Simon & Schuster Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess

Rating:
Summary: The best chess tutorial I've seen
Review: Caution: This program won't work on Windows 2000, but it does work on my Windows XP machine if I use the Program Compatibility Wizard and set it to Windows 98/Me

Review:
I have many chess books. Until recently, other media didn't impress me. I bought Chess Mentor, and enjoy it, but the lessons often use attacks that are too long for me to see. I also purchased The Pro Chess Video Chess Mentor DVD, a series of video lessons with (GM) Yasser Seirawan. Very good, but still just lectures.

Recently, my copy of (GM) Maurice Ashley's 'Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess' arrived. This is a multimedia program, published by Simon and Shuster. It is TOP QUALITY. It was designed for older Windows Operating Systems such as Windows 98 and Me. Consequently, it is out of print.

It is, however, readily available "Used" from Amazon.com or through the internet. Just search for 'Maurice Ashley Teaches Chess'.

This is the real deal, boys and girls. Soon after I started the challenges Mr. Ashley was evaluating my efforts with comments such as 'Wow, that's a really bad move', and proceeded to tell me why. That got my attention, and has held it since. Slowly, I'm getting consistant praise, and my rating is going up steadily.

As an example, check out the 'weak squares' lessons under strategies, folks. I would pay $200, any day, for those lessons.

This program won't work on Windows 2000, but will work on Windows XP if you use the Program Compatibility Wizard.

Chuck Smart
Challenge me on Redhotpawn.com

Rating:
Summary: My family loves this program!
Review: I'm an elementary school chess coach with two boys (ages 6 and 12)who love chess. This is a fun program, and I'd recommend it -- especially for kids (but also for adults.) Maurice Ashley is a chess Grandmaster who has coached a number of elementary championship teams. He knows how kids think. His "Championship training" exercises are challenging and fun; I can't leave mine up on the computer because one of my boys will finish it for me. I also especially like the chess instruction; it's explained well enough that my six-year-old can understand it on his own. I've seen big improvement in his play since I purchased this program.

For playing chess there are other programs I like better, but for teaching chess, this one can't be topped.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: This tutorial is just excellent. Maurice knows how to teach the concepts and make it FUN! The game spends a lot of time with challenging board drills to increase your tactical sense and board vision. They really work and I'm looking forward to working through all of them to see how far this game takes me towards good club level play. I highly recommend it to any beginner or intermediate player that wants to work on their game! Advanced or high intermediate level players probably won't benefit much from it, however, its fairly inexpensive and the drills are very difficult for me at least. If anything higher levels players could buy it and if they don't benefit from it they can give it as a gift to any aspiring chess players they know, it will be a very welcome and enjoyed present.