Author: Matthew Herman
Date: 11:02:05 12/04/98
I own cm6000 and I have found it to be an interesting opponent (I am a USCF expert and a WBCA master). However, one thing that i have found is that it repeatedly falls for closed center & KID type kingside attacks.. of course usually all programs fall for this once in a while but CM6k repeatedly falls for it.. apart from those types of anti-computer ideas it is a very tough opponent. If you have 20$-30$ and already have another program like fritz . you might want to buy it.. one thing that is a shame is that it doesnt have the infinite analysis where it goes with you when you are trying to analyze a game by hand.. and the engine is not compatible with other programs.. C-players and below may get a kick out of the different personalities and the Josh Waitzkin annotated games. The database functions are MUCH better than the previous "multimedia" versions (CM5k and cm5500). However, still not up to par with fritz5 or rebel. Also the 3-d boards etc.. are not eye-friendly.. so you may end up using just the 2-d boards.. as they are also faster when playing a quick game. One PAIN in the neck is when you are blitzing and you lose control of the piece so it becomes an "illegal move" and hten you lose 10 seconds on your clock while the "voice" says something like "Knights cannot move along diagonals, knight moves are always l-shaped".. I think there is a way to turn this off but i haven't found it yet. All in all the engine is about 2250-2300 strength and the differnet personalities can give you some interesting entertainment (they all have different styles). So consider buying it, but don't expect an engine as strong as fritz/rebel or the same database functions.
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