Excalibur sign ups Fritz & Chesster 1

London, August 11th 2005

Product: Fritz & Chesster 1

Developer: Terzio

Genre: Chess-playing Game (6 years +)

Platform: PC CD-ROM

Release: 26th August 2005

Territory: UK & Scandinavia

RRP: £19.99

UK PC publisher Excalibur Publishing has today signed a deal with Germany based ChessBase GmbH to publish their highly respected Fritz & Chesster 1 children's chess game. Aimed primarily at six years and upwards, the game is based on and derived from the world-famous Fritz chess-playing program. With the help of in-game characters Prince Fritz, Chesster the rat and cousin Bianca, the game teaches children how to play chess and then tests and increases their knowledge in a wide range of games and situations.

Children will quickly learn to set up a chess board in readiness to start playing, learn what stalemate is and when it's time to call it a draw along with the meaning of opposition and exactly what "up the stairs mate" means. All of these questions and many more are answered via animated games and contests.

Go pawn-whopping in Pleasantville and find out all the things a pawn can do. Train hard in the IntelliGym and win cups for your efforts. Fancy a new kind of move or a different type of mate? Everything is explained step by step on screen.

Other game features:

• Learn to play chess the fun way, based on "Fritz" the world's leading chess software

• Developed by experienced children's coaches

• Free one-year full access to the internet chess server www.playchess.com with product registration

• Swap between non-traditional and traditional chess pieces at the click of a mouse button.

Commenting on the deal, Excalibur's managing director, Robert Stallibrass, commented, "Securing the children's strand of this best-selling chess game is a natural progression for Excalibur. We've marketing the Fritz brand very effectively throughout the UK and Scandinavia and that's why ChessBase are only too happy to give us the rest of the range. Fritz and Chesster 1 has been a massive success in the US and we're looking to do the same thing here in the UK and the Nordic territories!"

Fritz & Chesster 1 will be followed by Fritz & Chesster 2 later in 2005. Part 1 teaches the basic moves of chess using cartoon animation to explain and demonstrate the game. Fritz & Chesster 2 focuses on strategy, tactics, beginning and ending games.

UK Press Information Contact:

Richard Barclay

Richard Barclay PR & Marketing

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7386 7398

Email: richard@richardbarclaypr.co.uk

Note to editors:

About Excalibur Publishing

Set up in 2004, and a division of distributor Contact Sales Limited, Excalibur Publishing is the PC video game publishing arm of the group. Its aim is to bring good quality, original and innovative products to the PC games player. www.excalibur-publishing.com

About Chessbase GmbH

ChessBase, the Hamburg based software company, has been producing quality chess database and playing programs for more than eighteen years. ChessBase products are available in seven languages and are used by top players all over the world, including world champion Garry Kasparov. The most popular ChessBase product is the chess program Fritz and the internet chess server playchess.com