I am looking to find the best value in training software. Currently, I tend
to read through books, but I find it rather annoying to setup a board and
parse the notation for each example. It is tedious and doesn't play well in a
mobile setting. So, I am thinking of doing some training on the computer. I
note that ChessMaster X has a lot of training material. I am a owner of Fritz
8 and I already use it for analysis. Should I spend any money on ChessMaster
or should I consider one of the more speciallized chessbase training products?
What are others' experience?

Thank you in advance.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: 2DB9 813F F510 82C2 E1AE 34D0 D69D 1EDC D5EC AED1

If "the best value" is really what you're looking for, and your rating
is anything below Master, then Chessmaster is by far your best choice.
The audio-annotated Josh Waitzkin games, and the new Larry Christiansen
post-mortem of his 4-game match against CM9000, are worth the price of
admission alone.

And there is much more, although most of it is for the beginner to
intermediate player.

jm

Thomas, my favourite training software is made by Convekta. ChessBase has good training programs as well, but I think that the software "Total Chess Training" and Total Chess Training II cover a good deal of intermediate player's needs. These two products are good for players that are USCF 1400 and up. The material is very comprehensive and there are basically 5 products in one. Both software programs are a combination of 5 separate programs. There's a LOT of material there.

I think you'll find them for sale online at www.chesshouse.com or www.uscfsales.com

good luck with your studies.

Stuart