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With all the interest in the World Chess Championship between Gary Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov, it is not surprising that there has been a corresponding attempt to persuade computer owners to buy a chess program. Last month the latest version of Colossus Chess was reviewed, and this month's challenger is Psi Chess from The Edge.

The first eye-catching feature of this product is the amazing graphics for the pieces. As well as the usual plan view of the board, you can also switch to 3D views of either the traditional Staunton set or the medieval Lewis set, the original of which is now in the British Museum.

3D sets are nothing new but the graphics used here are really sensational and streets above any other chess program that I've seen. You can rotate the orientation of the board so that the game can be viewed from any angle and you can fiddle about with border, paper and ink colours to your heart's content, even playing with invisible pieces if the fancy takes you.

As you would expect, you can play against the computer on several different skill levels. The seven main levels are graded from occasional (instant response) to tournament grade (average response time of three minutes). In addition, there are six levels of increasing response time that are more suitable for correspondence chess.

Beyond these, there are more options available to you. 'Blitz' requires you to make all your moves in five minutes or whatever time period you want to specify. 'Balance' tries to match the amount of time that you are taking so that if you think for a long tme, then so will the computer. Finally, there is a special option for beginners in which the computer deliberately tries to play a weak game.

Moves can be input either from the keyboard or via a joystick and you also have the facility to set up any position that you want to. This can range from setting up problems in the Press of the 'white to play and mate in three' variety or you can cheat by giving yourself an extra queen or so - not that Gamer readers would ever stoop to such low tactics! Setting up pieces is achieved through an extremely easy-to-use icon system.

Games can be saved and re-loadded when you want to study something in depth at a later date and other features include stepping backwards through moves, swapping sides and resetting the clocks. There is also the promise of further 3D sets being released although I am not sure how many people would actually spend the extra money. Perhaps it would have been a nice touch to include a piece designer program in the package as well.

The crux of a chess program is how strong a game it plays, and this is a very difficult thing to quantify. The beginner will get beaten regularly and as his game improves he can move up a level or two. The very good player will nearly always beat the program. The problem comes with those people who have reached a fairly competent standard. My feeling here is that Psi Chess is not the strongest program available, and the claims of Colossus Chess 4.0 would seem to be stronger here. But, as I have said, by far the majority of people playing against the computer will be able to set a level that gives them aa good game.

At this point, presentation and ease of use comes into its own, and this is where Psi Chess wins over its rivals. So, unless you are specifically looking for the strongest program currently available, I would recommend that you have a good look at Psi Chess. It is a job t play and lose against!