User Reviews (1 - 11 of 23)

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Un buen juego de Ajedrez

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 46
Date: May 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

La verdad, resulta sorprendente lo facil que resulta jugar.
Saludos Cordiales!
España

I am disapointed

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 10 / 34
Date: December 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is the first time I buy Fritz. The software is full of bugs. It's hard to install and to use. It crashed on my brand new computer! Chess Master is much better!

It will kick my butt, but only if I upgrade

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 19
Date: October 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Obviously we are dealing with a serious program here; I mean this was Kasparov's sparring partner for Deeper Blue, so where do I come off thinking I will ever beat it at full strength. My other point is that the Amazon write-up states that it is compatible with Win95. The box that the program comes in says Win98 up to WinXP. Well, both of my computers run Win95, and the program would not install. So, I'm saving the program for my eventual computer upgrade, and then I can lose to Fritz8!
Final note- the upgrade and the thrashing did take place. For fun I put it in "desperado" mode. I will have to quit my job, so I can finally get good!

Worst User Interface Ever Designed!!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 15 / 29
Date: October 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This program has a lot of features, however, it's pretty close to impossible to figure out how to get the features to work. I've never in my life seen a program with such a non-discoverable, non-intuitive, obscure interface. What is truly amazing about this program, is you can read the manual and still not figure out how to use the features! I've just spent 2 hours (including studying the manual) trying to figure out how to load a PGN file of some games that I've played to use the analysis features of the program and I still have no clue how to do it. Unbelievable. I've used several other chess programs and never had to even open the manual. I've used 100's of windows programs and this is clearly the worst interface I've ever seen.

Great chess, great service!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: November 10, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I, like the reviewer before me, had a problem with my serial number. I called the publisher of this product, Viva Media, and they gave me a new serial number. They were very helpful, and the new number worked right away. I play online all of the time.

I don't think I could say anything else about the game that hasn't been said in another review. It is by far the best chess program I have ever used. I can't wait for a Fritz 9!

Required

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Most know this program well, that being said if you wish to improve your chess and need an outstanding sparring partner and access to online play this is the program to own. It is the rolls royce of chess programs.

Full of bugs

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 11 / 17
Date: February 25, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The above reviewer who noted that Fritz 8 was full of bugs sure wasn't kidding. The chess play is all right, but if you want to do something simple like saving a game or a position, well, forget it. I've just spent two hours trying to save a few positions, and I've been directed all over the place, but I still haven't been able to save just 3 games. In the future I'll have to replay each game each time to get to an established position. The directions are unclear, incomplete, or just don't work. A simple process such as saving and retreiving games should be, well, simple and user-friendly. Either my copy is defective or you have to be a grandmaster in software to figure out how the $%@*^%* thing works.

Good for playing and analysing, nothing else

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 19 / 31
Date: January 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you want to buy a strong chess program to play against and get some analysis then Fritz 8 is the thing.

However if you want a traing program which gives you awsome training options (Fritz 8 does have these options but they are CRAP) and great game analysing with a lot of comments and explanations (Fritz 8 only tells you the obvious things) then go for Chessmaster 9000.

Fritz 8 for playing against and analysing with not so good comments.

Chessmaster 9000 for anything else. Chessmaster is much better.

Many Features combined with easy gameplay!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 24
Date: June 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I don't know why someone would complain about bugs in this game because I have yet to find one! My guess is that the person complaing about them is using a pirated version of the software and thus his problems were created.

Anyhow, the game is definitly loaded with features (most of which are already explained by other reviews) but the one thing I wanted to emphasize is that this game actually helped better my game play tremendously!

Excellent online interface

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 13
Date: November 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I am a rookie chess player. I bought this game primarily to get the one-year membership at playchess.com. Boy was I disappointed! The serial number printed on my CD case was invalid! It took WEEKS of pestering the people at playchess.com before I got an answer. The answer was that I needed to deal with Amazon.com to get it fixed. So I have a replacement on the way. I just hope it does not have the same misprint problem.

This is the best online interface of all that I have tried. None of the others come close to the flexibility. You can change the board size, color, go to 3d, move windows, filter chat, and a lot more. I really enjoy the ability to change the layout to match my taste.

I bought Chessmaster before I bought Fritz. With Chessmaster I was disappointed to see that zero people were online. I checked several times, on several days. Unless I am doing something wrong, UBI (Chessmaster) online is a ghost town. Chessmaster I think has a slightly better interface and some nice tutorials, but if you want to play online, then Fritz is the way to go!

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