Holy shit, I only made one post here in December! It was a busy month at work and I didn't have much time to mess around. And I was [am] obsessed with Chessmaster 10 lately. I always wanted to get into chess, but all I really knew was how the pieces moved so I was a pretty crappy player. Still am, I guess, but at least by going through the tutorials in CM10, I can say I know a little more about the game. Like pins, forks and skewers.

I'm almost done the first set in the academy section, the ones by Josh Waitzkin. They're pretty excellent, he explains stuff in a quiet, clear manner that makes it real easy to get into. I've been playing the CM10 "personalities" one by one, starting with the real low ones and working my way up. The low-scored ones are pretty easy, I even beat one without losing a single piece! I'm currently rated 1093 and the last opponent I beat was Miranda, rated 1207. I've just been playing against opponents until I figure out how to beat them, then moving on to the next higher rated opponent. One player that I should play against again is Thorian. I did manage to beat him, but he was pissing me off because he really beat me bad a couple times. I think it's because I was castling too early and he would immediately attack the side my king was on. It would probably be better if I waited until he committed himself to attacking up the middle and then castling. Maybe. Another thing I like with this program is the way you can go back in the training mode and load a game you lost and try to figure out where you went wrong. And hopefully figure out a way to win. I haven't played any of the tournaments either but they look like fun.