[3] The Chessmaster chess engine is called The King, written by Johan de Köning of the Netherlands.

Chessmaster 9000, for example, features over 150 different personalities ranging from International Grandmaster strength down to Stanley, a chimpanzee who, in most situations, plays completely random moves.

[20] The Chessmaster 2000 developers aimed to anthropomorphize the game's chess engine with a mascot character to give players the feeling of a human opponent.

rather than a "black box"[21] The image became iconic, and the original photo remained part of the series' branding for 17 years.

Four different personalities were used in the match, the first three of which were based on famous human Grandmasters: Alexander Alekhine, Bobby Fischer, and Mikhail Botvinnik.

[25] Early Mac versions Chessmaster 3000 and 4000 were developed by Sebastian Rapport and Troy Heere that leveraged the Kittinger and de Koning engines respectively.

"[41] IGN criticized the Nintendo DS version of Chessmaster: The Art of Learning for its lack of multiplayer, but gave it an overall positive review, with a score of 7.8/10.

[42] IGN criticized the "boring" presentation of the PlayStation Portable version of Chessmaster: The Art of Learning, but added that "there's no doubt that the information is valuable and can teach you the finer points of the game.

In its review of Chessmaster 9000, IGN said that "the series has always distinguished itself with first-rate chess teaching tools", and welcomed the game's "appeal towards inexperienced and mid-level players.

"[46] GameSpot's review of Chessmaster 10th Edition commented positively on the game's "huge bundle of features aimed at everyone from the neophyte who's looking to learn the basics to the advanced wood pusher who may need practice for tournament play.

IGN's review of Chessmaster 10th Edition commented, "it simply doesn't add enough over any of the last two versions to make it a necessary upgrade.

[47] In 1994, PC Gamer UK named Chessmaster 4000 Turbo the 20th best computer game of all time, calling it the best of the series so far and accessible to all skill levels.