New Version of PocketGrandmaster

[Andy Sjostrom]

<a href="http://www.pocketgrandmaster.com/english/index.html">http://www.pocketgrandmaster.com/english/index.html</a><br /><br />PocketGrandmaster 2.0, a strong shareware-chess program for Pocket PC is now available in a new version. Features include a new engine called Ruffian by Perola Valfridsson (in addition to Gromit and<br />SOS), support for the electronic chessboard by <a href="http://www.dgtprojects.com">DGT</a> and <b>spoken announcements of moves</b> in Dutch, English, French, German and Spanish! My first question when I saw this announcement was how PocketGrandmaster stacks up against my favorite Pocket PC chess program <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=799">"Pocket Fritz"</a>. This is the response from the makers of PocketGrandmaster. I include the entire response as it is in itself evidence that these guys are serious chess players! <!><br /><br />"There have been no "official" tournaments, but some of our beta-testers <br />played testgames before we released PGM 1.0 last year. Here are some collected results:<br />PGM - Pocket Fritz: 6.5 - 9.5<br />PGM - Chess Genius: 33.5 - 26.5<br />PGM - other: usually like 3.5-0.5, 4-0, ...<br /><br />Currently I would rank Pocket PC chess engines like this:<br />1. Pocket Fritz. PF is strongest, especially in engine-engine matches.<br />2. PocketGrandmaster (with default engine, Ruffian might become stronger)<br />3. Chess Genius. PocketGrandmaster and Chess Genius are quite close. At very short timecontrols (faster than blitz), CG may be stronger, but at slower timecontrols PocketGrandmaster is stronger.<br />big gap<br />4. all the rest: Palm Chess CE, Pocket Chess, Graduate Chess, Mobile Chess,...<br /><br />Since PocketGrandmaster has a "multi engine"-feature, it might come closer to Pocket Fritz, when the "Ruffian"-engine further improves. Ruffian is *very* close to Shredder [engine in Pocket Fritz. Andy comment] on desktop PCs, but lost some of its speed on the Pocket PC. However, the most important difference between PocketGrandmaster and Pocket Fritz is probably that a customer can download and test PocketGrandmaster <br />before buying it, whereas Pocket Fritz is only available on CD."<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/pgm_01.jpg" />

[karlth]

Another plus for Pocket Grandmaster over the competition is its graphics. The default chess set is superior to the competition's and for us &lt;2000 ELO players that is more important than the difference between 2400 or 2405 ELO points. :)

[NLS]

extremely straight reply from those guys I'd say

there are people who would buy their product just for that

[Marcel_Proust]

Yes. A very nice reply.
One reason I didn't get Pocket Fritz is the CD only order and higher price.
I have PocketGenius, and probably like most players out there, don't need to be further humiliated by a stronger player.
Any advantages to adding pocketgrandmaster to my stable? The voice announcement, graphics, etc. don't really make the difference for me. I am looking for a program that is a bit unpredictable and plays more like a human. which program is good for that?

[ThomasC22]

Plus, this is a lot less of a resource hog in comparison to PocketFritz

[Jeff Rutledge]

Question for all you "Pocket Grandmasters" out there:

I've never really gotten into Chess, but would like to give it a whirl. I know the basic rules (very basic rules...not much beyond how the pieces move), but that's about it.

Would you recommend any of these products as a teaching tool? Do any of them have tutors or anything like that? If not, is there a Desktop program I could look at?

Many thanks.

[Len]

Would you recommend any of these products as a teaching tool? Do any of them have tutors or anything like that? If not, is there a Desktop program I could look at?



Although I know how to play chess, I do not have a real sense of strategy & tactics. So, I would consider myself in the same boat as you.

These products have tutors, but all the tutor really does is tell you when it thinks you've made a bad move. But, that's all it tells you, not why it's a bad move. So, in my opinion, these types of tutors are not the kind that a novice can learn from.

If you go to the Chess Genius web site, there are links to online tutorials which are pretty good.

The best desktop program I have found to learn chess basics and advanced techniques from is Chessmaster x000. The tutorials are excellent and have excercises). I curently have Chessmaster 9000, but as far as I have read, there is little difference in any version above 5000. The major difference in the higher versions is graphics, but you'll probably end up using simple 2D boards anyway because they are easiest to work with.

Hope this helps you.

Len