BOT.vinnik Chess: Winning Patterns

Although some games in this series felt like there was more content, I think Winning Patterns really lacks enough content. Although the game presents a few puzzles in each mate format, I think there needs to be more puzzles in each mate format. Even for $0.99, I feel like it isn't quite worth it, esp with the UI/menu being so jank.

Good for chess beginners.

I have looked at these little chess puzzle apps for a long time. I kept not buying them, fearing that they might be disappointingly easy. After all, I've been playing chess for decades and have a truly ridiculous number of chess books. But I was pleasantly surprised by this particular app in the series. Impulsively, I just bought them all (on sale), and have only tried this one so far, and haven't even finished it yet (I certainly will). But I'm reasonably far along into it, and feel that it is clearly well worth the modest price. It doesn't provide a ton of hand-holding. But the minimalist graphics, the short but well-chosen comments (when it discusses the mating themes), and the similarly good choice of themes, are just enough for somebody like me who prefers to be challenged while being taught or reminded. And some of the puzzles can, at times, challenge a serious player. I hope the others in the series of apps will prove to be as pleasant as this one. But I think this one provides enough value to justify the bundled purchase of them all. I can see replaying this from time to time until every puzzle becomes automatic. They are challenging enough as a group to make that less than a trivial endeavor, even if the app isn't massive. Good cheap training or remediation. Some may actually find some of the puzzles hard enough to be frustrating. But persistence and visualization are two of the skills good players have to develop, and that takes work. I find this to be a nice, useful little app, especially for the modest price. Definitely recommend. Edit: 1.3 hours to understand the interface and then solve all puzzles. Keep in mind I'm a very experienced player. I'll definitely go through them all again, repeatedly and periodically, striving to increase my speed. Even if I had not bought this on sale, I would be happy with the purchase. Good practice. Well chosen puzzles, grouped by theme.

Неплохо. Но это всего лишь небольшая программа с показом вариантов постановки разных видов мата и парой примеров подобных ситуаций. Ее даже сложно назвать обучающей - она в большей степени именно информационная. Для своей цены оно вполне прилично, но без дальнейшего закрепления непосредственно в игре, это не имеет особого смысла. То есть, это руководство может пригодится новичкам лишь в том случае, если сразу после этого вы пойдете играть в шахматы в компьютерном варианте или с живым соперником для закрепления материала.

I've been playing chess since kindergarten and even spent some time playing professionally. If I were to revisit my own chess learning journey or guide a child passionate about the game, I would absolutely [b] use this as a fun and engaging way [/b] to learn

BOT.vinnik Chess: Winning Patterns is one of six educational Chess puzzle games where you play subsets of chess games under guidance from a slightly snarky 2D retro pixel robot. The purpose is to teach advanced Chess stratagems to the player. Playing this game and understanding the puzzles will definitely make you better at chess. While the puzzles are fun, and the core design work, especially the puzzle selection and presentation and narration of the puzzles is very good, the implementation here is not so good. Each game only has around 20 short puzzles, and it's unclear why this had to be launched as 6 separate games. Did the publisher really want to pay Valve $600 instead of the $100 required to launch a game? The visual and interface quality is very low, as well, with monochrome 2D retro pixel art making everything look ugly. This is the kind of thing that really could have been done in a browser or even just a Youtube video, so charging money for it on Steam seems overly ambitious.

I normally don't go for chess problems, but the BOT.vinniks were cheap and looked like they might be entertaining. I was entertained, and if you like board games, chess, or strategy, you probably will be, too. By the end I was better able to visualize the next move required and stopped being mocked by the AI quite so much. 8 / 10 every Soviet schoolboy knows that one, and now so do I.

The way the positions are grouped together is helpful to practice a few different variations. I'm recommending this game only in so far as playing this will help you learn some more advanced strategies. The game itself is pretty sparse. Graphics are single colour. Movement of pieces is slow and buggy. Feedback doesn't help to see where you went wrong.

I bought this as a meme but it's surprisingly good for the price. Quite good puzzles and mates that don't always get enough attention. Only thing is that sometimes puzzles have multiple moves that are equally good, but only one is accepted.

Great chess strategy game!