"Software for a King" Chess Mentor Deluxe Version 1.5, 1999 Aficionado, Inc., CD- ROM $319.95 Reviewed by Glenn Budzinski Under the category of self-improvement or training software, one of the newer entries is Chess Mentor by Aficionado, Inc. from Berkeley, California. According to the blurb in the accompanying manual, what differentiates Chess Mentor from other software is its "exclusive 'Natural Intelligence' method, which purports to provide the user "with the personal assistance of professional chess players, teachers, and authors. The chess authors writing for Chess Mentor have anticipated your efforts, and have painstakingly annotated each chess Challenge specifically for the Chess Mentor Learning Engine environment." Installation of the program is addressed on one of the initial pages of the manual. System requirements are given as "Windows", plus "at least 8 MB RAM and 30 MB of disk", which is similar, but not identical , to the description provided in the U.S. Chess Federation's "1999 Holiday Catalog" which offers the following "System Requirements": "IBM compatible PC's require Windows 3.1 or higher, includes Windows 95, Windows NT, 486 or higher processor recommended. 8 MB of RAM and 20 MB disk space." Left unstated is the available media: we received one CD-ROM, while the manual speaks only to a "floppy drive" and "diskette". There is no media choice offered in the U.S. Chess Federation description. In any event, compatibility with our generic, "Pentium" PC with Windows 95 and a CD-ROM reader was not an issue. The application takes only a few minutes to install and loads as described in the manual. Windows desktop icons are automatically created. The user is then taken to a screen that requests one's name be inputted and a selection made from four choices: "Beginner's Selection", "Full Selection", "Intermediate and Review Selection" or "Advanced and Review Selection". At any point subsequent, the choice can be changed by accessing the File menu. Next came a brief introduction to the program, which made it clear that Chess Mentor is a learning tool or, more precisely, a self-improvement process on disk. The authors refer to it as an "Interactive discovery process" that contains a patented "Learning Engine". Included is a scoring system and a timer, either or both of which the user can employ at his option. Additionally, each position or "Challenge", contains a comment for every legal move, plus three levels of hints. The review copy of the program included 22 "Challenge Sets" or topics, many of which were the work of IM Jeremy Silman (well- known for his "Reassess Your Chess" series of books). An examination of many of the topics revealed that each consisted of either 50 or 100 separate problems, further segregated into multiple positions. Any or all of the problems can be user-selected. For instance, if one chooses the "Beginner's profile, positions will be selected only from those topics considered by the authors to be relevant to beginning-level players (i.e., movement of the pieces, basic strategy, etc.) If one wishes, a specific "Challenge Set" can be selected through the Edit Profile menu and further refined by using the Navigate Go to Challenge menu, should one desire to study only certain positions within a selected topic. Provided in the "Challenge Sets" were subjects such as Basic Checkmates; Squares and Rules; complete discussions of how each piece moves and captures; Rook and Other Endgames; Lessons in Strategy (I) and (II); Master Your Technique; Introductory and Advanced Tactics and a topic devoted exclusively to key positions from the IBM Deep Blue vs. Kasparov match. According to the "Chess Life" catalog, the Chess Mentor Deluxe version available for retail purchase excludes the "Build Your Technique" and "Kasparov IBM Deep Blue Matches" sets, which are available for separate purchase. Giving Chess Mentor a test run, the "Advanced and Review Selection" profile was chosen, which pre-selected topics such as Advanced Tactics, Lessons in Strategy (II) and Master Your Technique. Many positions were assigned a Challenge Difficulty rating of 6, (the most difficult problems offered by Mentor), considered to be suitable for Masters with USCF ratings of "2300+". Thus, it was no surprise that we, at USCF Elo 2100, struggled mightily, at times. A typical example of a Lessons in Strategy (II) position is #1231, given a difficulty level of 4 meaning that it's suitable for "Club" level players with ratings from 1700 to 2000, taken from the game Castaldi-Reshevsky, 1950 Dubrovnik. (See Diagram). White: Kg1, Qa4, Ra1, Rf1, Bb2, Bg2, Nd2, Nf3; pawns - a2, b4, c4, d3, f2, g3, h2 Black: Kg8, Qd8, Rf8, Ra8, Bg7, Bc8, Nd7, Nc6; pawns - a7, b7, d4, e7, f7, g6, h7 Reshevsky played 1...a5!, with the idea of 2 Ba3 (or a3) axb4! 3 Qxa8 Nb6, trapping the White queen. Should White try the alternative 2 b5, Black has Nb4 with Nc5 to follow. Some of the Challenges from the "Advanced and Review Selection" gave us so much trouble, in fact, that we to perform a computer check of the solutions given by Mentor. A few positions were chosen at random and Mentor analysis was compared to that suggested by Rebel 10 software. In Challenge #1434 from the game Jansa Shirov, identified with a Difficulty rating of 6, Black is on the move. White: Kh1, Qe1, Ra1, Bc1, Bf3, Nf5; pawns - a5, b2, c2, d5, f4, g2, h2 Black: Kg8, Qc4, Ra8, Rc8, Bb7, Nd7; pawns - a6, b4, d6, e5, f7, g7, h7 Mentor provides 1...e4 2 Nxd6 Qxc2 3 Bxe4 Re8 4 Bd2 Rxe4 5 Qxe4 Qxd2 6 Nxb2 Nf6 7 Qf3 Rc8 8 h3 Nxd5 9 Rf1 Rc1 10 f5 Ne3 11 Rxc1 Qxc1+ 12 Kh2 Nf1+ 13 Kg1 Nd2+. While Rebel also suggests 1...e4, it goes its own way with 2 b3 Qxc2 3 Ne7+ Kh8 4 Bxc4 Qc3 5 Qxc3 bxc3 6 Ba3 Nf6 7 Bf5 Re8 8 Bxd6 Bxd5, with an advantage for Black. Since the intent of Mentor is for the user to play the position from the Black side, White's play cannot be varied. Thus, Rebel's alternative of 2 b3 is not addressed. Another "Master Your Technique" problem is #1467 from Izumikawa Wolski, again assigned a 6 in terms of difficulty. White: Ke1, Qf2, Ra1, Rh1, Be3, Bb3, Ne4, Nd2; pawns - a2, b2, c2, f3, g2, h2 Black: Kg8, Qb8, Ra8, Rc8, Bc4, Be7, Nd5, Na7; pawns - b5, e5, f7, g7, h7 White is on the move. According to Mentor, the correct path is 1...Qb7 2 Nxe5 Nxe3 3 Qxe3 Qc7 4 Nd3 f5 5 Ng3 Bd6 6 Qf2 Re8+ 7 Kf1 g6 8 Re1 Nc6 9 Ne2 Nb4 10 Nc3 Kf8 11 Bxc4 Qxc4 12 Qd2 Bf4 13 Rxe8 Rxe8 14 Qd1 Rd8 15 g3 Nxd3 16 cxd3 Rxd3 17 Qb3 Rxc3+ 18 Qxc4 Rxc4. Rebel agrees with 1...Qb7 2 Ne5, but then tries 2...Bxb3 3 cxb3 Nc6 4 Nxc6 Qxc6 5 g4 Bb4+ 6 Kf1 Qc2 7 Bg5 h6 8 Qd4 hxg5 9 Qxd5 Qxb2 10 Qd1 and after 10...Rc2, Black certainly seems to have compensation for his missing pawn. Rebel's 2...Bxb3 is labeled by Mentor as an "(Almost Successful) Attempted Move" because "White could hang on with" 3 cxb3 Nxe3 4 Qxe3 Rc2 5 0-0 f5 6 Nc3 "when it's not clear how Black could make progress". It is equally unclear what happens if Black plays Rebel's 3...Nc6 in lieu of 3...Nxe3. Kudos to Mentor for addressing the quite plausible alternative 2...Bxb3 in Position #1467, although we still prefer to reserve judgment about the accuracy of such lengthy analysis. Of course, one can carry this subject a step further and question the wisdom of including analysis of such length, at all. On the other hand, the flip side of the long-winded analysis coin is the brevity tendency. Unfortunately, instructional chess books or other media such as Chess Mentor that attempt to provide comments for most viable moves in a given position tend to rely on brief responses, which often lead to superficiality. Looking at position #1241 Kmoch-Alekhine, 1927 Kecskemet, also categorized under Lessons in Strategy (II), one finds the following: White: Kg1, Qe3, Rd1, Rd2, Bc3; pawns - a2, b4, c4, d4, f4, g2, h2 Black: Kg8, Qf5, Rd7, Rd8, Bf6; a7, b7, c6, e6, f7, g7, h5 With Black on the move, Alekhine came up with 1...b5!, forcing White to push 2 c5, thereby creating a hole for the Black pieces on the d5 square. While there's nothing wrong with Silman's comment that "After 1...b5! Black's advantage grew considerably since 2.c5 leaves White very passively placed on d4 and f4 and a hole on d5", it still left us with the unanswered question of exactly how Black grew his advantage. Was he able to convert his advantage into a full point? If so, how did he proceed? Since the correct course was not obvious, it was necessary to perform some research and find the actual game continuation. Alekhine's My Best Games of Chess 1908 1937 not only contained the complete score, but also commentary by Alekhine himself. After 22...b5!, play continued 23 Qf3 bxc4 24 Qxc6 Qxf4 25 Qxc4 e5! 26 Qe2 exd4 27 Rd3 dxc3! 28 Rxd7 Rxd7 29 Rxd7 Bd5+ 30 Kh1 Qc1+ 0- 1. Alekhine noted that if 23 c5 Rd5 "followed by g5! etc. the game could hardly last very long." There are certain other annoyances about Mentor. Only text can be printed; diagrams of positions can be neither saved to a disk nor printed. This inability means that the user must do all of his studying using the computer, or else resort to handwriting diagrams of positions. Another inconvenience is that if the user wishes to study positions from only one or two Challenge Sets, all others must be deselected, one at a time. While not a difficult procedure, it can be tedious if, for example, one has chosen the "Full Selection" consisting of 22 topics, upon initially entering the program. We also experienced a peculiar repetitiveness of the same position. For instance, when "Solving Cycle Mode" was selected (the recommended mode) and a particular problem was intentionally skipped (an option available to the user), it was not uncommon for the skipped problem(s) to reappear a few positions later. The only method that we could find to make a particular position disappear for good was to spend the time solving a problem that was not of interest to us (which is why it was skipped!) There may be a simpler way to eliminate the intruding position, but we were unable to find the answer in the online help feature. There is little doubt that, given its interactive format and move-by- move commentary, Chess Mentor can be an effective and appealing tool for learning the basics or improving one's game, regardless if one is a beginner, an expert, or somewhere in between. In fact, checking Aficionado's web site, there are a number of different configurations of the software, each tailored to a different level of playing ability, and all offered at prices significantly less than Chess Mentor Deluxe's hefty $319.95. For instance, there is a "Chess Mentor Basic Chess Course" at $49.95, which may be worthy of consideration for novices, assuming that it is the same program as reviewed here, minus the additional modules for advanced players. There are also two packages available at $79.95 each: "Chess Mentor Comprehensive Chess Course", which includes 867 challenges and is intended to help the novice attain the "level of average tournament chess player" and "Chess Mentor for Advanced Players", which includes 150 challenges suitable for experienced players. Given the various choices, one could reasonably assume that there should be something to suit everyone's tastes regardless of playing ability or size of wallet. But size of one's wallet is the real issue here. In fact, Chess Mentor Deluxe would be recommended with only minimal reservation, were it not for the "sticker shock" suffered from its price tag. Assuming you're serious about improving your game and have about $320 to spend, how might you spend it? Would you buy Chess Mentor Deluxe (you will also need an additional $24.95 per module, if you want the Build Your Technique and Kasparov-IBM Deep Blue Match challenge sets) or, alternatively, purchase at least a dozen books devoted to middle game and/or endgame improvement? How about 16 hours of instruction at $20 per hour by a local master? (Of course, one would also have the choice of mixing and matching, i.e.,purchasing a $79.95 version of Mentor and 12 hours of lessons, etc.) Considering the available options and a limited budget, can one realistically consider Chess Mentor Deluxe to be a good buy? Despite its effectiveness and initial appeal to the masses, unfortunately Chess Mentor Deluxe may fall into the category of software suitable only for the kings and queens who are able to afford it.