More often than not, the early commercial software for a new computer is attrocious. Psion has changed all that with QL-Chess. There is only one way I can describe it - superb!

It plays a very powerful game of chess; it won the recent World Microcomputer Championship, so it should provide a reasonable challenge for most mortals! There are 28 levels of play, and even at the lowest it's hard to beat! If you find a game difficult, QL-Chess is kind enough to advise you what to do next.

The range of features offered is impressive. It has a vast array of opening moves, or you can set up your own start position, play against the clock, go back through a game to analyse moves, obtain a printout of game analysis, save and load games, etc, etc.

The most impressive feature is surely the 3D chessboard. You can almost believe that you're looking at a real board. Moving pieces is simplicity itself, and sprite graphics slide your piece to the required square.

The pack insert claims without modesty "QL-Chess is an outstanding program in every way". I can't disagree with that!

D.N.