Chess King 2 with Houdini 2 Playing and Analysis Software (New Version summer 2013)

The support provided by Diego and Alexandra is of the highest quality both in accuracy and responsiveness.

I am not a serious player. I use it as the opponent in solving chess puzzles. It works for that purpose but I have yet to figure out fully what the analysis means. The free chesslab.com/positionsearch.html is online and is much more user friendly and intuitive. That analyzer clearly shows the best move for each side after you select the move you want for either side.

Chess King 2 is a very good all-around computer chess program that I discovered a couple of years ago during my search for an affordable, easy to use, and comprehensive modern chess software package. At the time, it fulfilled my desire to improve my distinctly average chess-playing skills better than any program I had ever used before. Here is a chess app that contains the Houdini 2 chess engine - still considered one of the better engines on the market today - and a host of other features that make learning and playing computer chess easier and more fun than ever before.Chess King 2 is easy to learn and use, a very challenging chess opponent, and a very good chess teacher. It allows me to play "rated" games against the Houdini 2 chess engine. Games can be set at varying difficulty levels ranging from USCF rating of 800 (beginner) to approximately 2,800 (grandmaster). To date, I have never won a game against the Houdini chess engine. Chess King 2 can also be played in what's termed "fun mode," where the Houdini chess engine is not active. In this mode, I've actually managed to win a few games, although only with some difficulty.Chess King 2 contains a large variety of chess puzzles that I have found very enjoyable and helpful to me in improving my game. Puzzles range in difficulty level from beginning to grandmaster.When I first purchased Chess King 2, I was running an older laptop computer with a single core processor, running Windows 7. The program worked flawlessly on this computer, and continued to do so when I installed it on a new laptop with a quad-core processor running Windows 8.1. Although Chess King 2 does tend to run somewhat slower on my new machine, it shows no compatibility issues with the Windows 8.1 operating system.I have two (very minor) gripes with Chess King 2:1.) I wish they had made the chess board and pieces a bit larger. Even on my 15.6-inch laptop display, the board and pieces seem a bit small, cramped, and difficult for me to see. UPDATE: I recently discovered an option that solves this problem: checking the “Hide Engine” box on the Analysis page hides the engine and user profile panels, causing the chessboard to expand to a much larger and easier to see size.2.) It would be nice if Chess King 2 had provided even a basic user's guide or help files with the installation disc. UPDATE: In 2015, Chess King published an outstanding 339-page user’s manual that was written noted by chess writer Steve Lopez. This book can be downloaded in .pdf format for free at the Chess King web site.Since I purchased Chess King 2, my interest in chess has been greatly renewed. I like this program so much that I eventually upgraded it on my new laptop to Chess King 4 Deep, with its expanded chess database and multi-core processor capabilities. Chess King 2 is still going strong on my older laptop, however, where it continues giving me hours of challenging fun, all the while helping me improve my game. Recommended.

Chess King 2 is an excellent product! Chess King 2 has many training features. I have just been using it for a few days so I have not yet even scratched the surface of all the different training features but what I have seen is outstanding! The software is an excellent value for the money and very useful for improving your Chess. Also if you are not familiar with the product, the legendary Steve Lopez has you-tube videos on how to use the software. One of the things that I love most about the software is that it will give you a rating of your Chess performance! Next from Chess King I will soon be purchasing the Chess King Training 6 CD combo!

I love it, and enjoy playing on it each day. I do get frustrated when I am playing a really good game, get down to where I have a couple of queens and other good pieces and then Chess King says I can't play any more - if they left me alone with the pieces I could have had Check Mate!But it is a great game, and I think it has helped improve my playing.

Somewhere there must be a guide that explains the ins and outs of the software and how it works. I had to install it twice to get it to work properly.

I played against it to test the rating and feel that it's ratings are not accurate on the lower levels. My rating on Chess King is higher than my USCF rating.I like to replay single games from the internet. Chess King requires that you import one game as a database, which is sort of fussy in my opinion.The leveling part of the program wasn't as much fun as I had hoped. I lost interest in that pretty quickly.So far, I like Fritz better, but I will keep playing with it.

User friendly, cheap, and fast. Only complaint is that I can't change the board or pieces. Instant analysis on a position- don't have to let it scan the whole game.

Basically the software is fine. However my version has some issues. Black pawns suddenly appear in odd places and disappear just as strangely.A certain opening sequence allows my a2 pawn to advance with no challenge. In doing this it is able capture a Bishop,a Knight, a pawn, a Rook and so Queen at a8. A complete nonsense. The problem is that no communication with Chess King gets any reply.Update; I have to report that Diego of Chess King has been very, very helpful and had problems that delayed his replies.

its okay but not what I expected it to be

Les auteurs du logiciel ont réussi à combiner le moteur houdini 2, 5.000.000 de parties et pas mal d'exercices - certes moins que les 5.000 d'Echecs+Pro mais 1.500 quand même. L'export .PDF est parfait (sauf un bug quand on change d'avis !). L'analyse d'une partie de la base s'obtient facilement par un double clic. La gestion de la base de parties est perfectible (très difficile d'isoler les parties d'une sous-variante). Le moteur calcule trois lignes de jeu maxi simultanément. Les icônes et les réglages sont en nombres plutôt insuffisants. L'insertion des diagrammes (CTRL+D) et des commentaires (CTRL+A) est bien faite. Le produit est multitaches ; on peut lui faire analyser une position pendant que l'on regarde des parties. Un logiciel sympathique.

Useful program to improve my chess. Have already recommended to others and will continue to use it over the coming years.

chess king as everything a chess player needs money well spent. its database as over 5 million games plus there is so much more like1500 training puzzles.and can analysis games.