[theo cupier]

Does anyone have this title?

If so how do you rate it for younger / beginner players? My 7 year old is getting in to chess and I'd rather he had a better teacher than me.

I've read a few of the reviews linked from gamerankings.com but they are a bit contradictory: some suggest it's aimed at the slightly keener or more experienced player while others say it's good for beginners.

It doesn't need to start at the "this piece is a rook, it can move like this" level, but it does need to provide easier challenges and game opponents. A lot of the PC-based chess games I've seen seem to be great at emulating all the different world champions but not so hot on the beginner level.

Any views would be welcome.

[Fastolfe]

I have this and am enjoying it - i'm 34 so haven't been looking at it from a kid's perspective and haven't played on the beginner levels..however it plays a reasonable game of chess and has some other chess 'games' (other smaller game types like things to practice forking, pinning pieces,mate in one, avoiding mate etc etc which is great practice and can only improve your 7 year old's game) - I'd recommend it. It doesn't have loads of tutorials like the pc versions of chessmaster. It does have the basics - what each piece does, how to set up the board, and also an 'advanced tactics' section which explains En Passant, Skewers, Discoveries, Castling etc.

It has three difficulty levels - easy, medium , and advanced, and within each level has about 8 different players of various ranks. It also allows you to set up a board however you want and play from there....

It's a handy portable game of chess - I don't think you could go wrong for a 7 year old.

[robo-son]

i've got it and ii agree, its a great game, but im no good at chess