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The best money can buy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 47 / 50
Date: January 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is simply unbeatable quality in every respect - This is like driving the best, fastest, & easy to handle car ever built plus all amenities - think Maybach, (best of the best.) The rest of the chess software games out there don't even compare. And none of the others have the free playchess.com membership. Viva also has a live help line, I don't know of any other company that has a toll free number to call for help that has a real person on the end of the line. This is a deal; the price is a bargain when you figure what you get for your money.

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.

The best software I have ever bought

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 19
Date: February 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I received Fritz three weeks ago and I must say that this program is awesome. What I really like is the Rated Game mode, where you can adjust the strength of the machine all the way down to 1600. The program downplays its strength beautifully and the blunders it makes (1600 rated people make lots of blunders, usually every game) almost always remind me of human blunders I've seen or done before. There are NO silly moves like hanging a queen for no purpose, etc. (unless you have it in a mating net, at which point hanging a queen may not be worse than any other idea anyway) and beating Fritz takes effort and care - it will punish you for a stupid move, and by no means do you have an automatically won game if you get a pawn ahead.

The display is neat and clean, no overdoing on graphics, but still a very good looking board (both 2D and 3D). The databases are extremely well thought out and organized so that you never have to waste time manually saving games etc. The analyzis functions are cooler than hell; especially BlunderCheck. And if you have ever wanted to study openings, well, here you go. A monstrous 500,000+ games database, plus a sophisticated openings book and a program that actually claims to learn from experience (I haven't figured that out in action though) give the aspiring Grandmaster all the tools he needs.

I have already improved a lot tactically from only three weeks of using this program. If you're serious about improving your game, go for it. I can not imagine how one could be disappointed.

A must for a serious chess player of any skill level

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 107 / 113
Date: March 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Though I prefer human players, like most people, I went hunting for a computer chess game because my skills had degraded playing less skilled human opponents. Maybe you arrived at this page with the same motivation or additional ones.

Without hesitation, I turned to Amazon, because it beats the price and selection of any retailer of my knowledge. I really dig Amazon's reviews, *especially* negative reviews (I LIKE a merchant that gives me reasons NOT to buy something...then I usually buy something else anyway). Yes, I even like to see negative reviews that I disagree with. I probably marked any neg. reviews for Fritz as "Helpful," prior to buying it.

I compared Chessmaster to Fritz, really the only major players I am aware of. I did not see that Chessmaster really distinguishes itself, other than notoriously incompatible copy protection, though it is true Fritz has copy protection as well. I have bought versions of Chessmaster in the past (the last was 3000), and it is roughly equivalent to Fritz in play, so if a sizable price difference arises, you might keep that in mind. If you hunger for really funky sets, Chessmaster might be your choice as well. I favor the Stanton wooden 3D design myself.

Things I really like about Fritz: strong, very fast game. Unless you are very, very good (a Master), Fritz can beat you with only 5 minutes/game, assuming you have an average PC. Very good graphics. This is also true of many other chess programs, but I get the impression Fritz is among the stronger programs because of its frequent mention by chessmasters in Chess Life, where there is often an aside that "so-and-so checked his end game play against Fritz and discovered that..." This impressed on me that Fritz had developed a reputation among world-class players that Chessmaster had not. What the reasons for this may be, I am not sure.

Two novelties deserve comment. First, let me mention that Fritz makes witty, rude comments in a variety of European accents. You can turn this feature off if it annoys, but I found it rather amusing, relieving the tedium of playing a pulseless computer, giving game-play more of a human touch. The second novelty is The Coach, a cigar-chomping bald old man who pops up when you mess up, giving the option of taking your move back. You can ask for a Subtle Hint or a Broad Hint. I often choose the Subtle. And sometimes require Fritz to prove it to me.

One minor peeve about Fritz is the mouse pointer is jumpier than normal. But I quickly became accustomed to this and am not bothered by it anymore. The massive calculations Fritz performs in the background is, no doubt, responsible for the sluggish mouse response.

I have not even begun to plumb the depths of Fritz's other features, but it is clearly feature-rich. I do feel as though I got my money's worth and that this will be the LAST computer chess game I buy (please may computers remain backwards-compatible!)

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

Absolutely fabulous

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 15
Date: April 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This program is a HUGE IMPROVEMENT of the original release of Fritz 8 as far as playing strength goes. It is much much stronger. It is right up there with the newest version of Shredder 9 which has been the top computer program for years as far as playing strength goes. Wonderful tactically but the positional play improvements with this program are scary good. Whether you're a beginner or master, this is the first computer program you must have. Almost all GMs have Fritz for an analysis tool and quote them often with their annotations. On a 600 Mhz computer or higher, unless you're an International Master or Grandmaster, you will not beat this program when you don't limit its playing strength. You'll be lucky to draw. It's a wonderful teaching tool as well. Nice-sized database of high quality games without having to purchase Chessbase 9.0. I could go on and on and give a tutorial about the many neat features in this program with the diagrams, graphic coloration of weak squares, files, combinational motifs, etc. You won't be disappointed. If you're new to computer chess programs, the manual helps A LOT and there are a lot of bells and whistles. The 3D boards are marvelous and it's really fun rotating them all around from bird's eye view to table level. It's a great program, bar none. Enjoy it. Grandmaster player that can beat the world's best for under $40. Can't beat that.

Excellent Features. Powerful Program. Difficult to Use.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 20 / 21
Date: May 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

SUMMARY:
Excellent features in an extremely powerful program, although a bit difficult to use. As I improve, I'll appreciate the program more and more.

DETAIL:
I've spent the past bunch of years with Chessmaster, starting with my C64, I think, through a 386, and now onto a P3 (and a P4, too). In all fairness to the people at Ubi - and this was maybe (12-15) years ago, they upgraded my Chessmaster program for five bucks so I could use it on a new computer. Pretty classy. Now, though, they've become so paranoid of the chess community that they've screwed us over with unbearable copy protection. It's an insult, so I bought Fritz 8 instead of upgrading CM6000.

Onto Fritz 8 Deluxe: The great features are the analysis tools, the coach, and the soft levels (handicap, friend mode, etc) that take some of the pain out of computer play. The Spy-on-Fritz option is fantastic (Fritz will show you what he's thinking so you can consider a counterstroke). Understanding your opponent is a challenging climb in learning chess, and this option puts it in the front of your mind. And, Viva throws in a year membership to Chessbase. Excellent stuff.

A few other posts hinted at the poor features: It can be difficult to use the advanced functions due to program design and mediocre documentation. And, for some reason, the natural language advice doesn't work on my machine (P3 and P4). Chessmaster never gave me any problems there. Also, Chessmaster's Josh Waitzen (sp?) tutorials are brilliant. The Gary Kasparov stuff (Viva threw in a few demo chapters with Fritz) doesn't come close. Gary's just too good for us hacks; Josh talks to you.

Horrible interface, smart chess engine

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 32 / 35
Date: May 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This software literally has the worst interface I've seen on any software in the last 5 years (atleast). Using it feels like you're piloting a 747 running on Windows 95. Sadly, this is an improvement from earlier versions.

You may notice that many reviews mention the "chatter" as an actual feature. That people are highlighting a set of 40 unfunny prerecorded looping sound clips should tell you something about the rest of Fritz's features. Imagine playing chess with an autistic fan of Monty Python that kept throwing gems like "I strike at thee!" at you. Cute for a day, but you'd be crushing Ritalin in his orange juice soon thereafter.

The hardcore chess community has latched onto this product due to a combination of three things.
First and most importantly: near-flawless play. Fritz will destroy you.
Less critical but still influential: high ranked namedropping and the more mainstream competitor's (Chessmaster) recent foray into obnoxious copy protection.

If you're at competition level with chess, Fritz is the choice for you.. but you probably already know that. If you're anything less, go with the much more pleasant, visually impressive, feature-rich and still respectable playing Chessmaster.

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