Chessmaster 9000 is one of the best chess games out there. Unlike so many other games which feature a Hard which is impossible and an Easy that is impossible not to beat, Chessmaster offers an incredible degree of customization designed to make you a better chess player. For the novices, it will guide you step by step through the basics of the game, and get you to start thinking 2 or 3 moves ahead. For the amateurs, you will get strategy guides, including play-throughs of some of the most famous offenses and defenses. And for the pros, you get a very challenging AI that often uses those very same strategies against you. You get a wide variety of boards, styles and feels from the most cut down visual representations to quirky battle chess simulators. I've had this game for a long time, and I highly recommend it.