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same program, new box

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 21 / 25
Date: December 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Fritz is by far the best product of it's kind on the market. But Fritz 9 is no upgrade from Friz 8. Everything looks and feels exactly the same. The engine (contrary to popular belief) is no stronger. If you own Fritz 8, don't waste your money on 9, very little has changed. Just another software company, releasing a slightly tweaked "upgrade" and charging $40 for it. If you don't own any version of Fritz, I'd still recommend 8 because you can find it cheaper.

This is one of the worst designed programs I've ever seen...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 16, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I had heard so much about Fritz at my favorite chess web site and so, when I found Fritz 9 at a local store, I snapped it up. I've not been this disappointed in a software purchase in a very very long time.

Here's why.

1.) Not intuitive
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Trying to do some of the most simple things takes literally hours to do. You spend more time searching the manual than you do playing chess. The menus are poorly organized and nothing is where you would hope it to be.

Say you wanted to learn a check mate combination by having the computer play a game against itself with pieces you chose. You can do this, but it's not intuitive. First you have to choose between the following menus:

File, Edit, View, Insert, Game, Engine, Tools, Window, and Help.

Which would you choose? Well, "Tools" is the right answer.

Let's try again. Under the "Tools" menu, you have the following choices:

Analysis, Training, DTG Board, Connect Hardware, Book Settings, Design, User Info, Factory Settings, Customize, and Options.

Which would you choose? Well, the correct answer is "Analysis", not "Training". But Analysis has its own menu too. You still aren't done and you still aren't playing any chess!!! Here are your choices:

Full Analysis, Blunder Check, Deep Positional Analysis, Shootout, Process Test Set, Mate Search, and Classify Opening.

The correct choice is "Shootout". Once you finally get to this point, you are presented with another screen to set up the shootout that is just as poorly constructed.

Any other task you want to carry out is just as convoluted and inconsiderately classified. But you always have the manual, right?

2) The Manual
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The manual that comes with the software is 23 pages long and doesn't explain anything. This program is FULL of pop-up windows, and abstract jargon (plies, depth, etc.) none of which are explained.

When you start Fritz, it gives you three options to choose from (Play Fritz,

I finally found a larger version of the manual on the second CD, but the first manual doesn't even tell you that.

3) Slow
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Navigating the labyrinthine menus is bad enough, but every time you kick a process off, the computer takes a very long time to thing through things. This means trial and error learning of how to run the program takes ten times as long.

If you are chess player who makes their living at chess, this is great for you, otherwise, it's not. This is not a game, it's a program, and a poorly designed one at that.

The iPod proved how critical intuitive design is for a product's success. If Chessbase learned from Apple, this could be the most amazing chess program out there. Until this changes, I'll stick to ChessMaster.

Chessbase has lost the plot!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 83 / 105
Date: December 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Chessbase has been providing the best chess programs for probably a decade now. I well remember buying my first chessbase program, Junior 5. That engine was so strong that it would annihilate even the strongest chess players. Now, a long time has passed, and I just don't see chessbase engine's improving that much. As the author of Hiarcs 10 mentioned in one of his interviews, Fritz and Shredder authors have decided to cash in all the money they can by coming up with new versions every 6 month or so. The only notable improvement to this version of Fritz is the Turk Table, which is really not useful to hardcore players such as myself. Mind you, my PC crashed everytime I tried to move the table around. Fritz 9 is a good engine, but in every tournament that I have put it in with engines such as Toga II or Kutula and Ruffian, it finishes third or fourth best, which is not exactly what you expect from chessbase's newest engine. Also, this program has been rushed into market just to come out a month or two earlier than the superior Hiarcs 10. Fritz 9 crashes a lot, and I get Exception this, Exception that messages from it. Besides, when in tournament mode, if you drag you mouse over the crosstable, it will copy a game from the database and ruins the tournament. In any case, I recommend Hiarcs 10 over this game, unless you have money to buy both! Also, while you are at it, get Toga II UCI. That seems to be an excellent engine!

packed with features that sometimes don't work

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 76 / 85
Date: January 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I'd recommend staying with Fritz 8, a far more stable version, even if it is a slightly weaker computer chess engine.

As others have written, the reason for chosing an older version of Fritz is that Fritz 9 crashes so often to hinder your playing experience.

Heck, I've been playing Fritz since 5.32, and 5.32 crashes less and was a lot funner to play. Unfortunately it doesn't work on all Windows XP machines.

Back to Fritz 9... the post-analysis mode of Fritz is worth noting. You can play a game and have a full analysis in anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours, depending on where you set it. One annoying feature of Fritz 9 is that sometimes you have to insert the CD to wake up the engine to do the analysis. Fritz 8 does not have this feature.

Also worth noting is the infinite analysis mode, where you can watch a grandmaster game (or any slow game), put in the moves live, and see what lines Fritz "likes", as it calculates and gives a score to each line.

There is also opening training, endgame training, or you can add a kibitzer to your games, get help from a coach, and/or put it in handicap mode after you feel like you're beating your head against the wall.

Fritz 8 also has all of this, but is the most stable of the two, and cheaper.

Get Chessmaster Instead

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 40 / 65
Date: August 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I gave my Chessmaster 9000 to a friend and bought Fritz 9 as a replacement. Big mistake. Fritz may have a slightly more powerful engine but there are only a few Grand Masters who would even test the limits of any chess program. For 99% of the people, Chessmaster would crush them.

Fritz reminds me of German shareware. It all has that stripped down, unorganized and low budget look to it. It took me quite awhile to get the analysis panes to do what I want but it still does not have the functionality or ease of Chessmaster. I have experienced bugginess and crashes that I never had with Chessmaster.

If this is for a child, there is no way I would get Fritz. The teaching functions and features for kids are all far superior in Chessmaster.

If you read the reviews on Chessmaster, people say they have problems with the copy protection or graphics load. All I can say is:
1. Quit trying to steal copyrighted material
2. Buy a real graphics card

I also feel better about the company that makes Chessmaster as far as support and updates - Ubisoft.

Deep chess knowledge, but frustrating to play

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 28 / 33
Date: March 13, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I can't comment on how the Fritz 9 engine compares to other games out there, but what I can tell you is that if you are a casual player, it will whoop your butt every time. Finding a lower setting on Fritz 9 is not intuitive at all. The only thing I could find is the "Friend mode" where Fritz will keep track of your playing ability and slowly bring down its own to more closely match yours. This process can be frustrating, because while it's trying to figure out your level, it's destroying you. And I'm a pretty good player. I'm not a newbie at all. Why can't it just have low, medium, high settings like every other game in the world?

Also, the interface is difficult to navigate. You definitely have to read the manual and even when you do, it will still be hard to figure certain things out. For example, I still haven't found a way to force the computer to start as black or white as I choose. I start a game, and if it's not the side I want, I quit and start another. Dumb right? And Fritz doesn't seem to remember certain settings. I'll play a game in Friend mode, and the next time I run the program (for example, the next day) it will be back to the mode I didn't want. It can't seem to remember that I like to play in Friend mode. Also, I want to play and learn certain openings, but I can't find a way to position the board the way I want it and start the game from there. So while I'm trying to learn the Ruy Lopez, Fritz is using everything but that one.

My point is that if these features are in the game, I haven't been able to find them and I've read the dang manual. If you have more patience than I do and think you'll be able to figure these playability factors out, then you may very well enjoy this game. Especially if you're a expert player or love deep position analysis, then Fritz will deliver. I have no doubts about that. But the interface is klunky and the usability is low.

Plenty challenging, but...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 19 / 22
Date: June 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

but...the interface needs serious work in the user-friendly department. I would much rather study chess, than how to take advantage of all of Fritz's many features - which the manual does a markedly poor job of explaining. A few more helpful dropdown menus, plainer explanations, and features (for example - loading opening books, cleaning up user files, difficulty of the "coach" feature - advice offered at unpredictable and unuseful times) would go a long way.

Chessmaster 10th looked much more appealing, but I got this cause I just couldn't ignore all the technical problem reviews associated with it (Chessmaster).

Did not meet expectations

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 14
Date: February 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The game itself seems pretty good overall from what I have done with it. The graphics are pretty nice for the most part, though there are some fluky things, such as shadows and such. The gameplay is very glitchy, however. The game crashes on me almost once a day, and I have a new, nearly top of the line gaming computer that can handle MUCH more demanding programs easily, so it should not be even slightly demanding on my system. The game also will occasionally make ridiculous decisions that simply throw pieces away, or it will make a recommendations to the player to move somewhere that simply throws a piece away to no gain.

The real truth

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 12
Date: May 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I am going to tell you the truth behind all this confusion about which program is better. I know how frustrating it can be when you are about to invest a lot of money into an expensive piece of equippment. Hiarcs 10 is clearly the best one out there. The author of this program commented this in a recent interview: "Fritz invests all their money to update the program every six months or so." The truth is that Fritz 9 is only slightly stronger than fritz 8. This does nothing for a serious chess player. Hiarcs 10 waited and waited to save up enough money to do a big update on the program. I am not saying that Fritz 9 is bad, its just that Hiarcs 10 is better. It plays more agressively and can defend difficult positions. If you want the best program... go with Hiarcs 10. You won't be dissappointed.

Another edition of Fritz

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I got a nice package deal on Fritz 9 and Chessmaster 10th Edition. My last copy of Fritz was Fritz 7. I really don't see much difference between the two. If you already have an earlier edition of Fritz save your money or buy Chessmaster instead. There was not much bang for the buck here.

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