User Reviews (1 - 11 of 17)

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Improve Your Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game took me from a good household playing level (adult - 7-800) to a poor chess club learning level (adult 11-1200). It has made me more aware of my blunders and helped me find basic opening moves which play to my strengths.

The "friend" mode was the most help - it continues to provide a balanced challenge for me. I liked the presets like the patzer and the drunk - it helped with five minute speed chess and with my park play.

The endgame practice could be stronger and the game would benefit from revisions to make it easier to use for beginners (I marked it down one star for these reasons).

Not exactly what i had expected.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 8 / 15
Date: September 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Chess. Not much to it. However since i was a first time player to the game, i thought due to other reviews of this game that this would be the game i needed to teach myself how to play. How wrong i was. It's not that this is a BAD game, i guess my complaint is more along the lines of the user interface. I'm pretty well rounded with computers and software, and even i was confused as to how to change games, change boards, difficulty, ect ect.

I passed the game along to a few other people, and not to my surprise, they returned the game back to me after about a day reporting the same frustrations that i was having.

All in all, i learned to play the old fashioned way, on a real board.

Awesome Software

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: March 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I dabbled in chess for a few years, but never really got into it until I got this software. The analysis tools are amazing. My favorite feature is the explain all moves. Every legal move gets ranked, a quick description, and the expected variation. The only drawback is that this is not for true beginners. If you just know how the pieces move, you might want to look elsewhere for basic tactics. Even on a weak setting, this engine will PUNISH a bad move.

TOO MANY FILES

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 13 / 23
Date: April 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The chess playing is OK, but trying to save a game is absurdly difficult. Why do software writers think we need a ZILLION FILES. Why do they think we want to click a dozen times to access one simple function. I operate under the princilpe of SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY. Why is the operating principle of this kind of software COMPLICATE, COMPLICATE, COMPLICATE. While code writers get orgasmic over all the crap they include in the software, we users have to waste riduculous amounts of time TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH SIMPLE TASKS. In my wildest dreams I could not design a more ABSURD system for saving games than the code that comes with Fritz 8

Fun with Fritz

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: November 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is a really fun game, and it will improve your chess quickly. You will have use the help function to really understand how to completely use the program. The opponents voice is great, and you will enjoy winning very much, when you actually do. Kasparov's analysis is difficult to keep up with, but is a nice add on. If you want to learn chess this is a good place to start. The program is practically unbeatable if you set it to full strength, but it gives you the option of gradually increasing strength of play.

Everything you'd want in a chess game plus lots more.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 20
Date: January 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I cannot review Fritz 8 because it was not available when I bought Fritz 6 just after Christmas this last year. But if Fritz 8 is better than Fritz 6 you will love this program. It has all the features it says it has plus more. It has a kibitzer that you can adjust to any degree of power to give you ideas on what to play next. This can help you see moves you would normally have not thought of before but depending on the power they may not be good moves either. But the choice is yours on adjusting the power. It does have an analyzer that will go through the game after you've played and tell you if it was a good move, not a good move, or maybe a move that didn't really help your position. If you do the full analysis you'll be looking at close to 45 minutes to an hour before it completely finishes. But there are lessor power analysis available too.

Fritz 6 is an excellent chess game for all levels of play and I got a whole lot more than what I had expected. Had Fritz 8 been available I would have bought it.

Best on the Market

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: January 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

My son plays chess on the computer frequently. He says this is the best program he has ever used. He has learned many strategies by using it.

Pretty good deal

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: October 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The Fritz 8 delux has lived up to my expectations so far. My daughter has played on it at a beginner level and found it exciting as she was able to win some games. I had read in some reviews that it is impossible to beat so this came as a pleasant surprise that the lower levels do decrease the level of play. I am yet to try out the higher levels but will be wont be too upset if I dont win too often.

Not for beginners

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: September 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Fritz 8 Deluxe is a great training tool for average rated players who wants to become stronger, strong amateurs, and even grandmasters to analyse their games. In my experience, Fritz 8 wasn't as complex but just takes a bit of extra work to access certain functions and bothersome to insert CD for some functions. It might take time to adjust to using all of Fritz's functions. It would be easier if they'd just put all functions and data library into the hard drive listed with the Custom installation type all at once.

The one thing I hated most was the Beginner's Course. There is no forward button for you to continue through the lists of the course. You'd have click on the task bar window each time to go to the next lesson. Each lessons and exercises are very brief. Often new Fritz 8 users using Beginner's course couldn't tell if the lesson already ended. The only training course that is worth learning in Fritz 8 Deluxe is the Opening training.

The computer's chatter feature is nice. Preset playing styles such as Drunk, Desperado, Assassin, and Unleashed are good but could use pictures of people with bio of age, personality, style of play, and habits like Chessmaster 9000 has to support the chattering feature.

Works well, if somewhat difficult to use.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: July 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I must agree with other reviewers when I say that the interface is simply awful. It's much harder to navigate than it should be. The 3D graphics, if you opt to use them, are herky-jerky and poorly programmed but nicely rendered when not moving. Chessbase should really release a patch for that, but I suspect they won't. Fritz's talk feature is neat for a few minutes, but quickly drags - that goodness you can turn it off. I do not enjoy having my computer mock me while it beats me to a pulp on the chessboard.
And another thing. When the chess coach (which, being relatively new to the game, I leave on) tells me that "This move will lose the game for you, Nick" or "This move will spell your downfall.", I would absolutely love it for him to elaborate and (being a coach) maybe tell me WHY. But he won't. I can slap the two hint buttons all day long and he says nothing. Sure, I can hit the suggestion button, but I would much rather figure it out on my own with a hint and learn something than be told what to do and wonder. I realize it's my own dumb fault for putting myself in situations where Coach would tell me that, but still, I'd like explaination so I learn from it.
That said, there are many helpful functions to be had, once you've found them. The openings training is nice because it will automatically set up an opening for you and allow you to play from there, giving you a feel for how each one works. Endgame training is harder, but welcome. A whole bunch of openings and a few variations are included. The beginners course is pretty good for newer players like myself, and includes a few exercizes. It's relatively easy to set up chess puzzles on the virtual board, too. Another neat feature is a seperate, smaller window with a board for analysis while you're playing.

I ended up liking this program once I figured out how to do what I wanted to do with it, and playing against such a difficult engine has made me think about what I'm doing noticeably more after just a few days of playing against it. Recommended, though I have no experience with Chessmaster software to compare this to.

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