Fritz & Chesster Part 3 – Review in USA Today

In the USA Today column CyberSpeak we find the following review by Jinny Gudmundsen (excerpts):

Lots of kids know how to move chess pieces, but when they learn tactics and strategies, they discover what makes chess such a great game. The computer game Fritz & Chesster's Chess for Winners is a great way for kids' to expand their chess knowledge. It continues the series' tradition of teaching chess strategy within the framework of an interactive computer adventure.

Chess for Winners contains an excellent series of minigames that explore advanced chess theory. By presenting meaty concepts within a whimsical game format, kids can learn complicated tactics in a non-threatening way. Cleverly, the minigames break down the components of strategy into different levels within the game, and make good use of animations to help kids visualize what is happening. For example, when the program is trying to teach key squares, those squares will appear in a different color.

Compared with Learn to Play Chess with Fritz & Chesster 1, this software has less of a storyline. Even so, it is well worth exploring if you have a child who is interested in chess. It is a must-buy for those children who have enjoyed the first two titles in the series.

• Read the full review in USA Today here

Learn to play chess with

Fritz & Chesster – Part 3

Fritz and Chesster is one of the best-selling chess programs in the world. It is aimed at young beginners (and their parents!) and involves inserting a CD into a drive and showing the very young child how to use a mouse – if that is at all necessary. Then step back and watch a new chess player emerge. Within a week or two the child will challenge you to a game – and you better keep your wits about you!

Fritz & Chesster is an unforgettable chess adventure, designed to advance young chess players' skills, move by move. It contains mini-games, brain-twisters and other attractive diversions. You pick up chess tips and skills as you ride in bumper cars and the Ferris wheel. Polish up your chess strategy and tactics, opening, middle game and endgame, and use what you’ve learned to win.

With Fritz & Chesster you’ll have lots of fun while you learn more about the serious business of playing – and winning – chess! The third iteration includes the following:

• Introduction of the chess clock
• Thinking things through
• Opening scheme
• Tactics: diversion, interruption
• Removing the defender
• Recognizing mates
• Types of chess (blitz chess, capture chess)
• Endgame training
• Key squares
• And lots more

  
  Chesster's flea circus

  
  Tin can alley

  
  At the fair

System requirement. Mutlimedia PC: Pentium II 233 processor, 32 MB RAM (16MB free memory), 16-bit soundblaster compatible sound card, 16x speed CD-Rom drive, Graphics card: resolution 800x600 pixels (16-bit colour), Win ME/XP.

• Order Fritz & Chesster 3 here

List of stories on this remarkable children's program

Old world sophistication, not rampaging rooks 2/10/2005 When a magazine like Game Chronicles reviews a nerdy chess program you would expect a gigantic yawn. "When I began playing Fritz 8, I figured a jeans and T-shirt guy like me would hate it," admits reviewer John DeWeese, who also tried out our children's tutor Fritz & Chesster. See how he fared...

Fritz & Chesster 2 gets five-star review 1/6/2005 Our children's chess teaching program is out there, generating thousands of new chess players. Like no other chess software "Fritz & Chesster" has scaled the mail-order lists, landing on the top of the Amazon top-sellers. Now version two is out and getting rave reviews.

Fritz and Chesster volume two 12/15/2004 The original Fritz & Chesster children's teaching program is currently number two on Amazon's overall top selling software list, just behind Adobe's latest Photoshop Elements 3.0. Quite unprecedented for a chess program. First reviews of volume two lead us to suspect that it will do as well as the original.

Fritz and Chesster tops Amazon 11/13/2004 For the first time the bestseller list in the Children software section of Amazon was topped by a chess program – ahead of Nancy Drew, I Spy and Backyard Baseball. Learn to Play Chess with Fritz & Chesster by Viva Media has received a 4½ (out of five) star rating. Meanwhile Viva has announced the release of Fritz 8 Deluxe. Curious?

Gold Award for Fritz & Chesster 3/25/2004 Our children's CD-ROM title has won the 2004 Parents' Choice Gold Award. The reviewers found Learn to Play Chess with Fritz & Chesster "wonderfully unexpected, charming, simply animated, and cleverly designed." It is number 35 on Amazon's top selling software list and has received almost exclusively five-star reviews.

Maybe you should get it for the kids?! 03.12.2003 After testing hundreds of new titles this year, USA Today came up with their "Best Picks for the Holidays" in the category of children's "edutainment" titles (software combines entertainment and learning). Among the eight titles we find Fritz and Chesster, our very successful children's chess tutor. Here's the full USAT list.

Software of the year, five stars for Fritz 18.09.2003 Game Industry News has reviewed our program Fritz 8. Their conclusion: "Fritz earns 5 GiN Gems for being one of the most entertaining, informative and easy to use chess games on the market today." And Parenting Magazine has chosen Fritz & Chesster as a winner of the magazine’s prestigious “Software of the Year” awards. More...

Learn to play chess with Four Fat Chicks 24.08.2003 The name of the site is, well, interesting. Four Fat Chicks does reviews of adventure games and software that goes beyond the mass destruction of humans or aliens. This week it's Fritz and Chesster, which they call "one of the more remarkable and commendable edutainment titles" they've seen. Here's their charming review.

A wolf in sheep's clothing? 10.07.2003 "Learn to Play Chess with Fritz and Chesster is a bit like a wolverine in that it's cute and furry on the outside, but has some real teeth once you get involved with it," writes GiN, the Game industry News service. The note that most children won't even realize they are learning how to play chess. You can buy the program here...

Slow and steady 02.07.2003 "Learn to Play Chess with Fritz and Chesster is a tad slow-moving at times, but its system is quite effective and the story very charming," says this software review, which gives the program an A. You can get your kids a copy of Fritz and Chesster here.

Chess 'toon fun a cool combination 25.06.2003 "In a world of violent video games there must be a place for children and their parents to interact and actually learn something," says this Washington Times review. Fritz and Chesster will "turn junior into a grandmaster before mom and dad can say Svetozar Gligoric."

Yet more rave reviews 19.06.2003 After USA Today gave it a resounding five stars (of five), now Cablevision's Power to Learn reviewer Diane S. Kendall calls Fritz and Chesster "one of the best of its kind I've seen in years". And Discovery.com gives it 9.2 out of 10 and a 5½ star rating. "Making the game of chess child's play is not entirely easy, but this new game succeeds admirably".

Chess is child's play 11.06.2003 That's what USA Today thinks, after looking at our children's chess teaching software Fritz and Chesster. "This software has an amazing amount of depth and is presented in a progressive manner," writes USA Today reviewer Jinny Gudmundsen, who gives the package five stars (out of five). Here's the report.

It's raining awards and prizes! 04.06.2003 Our top programs are doing pretty well out there in the media scene. Europe's biggest computer magazine gave Fritz 8 the top place for board game software (Shredder 7 came in second), and the Bologna Children's Book Fair gave Fritz & Chesster the top children's media prize. More...

Soccer moms and Chesster 20.05.2003 "The US is going to become the world's powerhouse of chess, I can guarantee that," writes star journalist Rudy Chelminski (Smithsonian, Wired, Life, et al.). "How? Why? Because of the soccer moms and Chesster." After some experiences with our program Fritz and Chesster Rudy is convinced that the next Morphys, Fischers and Polgars are at their computer screens right now. More...

Fritz and Chesster get an A 01.05.2003 Of course we are proud when ChessBase super-programs like Fritz and Junior bash Kramnik and Kasparov. And we're proud that just about every GM in the world uses ChessBase every day, as do thousands of other chess fans. But we're REALLY happy with our new Fritz and Chesster program that teaches chess to kids. And so was a Houston Chronicle writer, as you will see here.

A revolution in chess learning 02.04.2003 It is possibly the most important piece of software created by ChessBase. Like none of the other products – Fritz, Junior, Shredder, or even ChessBase itself – Fritz and Chesster is one that can recruit new players to the game. We predict that tens of thousands of children will take up chess because they had access to this program. Here's a description of the ultimate chess teaching tool for children.