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Wii Chess details and screenshots

Out later this month.

Nintendo has finally made its move and presented us with details and screenshots to show off Wii Chess, which is due out in Europe on 18th January.

Part of the Touch Generations series, it boasts properly amazing computer AI based on the "loop chess engine", which Nintendo says ranked third in the 2007 World Computer Chess Championship in Amsterdam last year.

A quick scout around t'internet reveals they're not lying. As you can see, Loop's score of 7.5 narrowly edged out Shredder and GridChess but wasn't enough to stop Zappa and Rybka showing it up. Perhaps it lost out because it doesn't know what day it is.

Anyway, you're still going to struggle beating it, unless you move the slider down to the bottom end of its ten difficulty levels.

You can also go online and play people "across Europe" using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Look out for our review of Wii Chess in a future so near you can almost pick it up and then put it down again until you've made your mind up.