If I was going to purchase a CD-ROM/DVD-ROM chess game, which one would you recommend? I already have Battlechess off of here and play chess on chess.com on rare occasions, but I wouldn't mind a bonified chess program in disc form, or as a digital download.

Note: I've never actually owned or played Chessmaster or series similiar >.> ....

I have more experience with the good ol' tabletop version :D (speaking of, if you want to play and your near Concord (New Hampshire) let me know).

Uh... I usually just play Chess Titans on Windows 7 Games. Even sometimes it is still hard for me to beat it. Is there any significant difference between those chess games you mentioned ?

Chess Titans is pretty dumb actually. Chessmaster is the way to go. Even older versions of Chessmaster (like 5500 and up) were of a tremendous playing strength and great tutorials. Battle Chess and Combat Chess are nice for a time, but the animations tend to be annoying after a while. Unfortunately gog pulled Chessmaster 9000 a while ago, that would've been a very good game to play.

Ouch.. Well, I play Chess Titans just for simple fun and a bit of thinking. I guess I am not really suited for real chess game :D

Perhaps sometimes I'll take a look at the game you mention..

This thread is maybe helpful to you, there you will find some interesting suggestions. In short: Fritz seems the most present and active chess series today, you can get the latest and a cheaper older one drm-free from gamersgate. Alternatively you can build your own chess game using the free GUI in combination with a [url=http://www.computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040/]chess engine. Some engines are also for free, which means you get a free chess game.

Edit: Mmh, somewhere on the forum must be another thread about chess games, I miss some suggestions/postings in my linked one. As example someone mentioned a genre-mix between chess and rpg (not Achron!), something like Puzzle Quest with chess.

There's this recent thread for more ideas. I posted in it myself.

My favorite chess program was the chess engine Junior. Most "human-like," swashbuckling, attacking, sacrificed material for such nebulous things as initiative and "play".

The best chess programs have a mode of play where you can get a beatable but still challenging A.I. opponent (In Junior and other Chessbase engines' case it was "sparring" mode). Also features that elevate it beyond simply "another computer chess" program.

I would have liked a "career mode" in a computer chess game (the way there's one in many sport sims) that took you from impoverished novice playing in local, no-name basement chess tournaments to big national events with capacious prize funds, with randomized draws and ladders of opponents. Plus maybe an under-the-table element in your player's "career," like playing chess for money in parks and seedy billiard halls. To my knowledge this sort of role-playing narrative has never been attempted in a computer chess game; I think it could be engaging if done right.