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Mychess not only plays a darned good game of chess but has more features than any other chess program I know.

The most startling innovation is the presentation of the board and pieces. As well as the usual two dimensional display, there is a 3D option. This gives you an eye-level view (human's as opposed to bird's) of the board. Not only that, but you can rotate the board to view it from any one of the four edges.

Remarkable as this is initially, in practice some pieces tend to obscure others in certain positions. Most players will probably prefer to use the traditional 2D mode, reserving the 3D mode to impress their friends.

You cannot flip between 2D and 3D on the cassette version (instead, you get two separate programs). The disk version does have this facility and a few other extras - demo mode, saving and loading games, plus 128 of the best games ever played.

There are two screens which you can toggle between at the touch of a key: one screen displays the board (2D or 3D), the other, the move record and options selected. A number of help screens can be called up at any time - which summarise the many commands and options at your disposal. Although Mychess comes with a comprehensive manual, the help screens are a boon.

There are nine levels of play, each controlling the time the program has to make a move. A mate-problem mode finds any mate up to a staggering nine moves ahead. You can instruct it to highlight all the legal moves available to a particular piece or you can pick a square and ask it to indicate which pieces are attacking and defending it.

The hint option is superb - an instant indication of your best move is given but the longer you wait the deeper Mychess continues to search, altering the hint accordingly. From this it is clear that the program thinks during the opponent's time, borne out by the fact that if you play a move that was recommended after a fairly deep search, Mychess usually responds instantly.

There is no room to mention all the features but included are a board set-up mode, action replay, swapping sides and a computer vs. computer mode.

This program is amazing value for money. It is beautifully presented and plays a high standard of chess.