The game of chess has been played for thousands of years. It has been recognized around the world as one of the ultimate expressions of logic and mental competition. Beyond its strategic elements, it is regarded as an elegant, artistic game with enough designs and themes to satisfy almost any aesthetic taste. Following in that vein, no franchise is as well recognized in PC gaming as the Chessmaster series. Over the years, the Chessmaster games have progressively become more sophisticated both graphically and technologically.

The 10th edition is perhaps the most outstanding addition to the series. It's a fantastic experience for any chess lover to see how the pieces look and how realistic the artificial intelligence has become. The included 3D glasses may seem gimmicky at first, but turn out to significantly improve the game by making the pieces seem less like an abstract program and more like a life-like board.

The problem that plagues most chess games, and the Chessmaster series has been no exception, is the artificial intelligence. Not everyone can think like a grandmaster and plan ten moves ahead, much less ten thousand like a computer can. Usually, the computer player ends up either too easy or too difficult, and it's very hard to create a personality that matches an individual's skill or style. To this end, the 10th edition probably has the nicest selection of AI opponents of any of the chess games we have played so far. We could really see our opponents grow more skillful, but still make mistakes, giving us the edge. With each opponent we defeated, we graduated to one with a slightly higher skill level, until we got our perfect match.

Another pitfall that chess games can fall into is with its tutorial for weaker or new players. Having a tutorial or practice mode that is too difficult can turn players off to the game. 10th edition focuses heavily on helping to get new players into the game with a chess academy, taught and voiced by international chess champion Josh Waitzkin (the subject of the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer). The chess academy is a great way to teach new players how to play and strengthen a moderate player's game.

The staples of any Chessmaster game are all present here, including historic games between master players that people can observe. In addition, computer opponents, designed after the Grandmasters' styles, have been programmed for people to test their skills against. Our abilities weren't that impressive, which is why we love the component that allows us to practice our opening game. Studied for hundreds of years, a player's opening moves could potentially make or break a game. A database, composed of dozens of different openings and variations, is included in the 10th edition. The variety can be a bit intimidating, but we found it interesting just to go through some of them at random, since there is an audible teacher that tells you the pros and cons of using certain openings. If all that wasn't enough, the chess mentor is like having a teacher watching over you as you play, offering advice when you ask for it. The game offers as much or as little assistance as the player requires. To that end, the children's mode is appropriately cute, and further enhanced by the 3D glasses.

Getting back to the artistic elements, there is a large variety of piece, board, and background styles and gorgeously rendered materials that they are made from. The 10th edition even throws in some incentive to win by locking some of the styles until a certain number of wins are obtained.

Last, but not least, is the multiplayer element which is as easy as it gets. The Ubi player matching service is intuitive and lets you observe a game if you don't feel like taking on an opponent yourself. Altogether, Chessmaster 10th Edition is probably as comprehensive as a chess game can possibly get. The only downside is that even though the menu system is much easier than some of the previous Chessmaster games, it still requires some getting used to. This is a very small gripe, and when you get right down to it, if you're a chess enthusiast or someone who doesn't even know the rules, Chessmaster 10th Edition is one of the best titles around.