CM10 Tutorials Made by Lowest Bidder?

I'm going through the Chessmaster 10 tutorials, and in general they're decent. But so far I've spotted a couple of mistakes, and I'm not even checking everything with an engine.

It was kinda funny when I discovered an alternate answer for one of Josh's "monster knights", where your white knight has to capture all of the black pieces in sequence. (The tutorial only accepts their sequence and doesn't allow any alternative sequences, even if they also work.)

But now it's getting serious - I stumbled across an actual tactical blunder in the tutorial. (For anyone who has CM10 and wants to verify the blunder, it's in the Chessmaster Series tutorial located in the Chessmaster Academy, Beginning Tutorial, Basic Chess Concepts, Forks (Page 27 of 170)).


For your entertainment:




The tutorial states "White to move. Move a piece to create a fork." (Note that typically if you enter a tactic that isn't the best choice, the software will tell you that your move isn't the best and will ask you if you want to try again.)

Even though I could see a couple of forks, I couldn't see any forks that seemed to work for White.

1.Nc6+ was clearly wrong from the get-go due to immediately getting captured by the black bishop.

The other fork seemed right at first glance, but after looking at it for a bit I realized that it didn't work, since it allows Black a mate in 3. You guessed it, CM was looking for 1.Nb3, after which it responded with 1...Qb4, expecting a White response of 2.Nxd2, winning material.

However, what CM overlooked was 1.Nb3 Rd1+!, and there's no escape for the white king. (1.Nb3 Rd1+ 2.Rxd1 Rxd1+ 3.Ke2 Qe1# )

I mean, you'd think that they could at least check their own tutorial tactics with a chess engine... An engine like, I don't know, maybe Chessmaster? 😠

Hahahaha... I know exactly what you're talking about. Majestic Chess has a Chess problem that says "find the only move that will not result in Checkmate next move for White," but EVERY move does. I've literally moved every piece I can to every legal position possible and it still says I didn't solve the puzzle.

I failed a mate in four by finding a mate in two. That's when I gave up on Chessmaster tutorials.

Originally posted by Wulebgr
I failed a mate in four by finding a mate in two. That's when I gave up on Chessmaster tutorials.

Originally posted by Mad Rook
I'm going through the Chessmaster 10 tutorials, and in general they're decent. But so far I've spotted a couple of mistakes, and I'm not even checking everything with an engine.

It was kinda funny when I discovered an alternate answer for one of Josh's "monster knights", where your white knight has to capture all of the black pieces in sequence. (The tut s with a chess engine... An engine like, I don't know, maybe Chessmaster? 😠

Originally posted by sh76
Sorry, but I don't see the big deal. The exercise was simply "White to move. Move a piece to create a fork" Nb3 is a queen/rook fork. The exercise didn't say "White to move and make a good move with a fork." It just said create a fork. It's an extremely elementary exercise for a beginning player. I don't see why they should have to check every beginner exercise for counter tactics.

Originally posted by Mad Rook
Yeah, I did think about that aspect of it, and maybe I was being a little overly dramatic. And I agree that it isn't ALL that important in the grand scheme of things. But if you're going to demonstrate tactics, I'd think that you'd want to demonstrate tactics that work instead of ones that lose the game outright. But your point is duly noted.

The Ubisoft forums had all the errors listed and alternatives for CM10 tutorials, now it just says this:


"VI. TUTORIAL ISSUES

Q: I found an alternate solution to the Monster Knight Problem on page 37 of the Master Quiz "Honing Your Skills."
A: Yes, there are two solutions to this problem, the given one being:

1. Nxe2 2. Nxd4 3. Nxf3 4. Nxh4 5. NxG2 6. Nxe3 7. Nxd5 8. Nxb4 9. Nxa2 10. Nxc3 11. Nxb4 12. Nxa7 13. Nxc6 14. Nxd8 15. Nxb7 16. Nxa5

and the alternate solution being:

1. Nxe2 2. Nxc3 3. Nxa2 4. Nxb4 5. Nxd5 6. Nxe3 7. Nxg2 8. Nxh4 9. Nxf3 10. Nxd4 11. Nxb5 12. Nxa7 13. Nxc6 14. Nxd8 15. Nxb7 16. Nxa5

And yes, the alternate solution could be seen as "better" because it captures pieces in order of relative value, so congratulations to you if you found it.

Q: I found other errors in the tutorials.
A: Good for you! Thumbs Up We don't need to hear about it, though."

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/760105752/m/1881098036

Originally posted by pijun
Q: I found other errors in the tutorials.
A: Good for you! Thumbs Up We don't need to hear about it, though."