4

Thing 1: This lichess study says

Examining positions from Josh Waitzkin's academy, Larry Christiansen's attacking chess, and other exercises or games from this (now) ancient chess program in light of recent advances.

I assume this isn't talking about the chessmaster engine/s but about the lectures specifically. If not, then forget this part.

Thing 2: I recall I played chessmaster 1st as a kid 2 decades ago in 2000/2001 when my dad introduced me and then again around 1 decade ago in 2010/2011 when I wanted to beat my cousin and again this year 2020/2021 when I got back into chess/9LX for the 2nd time (see my previous questions if you want: 1, 2, 3). I kinda just assumed it was the standard thing people go to when they learn chess(/chess960).

Question: Nowadays, do people still use chessmaster as much? I mean, are the chessmaster lectures still good, relative to possibly a lot more modern teaching materials, and if not, then what modern series of lectures do people learn the stuff in the chessmaster series (no books please. just online courses or video lectures like on chessable or youtube) ? For example, Josh Waitzkin has all these series on strategy, endgame, the art of learning, psychology of competition, etc.

  • This question says chessmaster 'seems to be outdated'. (I guess this refers not to the engine but really to the learning and stuff.)

A discussion from 2014 reddit thread Is Chessmaster dead? What is the current leading chess software for PC (Windows)? (It's not clear if the question is asking about the lectures or about the engine):

The course by Josh Waitzkin is still IMO one of the better ways to learn chess alone.

and then

I really, really liked the Waitzkin stuff on CMX, but honestly, there's gobs of awesome material on YouTube these days. Check the St. Louis Chess Club Channel. That'll keep you busy for a year.

Related? How did chess change over the 2010s and should I keep anything in mind for buying books from before 2010?

Improve this question
7
  • 1
    What does it mean for a lecture to be "good"? I'm afraid that's quite subjective as different people will have different metrics to evaluate their quality
    – David
    Sep 1, 2021 at 11:26
  • @David Good question...well...do people still use it? or do people use something else?
    – BCLC
    Sep 1, 2021 at 12:45
  • @David actually there's the qualifier 'still'. i mean to ask if chessmaster is not outdated or something. idk i just assumed that before chessmaster was like the standard thing people go to to learn chess and then now chessmaster's been replaced by youtube or some other software (for learning about chess/chess960, not for analysing games. so i really mean the chessmaster lectures not the chessmaster engine or whatever)
    – BCLC
    Sep 1, 2021 at 14:45
  • 1
    It's not a matter of how you formulate the question, but rather the "thing you want to know" itself. chessmaster was definitely not "standard" and in fact this is the first time I hear of it and I don't know anyone who used it as a main resource for chess training/knowledge
    – David
    Sep 1, 2021 at 22:07
  • 1
    The fundamentals are never outdated. Maybe there is a meta at the highest level using engine lines.
    – qwr
    Aug 21, 2022 at 3:11

0

Reset to default

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.