Price: 800 Microsoft points Players: 1-2 (plus online) Widescreen: Yes 60Hz: Yes Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes Xbox Live-enabled: Yes Chessmaster Live takes the classic board game online on the Xbox Live Arcade for a modest fee. It's a game that has a simple concept, but precise rules and an infinite number of outcomes given the mind of the two players taking part at any one time. There's no violence, explosions or strong language - except when my opponent sneaks a clever move in ("Ooh, you cunning little...!") and it can be enjoyed by all ages. But then, you know what Chess is all about, so what you need to know is how this release functions.

Chessmaster Live on Xbox Live Arcade: Classic gameplay action: part 1 First up is the Single Player set of options, starting with Classic Chess, then there's a selection of intruiging Chess Puzzles which I'll go into later and, finally, a section entitled "My Games" in which you can review your previous games. The board can be rotated through any feasible angle and when you go to make a move, it highlights the legal positions to which you can go - this is during an Instant Game rather than a regular one, the latter involving more options made available to you before starting the game. Instant games also bring up arrows that show which pieces could be under attack depending on your course of action. You can set a game at 10 minutes, 20, 30 or as much as 60 minutes if you think a game might take a while (the latter is pretty much infinite and will only apply to the time taken for you to make a move. Alternatively, you can select the number of moves per minute, go for an hourglass that ranges from 30, 60 and 120 seconds or a Fischer clock, named after the expert player the late Bobby Fischer, which adds on time after each move, so the '5min 10sec' option starts with the former but continually adds on the later. This comes across as rather odd. Interestingly, your controller vibrates while the opposition is moving, so if you look away from the screen for a moment while this happens, but are still holding the joypad then you won't miss a thing. This is particularly useful, since if you select a longer time period this just gives your opponent the chance to take forever as well, which can be rather irritating.... "Hey, I'm a human, you're a machine - move, already!"

Chesssmaster Live on Xbox Live Arcade: Classic gameplay action part 2 Chessmaster Live allows you to play against a number of different CGI players with varying strengths and weaknesses and at any point you can switch to a 2D mode if that helps (it's generally easier for me). The puzzles section gives you brief against-the-clock posers such as "White to move - Mate in one", and "White to move - Move to safety". How to solve them? That's the question. That said, there are some I don't understand without looking them up (Find the pin?) Multiplayer options are available with Message Chess (like Chess by post, I presume), Xbox Live (play ranked and player matches online) and Head-to-Head (co-op), but these require a Gold membership. When it comes to the options within this release, there are various chess sets with which you can play: Classic or Irish Glass, Classic or Irish Metal, Wood, Irish Marble, plus 2D top-down forms entitled Expert, Newspaper (both black and white) and Stained Glass. Also, download content is available with a free additional chess set entitled 'Calvert', which has a carved wood effect. You can see footage from this game on the links opposite as I played a game that ran for about 20 minutes, so it's split into two given Youtube's 10-minute limit. I will confirm that I lost, but it was rather odd when I was beaten at the end of a game and it just told me of the fact before Lydia was shown to checkmate me, as you'll see. Oh, and don't worry about the fact that I've only given the graphics 6/10. They look perfectly great for the job they do, but it's a chess board and not much more, but then you don't need any more.

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Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2008.