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Fritz Chess Review
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Manufacturer: Viva Media
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ESRB Rating: Everyone
Platform(s): Windows Vista, Windows XP
Release Date: September 20, 2007
Average Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
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Retail Price: $19.99
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User Submitted Fritz Chess Reviews
Date: 2008-12-17
Imperfect but it gets the job done
I couldn't find my copy of fritz 8 to put on a new computer so I ordered this one and recieved it yesterday. The interface seems to be exactly the same, the engine plays differently--its moves are much more natural, of course sometimes you get blindsided by a "computer move" that most humans would not have considered but on the whole the program plays with an intelligible strategy.
I learned to play chess quite a while ago now, using chessmaster, and if you are looking for an indefatigable opponent to practice against with what were good tutorials about ten years ago (they're probably even better now) I would go with that program, I think it did even have some analysis functions but I really don't remember--at any rate, for people trying to learn the game or improve their over the board skills chessmaster was a great program.
But chess master quite simply cannot do what you can do with this program. For $20 you get a very high class chess engine, and a poor-man's game database of about 1.2 million games. 1.2 million sounds like an awful lot, but if you are using this program to prepare openings (so you can bring some home cooking to your next tournament ;) ) you will usually want to see some tournament games in the opening you are preparing to serve as examples--it's much easier to come up with some middlegame plans when you've seen what has and what hasn't worked, preferably between players with a high standard of play. Big databases are helpful because in opening preparation about 99.999% of games in a database are completely irrelevant. Fritz also has a "deep positional analysis" function which is helpful in analyzing unusual positions--in a given position it will give you a branching variation tree (you can choose the number of branches it will analyze) which is helpful to get the lay of the land in an untested position without having to be at the computer while it does the analysis. The interface handles multiple engines pretty well--there is one main engine (generally fritz 10 though you could change it) in the analysis window, and then you can add "kibitzers"--other engines running in parrellel--it comes with crafty (which is very materialistic and is good at generating active piece play) and maybe one other, there are quite a few others available for free on the internet though not all features are supported when another engine is the main engine (english language comments in the "analyze game" function, for example.)
All the complaints about the interface are, if anything, understated. To input a game position (without using the clunky "set up a position" tool) you have to start a new game, turn off the engine, undo the move the engine made if the computer was white, and then input the position. Inexplicably, the "switch off the engine" option is under the "engine" tool menu, which is what you use to turn off the computer opponent in a game, and the "infinite analysis mode," which is what you use to have the computer analyze the position displayed continuously (the most commonly used analysis function, you input a move and it goes to work immediately until you want to look at another one), is inexplicably in the "game" menu. The search for a position in the database is inexplicably in the edit menu. After install you have to manually open the database on the hard disk because the program by default uses the one on the DVD which is prohibitively slow for searching. And, as a pet peeve, you have to input a 25 digit alphanumerical code to install the game, no doubt due to the pesky teams of code crackers who have as thier highest priority the illegal installation of $20 chess programs. Counter intuitive to say the least, but you do get used to it since there's really only so many things that you do with a chess engine/database program so you get used to the operations through repitition pretty quickly.
And yes, the program does work as a playing partner, and the speech during the game really is pretty funny. ("Ah yes, first played in the Russian metal workers' championship of 1926") If there is tutorial material, I don't know where it is though it might be buried in the mess of the menu system somewhere, I haven't really looked for it.
In short, this is a really great buy--for under $20 you get everything you need to analyze openings, including example games in a very functional, and big enough to be more than a toy game database.
In Summation:
If you want to be able to cook up really interesting innovations in the poisoned pawn najdorf or the botvinik system in the semislav, then you should probably spring for chessbase and fritz 11 (might as well get rybka, tiger and shredder too) since compared to the price of the computer you're going to need to really dig into those positions the difference in price isn't that much. If you don't know what the poisoned pawn variation of the najdorf or the botvinik variation of the semislav are, or for that matter what the najdorf or the semislav are, chessmaster might be better because it is almost certainly going to be strong enough and it has, or it had about 10 years ago, some good tutorials, and you can always pick this one up later if you find that chessmaster is not sufficiently frustrating :).
Date: 2008-10-28
Not Worth the Effort
This is Fritz from Viva Media. This is such a sad knock off of the Fritz programs from Germany which the latest version is Fritz 11.
You would think that a USA company could put software together better then Germany for Americans, not so. This pales in comparison. Does not even come with a full year at playchess.com.
I guess that is why the price is low. You get what you pay for.
Date: 2008-08-24
Fritz Chess
Great fun for your favorite beginning chess player.
The computer comments are a blast.
Date: 2008-07-31
Excellent program that could be better
The real question for most chess players looking for some chess software is whether to buy Fritz or Chessmaster. I have used both for many years. I actually go back to the days of Chessmaster 2100, which had the playing strength of perhaps a subclass F player, if such a player existed.
Fritz Chess is Fritz 10 in a different package that will run on Vista. Unlike Chessmaster it will run without the DVD being in the drive. As such it is an outstanding piece of software, the undisputed first choice for tournament and professional players.
It has various chess engines. I've only used the default. It is so strong that it can beat Grandmasters at blitz. There are no "personalities" such as Chessmaster has. However Fritz features a "Handicap" mode of play in which you can set the strength of your computer opponent (from Elo rating 1375 to 2337) and vary its tendencies, such how likely it will go for a king side attack or how often it will exchange pieces, or how much it will value defense of its king--even how often it will blunder. There is also a "rated game" mode in which you can select a playing strength and then play for an Elo rating. Fritz will update your rating and keep track of your record. Be warned: unlike Chessmaster which tends to overrate the playing strength of its "personalities," Fritz underrates its--at least at the levels below 2200, that I have played against. An 1800-rated Fritz opponent plays most of the game like a master player. It may give away the positional equivalent of say half a pawn, but having done that, it defends like Petrosian!
There is also a "sparring mode" with computer strength from "very easy" to "very hard." A nice feature here and in the "friend" mode (which automatically adjusts its strength to yours) is that Fritz has a window that lists all the moves that have been tried in the current (usually opening) position by players in its database. It's a nice way to learn openings or to avoid making an opening blunder. By the way, you can find modes of play under the "File/New" tabs.
Which brings me to a problem with Fritz: it is just not as user friendly as it could be. Why playing a new game should be under the "File" tab is beyond me. It just isn't intuitive. However you can get to a new game through the "Game" tab. But again there are quirks. You have to go to "Game/Levels" to pick the mode of play you want (sparring, handicap, etc.) and then back to "Game/New" to play. If you just go to "Game/Levels" you won't find "rated game." That's in the "File/New" tabs. Furthermore, if you set up a new level in the "Game/Levels" tab but fail to go back to the "Game/New" tab Fritz will not change the level! Fritz is full of maddening little quirks like this. Really I should call them BUGS.
It is also a pain in the neck to set up the time limit for the game, especially if you want a time differential so you don't have to wait for the computer to pretend to think. (Say two hours for you and 20 minutes for Fritz.) However you can under most modes simply hit the space bar on your keyboard and that will force Fritz to move. So Fritz's time setting isn't important. Be aware that with only just a few seconds of "thinking" time per move Fritz will play at something like the master level in its regular strength.
Fritz will analyze your game and give you hints if you like. It will analyze a tournament game you played, but you have to enter the score into a database or play out the moves in the human vs. human mode, which frankly I haven't found yet, and which may not exist. (If somebody knows how to set this up, please advise! Thank you.)
Fritz will play "giveaway chess" with you and Chess 960 (also known as Fischer chess) in which the setup of the pieces on the first rank is by random draw. This makes knowledge of specific opening moves practically worthless, and may be the chess of the future.
The DVD includes a database of over one million games with many sorting options (under "Edit/Filter games" tabs), including by player, by color, by opening (using ECO categories), by Elo rating, year, even by number of moves (in case you want to look for short games, or very long games, I guess). You can even combine options, such as Fischer between the years 1960 and 1968, which I just did. However Fritz's search engine is annoyingly quirky. I tried to get "Fischer, Robert J." Nothing. I tried Fischer, Bobby. No good. I even tried "Fischer,Robert James" which is exactly the way he is listed in the database. Nothing! Only "Fischer" worked and, alas, it also brought up some other players named Fischer.
Fritz has an Internet play feature that I haven't used.
So--which is better Fritz or Chessmaster? You know the answer--it depends! Personally I like them both for different reasons. But if I had to choose just one, I would choose Fritz because (1) the huge database, and (2) you don't have to have the DVD in the drive to play. For the less than master level player Chessmaster may be the better choice because the software is easier to navigate and more intuitive.
Final question, if you have a previous version of Fritz, should you upgrade to FritzChess (Fritz 10)? Putting aside Fritz 11, which I haven't tried yet, my short answer is no, at least if you have Fritz7 or higher. There is very little change, although the newest chess engine seems stronger--which could be a kind of "coals to Newcastle" type of feature.
Date: 2008-06-20
Very good and cheap chess software
This is a cheaper but full version of the Fritz X software.
I have used it with Vista on a laptop. There were no bugs, the chess software, the database and the training programs runs without any problems.
You can also use this software to store and analyze your games.
However, the chess engine is very strong for beginners.
If you have used Fritz before, this program has significantly improved interface and engine than its predecessors.
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