1000 x Checkmate (ChessBase DVD)

Have anyone tried it? Is it any good? ELO range??

i just got it...will give you a wee review in a couple of days :)

Great!

I know this is an old post, but I own this software and am using it now and maybe this will help someone considering buying it.

1-, 2-, and 3-move checkmates.  No explanations, but easy to use once you figure it out, therefore think of it like a checkmate puzzle book but with answers only. The program shows some alternative moves in brackets under the main line (like Convekta), but it seems like you have to figure out the moves beyond the first alternative move to get the computer to show the entire alternative line to checkmate.  There is an option to insert your own variations (for instance, a 2-move checkmate problem has a less efficient 3- or 4-move checkmating line that you want for your own edification), but I don't bother.

Best thing about the program =

1. 1000 checkmates from master-level games at the lowest logical levels (1-, 2-, and 3-moves) so even a beginner may get use of it;

2. Many of the 2- and 3-move checkmates start with a "quiet" move rather than forcing move...challenging for a beginner yet very instructive and at the most basic level in which a quiet move can exist (a 2-move combo, that is).

3. Software >> books, because you can see the lines play out. 

However you can find > 1000x checkmates here on tactics trainer or other tactics servers out there, although they may not be lumped together as such.

The ChessBase interface is somewhat intimidiating to new users/computer idiots like me.  But after fumbling around for several minutes, I figured out how to access the mates and I was good to go.

This program tells you how many moves to mate at the top of each problem.  Some may like this feature and some may hate it.  I have not bothered trying to see if I could turn that feature off because I am beginner and if the GM author thinks that telling me how many moves will still be educational for me, then I am not going to question it until I am more advanced and in tune with my own chess learning style (learning how to learn...chess).  As a beginner, I like this feature, to help with pattern recognition and calculation of basic mate patterns in those lowest number-of-moves checkmates.

Overall assessment = Good buy.  If 1000x Checkamte were a book (like Reinfeld's 1001 combinations), then I think it'd be considered great, because it has as many problems and they come from actual master games.  Also, it's software, so it is even better than a book.  Since mates are basically fundamental to learning all of chess, I think this program is well worth it.  If there is a problem with this program, it is that it is not called 100000x checkmate in the 1-, 2-, and 3-move format.  That would be very good for pattern recognition and calculation at the most fundamental level.

As far as Elo range...don't know.  My online rating hovers between 1300-1400 and my breakdown after going through 100x checkmate the first time around is this:

1-move checkmates: 173/185 = 92.9% (all were stupid errors, just going to fast, and not thoroughly checking the opponent's possible responses)

2-move checkmates: 342/469 = 72.6% (many of my mistakes were from the checkmates that began with a "quiet" move, but this was the most useful training aspect of the program for a beginner in my opinion; I also had many stupid errors from going to fast and not taking an extra several seconds/minutes to figure out the answer)

3-move checkmates = 181/365 = 49.6% (definitely above my level; 49.6% is actually an overestimate because I "cheated" frequently by making incremental moves, that is I would make the first move without seeing the entire line in my head, and then because I was lucky enough to get the first move correct, the problem would then become a checkmate-in-2, much easier than a checkmate-in-3)

Hope this helps.

Great Info!