Read the help files; experiment; read the T-notes at chessbase.com. If you want to know how to do something specific, ask here. If I see it, I'll answer (I don't read these forums every day).
Computer neophytes find Chessmaster easier to navigate, but support is lacking compared to Fritz. Plus, CM lacks many useful features that Fritz offers.
The Chessmaster 10th Edition program offers a number of features not seen in previous verions...
I have Deep Fritz 8 and Chessmaster 10th Edition (I also have CM9000 and I belive CM 7000, which I bought a few years ago).
CM 10th will analyze a game and show you graphically exactly when tactical blunders were made (Fritz does this as well, but a graphical representation was not available on earlier versions of C-Master).
CM also offers a large selection of opponents to play against, from very beginners to grandmaster strength opponents, and everything in between. You can select an opponent based on their rating and playing style. You can also create personalities from scratch which will play with the skill levels and tendencies you set for them.
Among CMs personalities are representations of all of the great players throughout chess history, from Morphy to the present day. You can play against Morphy, Steinetz, Lasker, Capa, Alekhine, Fischer, Karpov, Botvinik, Kramnik, even Josh Waitzkin (at various ages). You can even set up tournaments and have them play against each other.
CM has some excellent tutorials and quizzes covering openings, middlegame, endgame, tactics, etc, as well as annotated games by Waitzkin himself.
I've actually heard that Yasser Seirawan provides the voice of the Chessmaster, but I don't know if that's true or not.
CM 10th edition is a big improvement over earlier versions. Someone mentioned that support is lacking, but I don't know that much support is really needed for CM 10th.
Also, when CM 10th analyzes a game, it does so audibly, in plain English. He talks through different variations, and explains which, if any, moves would be better than the move actually played, and then shows the variation to explain why.
I haven't used DFritz 8 enough to know all of the features it has... But to tell you the truth, comparisons between the two are really only valid if you're comparing Fritz with CM 10th edition, as earlier versions of CMaster lack many of the 10th edition features.
Since I'm not as familiar with Fritz as I am with CMaster, perhaps someone out there could comment on what features Fritz has that CMaster doesn't. I'd like to find out more about that myself.
And I definitely agree with Buddy about the chess board/pieces types... CM has too many differnt board and piece types that are of no use in trying to learn how to play better chess.
Originally posted by TheBloopMany people who have trouble navigating the sketchy help files need help. The Ubisoft website is a pain compared to chessbase.com.
Someone mentioned that support is lacking, but I don't know that much support is really needed for CM 10th.
If your dvd/cd drive is RW there is a chance you will need to buy and install a ROM drive in order to install CM X (there was a bunch of discussion of this problem in the CM X forums last fall, with a feeble apology from the folks at Ubisoft).
oops sorry ignore, will try posting as new doh..Hi all.. new to site, just got back into chess after a loooong break.. have an old Tandy 1850 which I conveniently lost the handbook for. done the WWW search and checked the Radioshack site, but no joy. Does anyone have the level settings, pretty sure a1-a8 are simple game levels, however I think b1-h1 are a variety of options just can't remember what..