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All Chess Players Can Enjoy FRITZ

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: July 31, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I own about 30 different chess programs including all the Fritz series through the latest (Version 10 which is sold as Fritz X). Where does Fritz stands amongst these programs -- the Fritz interface is exceptional and my favorite, its training features offer exceptional value also. Easy to use - YES! It also has wonderful "information windows" (called panes) that can be quickly added/removed from your computer screen.

If the program is TOO tough to beat, you only need to go to the LEVEL menu to change the playing level to "Friend" (Fritz will try to play at your level and after a few games is very good at this) or "Sparring" (Fritz will leave you tactical problems within a game -- such as your needing to identify a "fork" or "pin" move to deal it a serious blow). Plus there is a "Handicap" mode that allows you to remove pieces before a game begins.

Its ability to analyze saved games, especially those that I have played has been invaluable. This feature has allowed me to identify my poor moves, besides it can suggest alternatives.

Setting up a special game position is easy, and its database features allow you to find past games that have the exact same piece positions and you can then play each to find out how they ended. Or if you prefer you can search the database for the games of specific players such as Bobby Fischer, an American who became the World Champion a few decades back.

I highly recommend Fritz for beginners; for serious chess players I recommend Fritz X (Yes, it costs 10 time more but it offers more features and abilities).

Fritz Chess 2 - Enthralling!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: June 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is for the above average to serious chess player! It has 4 or 5 different chess engines, Crafty, Comet, Doctor?3, Fritz 5.32, and Fritz 7, the last doen't load for some reason! Nor, does the 3 dimensions work on my Pentium III 600 MHz. Neverthless, it enables one to play rated games in a very human-like manner, unlike the CHESSMATER 9000 series, which would blunder a piece and then play at Master level to compensate! Fritz Chess 2 is an excellent cost to benefits chess program! Perhaps the very best cost to benefit ratio amoung serious chess programs. It IS not the very best chess program available , but who cares if you get defeated by a 2800 elo silicon opponent or a 2450 elo silicon opponent, which is realistically what Fritz Chess 2 is!

Not really for beginners despite the description

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 14, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I am an adult who played as a child, and I recently started playing again because of my two young children. I am an adequate to above average player, but I am more or less stalled. I don't make any stupid errors, which enables me to beat MOST people I play. But, I don't have a real sense of strategy, and I often make mistakes in the end game. I was hoping Grandmaster Challenge would actually offer some "training" for adults much like the Fritz and Chesster series by the same company provides for my children. The description promised tactical problems, lessons, and tutorials. But, if these are there, I certainly can't find them. So, unfortunately, I am not finding this program to be of much help at all in improving my game.

I'm sure the chess engines are top notch, and a player looking for game analysis, or for a challenge at the highest levels, will not be disappointed. I understand from others that Fritz 7 can beat more than 99.9% of all players out there, and that the analysis provided rivals some of the best engines available.

But, I don't really care about engines and analysis. Now that the game has adjusted to my playing level (which it does after about 8 games), I find I am getting my behind thoroughly kicked, and my play is not improving at all. I really was hoping to LEARN to get better. I can go to any number of other programs if all I want to do is lose over and over and over again.

Technically, the program itself has a few problems. Firstly, you cannot have more than one "user" which means my son (who is a beginner) really can't play the program without completely changing my settings. I have tried to find a way to set up more than one user file, but this does not seem to be possible.

The program is buggy, and hard to understand at times and the help section obviously was translated into English from some other language. This is especially true of the comments that the "coach" makes, and the comments that follow some of the games. Although they might be perfectly grammatical in German, the statements in English can be silly, or confusing. The makers almost be better off leaving them out entirely!

In the assisted play, the "suggestions" made can sometimes be totally off base. I'm no Kasparov, but even I can tell when a hint is totally off the wall. Once the suggestion involved sacrificing a Queen for a pawn. And a few times, trying their "suggestions" have lead to almost immediate checkmate. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd suggest that the game developers were trying to punish me for using "help". But, I am sure this is just a glitch. Still, I find it unnerving when the program suggests I do something totally nonsensical. The Queen exchange had me scratching my head for a good 20 minutes, wondering what I wasn't seeing.

Although the game DOES allow you to get an estimated Elo rating by playing tournament games against the computer, the lowest engine still plays way to strongly for beginning players. The bottom Elo level was around 1600, way too strong for my 7-year-old. Plus, I can't seem to tell much difference in the various engines. Perhaps if you are a GM they ARE very different, but to me having more than one to choose from is not very helpful.

So, bottom line for me is that if you are looking for a chess analysis program, I understand that the Fritz engine is one of the best. So, at this price you could be getting a bargain! And, certainly, this program can play you a good game. But, if you are looking to IMPROVE your game, you might be disappointed. I'd like to see a line of games similar to the Fritz/Chesster line, but aimed at adult intermediate players.

Half a deal

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Unfortunately, this package has a problem: it is not able to pass the cd-validation required for the analysis features and does not recognize itself as a valid Fritz 7 engine distribution.

So, you get the chess engine and the database of games and you also get the hint/suggestions and several free chess engines and an older Fritz engine. But the analysis part does not work. A search on the internet came up with a forum thread where two more people were hitting this same issue. Viva Media doesn't even include this game in the list of games for which they provide support pages. At least, the broken validation doesn't prevent you from playing chess.

There are probably enough working features to justify the 10$ price, but it's still disappointing that you are blocked from accessing a significant feature.

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