 11 online. I really like the way it's set up and I've had a lot of fun with it. The only problem is that there aren't enough people at any given time. I think the most I've seen at one time is 10. I don't understand why this is. CM 11 sold very well (I've played opponents from Europe, Australia and even South Africa), so logically there should be more people online. If anyone knows why or has an educated guess, I would love to know.
01 Jan 09
3 edits
Originally posted by ArrakI played a few hundred games at the site they put up when CMX first came out, and they were letting folks try it free. Then, I bought tenth edition when I found it for $20, but could no longer access the online portion.
does anyone play chessmaster online? how is it? is their enough players? i do like the interface!
Unless something dramatic has changed since then, there are too few players on a poorly designed site that will die when the next version comes out.
Contrast that with Playchess, where I gain access through free software, HIarcs 12, Fritz 9, and several other related programs all sharing the same basic interface, and others using other versions all play in the same place. Certain features are unavailable if you are using an old version, but everyone can play everyone else in the same place that has been up for many years and that has thousands of players every day. During the lean times when there are few players, such as 11:00pm last night when I snuck in my last blitz game for 2008, there are still twice as many playing as the most I ever saw on the Chessmaster site.
I'd like to think that version 11 offers you more, but for that to happen would require radical changes that would not pass notice in the chess press. Version 11 has not garnered a fraction of the attention that tenth edition received, so I'll wager that not much has improved.