Chessmaster coming to Live

By Tom Bramwell Published 29 November, 2007

We checked.

It might not be happening immediately, but Ubisoft is clearly seeing the whole board when it tells us that Chessmaster Live will be released on XBLA in January.

Chessmaster on Live will offer hundreds of AI opponents in "ELO-ranked matches", whatever that means, voice-chat and Live Vision functions and five "original chess variants", including a "Message Chess" version which allows you to spread a game out over "days, weeks or even months".

"Chessmaster Live is not only a comprehensive chess program, but it is also one that has expanded beyond the traditional game to include exciting features for fans, both old and new," says Ubisoft's Peter Helm.

Ubisoft already published various Chessmaster games here including the recently released duo of Chessmaster: The Art of Learning on DS and Chessmaster: Grandmaster Edition on PC.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (16) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • cathalzx #1 4 years ago

    Nice! Redhotpawn.com ftw!!

  • menage #2 4 years ago

    Great, another slot filled with crap.

    Nothing against chess, but I'd rather whip out a real board then.

  • BlueDot #3 4 years ago

    "Great, another slot filled with crap.

    Nothing against chess, but I'd rather whip out a real board then."

    Good luck with finding an opponent then. You are going to need it.

  • T4RG4 #4 4 years ago

    If you live in London, you havent the space to whip out a real board. Fake ftw \0/

  • menage #5 4 years ago

    I have very snobbish friends who whip out their boards in there 40km2 backyards all the time.

    Seriously, some people do still play real chess. How the hell would the understand Chessmaster anyway.

  • crummyname #6 4 years ago

    The problem here is cheating with computer assisted play, how will they be stopping your opponent playing his moves using fritz/chessmaster on his laptop?

  • Zomoniac #7 4 years ago

    I think it means that Jeff Lynne ranks each individual performance...

    /gets coat

  • Bumhug360 #8 4 years ago

    "Chessmaster Live is not only a comprehensive chess program, but it is also one that has expanded beyond the traditional game to include exciting features for fans, both old and new"

    I hope one of these new fetures is a fast paced real time mode. Turn based chess is so 5th century, what the genre really needs is you controlling the king and issuing commands to pawns and the other bits like a squad based game. Also the moving restrictions are a bit retarded and the class restrictions should be weapon based, pawns could have simple pistols with limited range and the castle things could have big cannons for long range bombardments. Also when you melee a bishop big words should come up on the screen that say YOU BASHED A BISHOP and you can get an achievement for bashing the bishop several times in one session. The board is a bit bland as well, need some different levels like an old warehouse, an old office block, a war torn street that sort of thing. You also get points for killing other players pieces that you can spend on upgrades for the next match and 2 player is a bit on the dull side, 8 players min please

  • Uncle_Fishboy #9 4 years ago

    Bumhug, brilliant. Made me chuckle.

    One word (ish)

    Gameknot.com

  • FaceOmeter #10 4 years ago

    "We checked"

    groans softly

  • smelly #11 4 years ago

    @Bumhug360: Sounds ace. Mind if i use your idea?

  • NegativeZero #12 4 years ago

    @Zomoniac: thank god, I thought I would be the only one to think that.



    I'd actually be more inclined to play it if it was against Jeff Lynne.

  • L42yB #13 4 years ago

    Ohh :) Battlechess as one of the game modes? Please? :)

  • Dizzy #14 4 years ago

    >"Message Chess" version

    Ooo.. that is a first for Live. I wonder if we will see more of this. Could be good for turn based games.

  • miiiguel #15 4 years ago

    Battlechess was so damn cool. Shit I'm feeling old today.

    Battlechess..., who would think of that ? man..., it's been so long.

  • chessmaster #16 4 years ago

    Heh - check out for a cool chess game

    64squar.es

    : )