Today’s blog post shouldn’t be any kind of major revelatory experience for users of the Fritz “family” of playing programs; it’s probably not going to make a huge impact on the way you use Fritz13 or any of its associated chess playing programs (Hiarcs, Junior, Shredder, or Rybka). But I’m going to show you a potentially useful feature if you’re a regular user of Fritz13’s 3D chess boards. Continue reading
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The “Control” board in the Fritz 13 chess program
Filed under chess, Chess DVD, chess engine, Chess playing software, Chess software, ChessBase, Fritz, Hiarcs, Junior, Rybka, Shredder
Tagged as 3d chess, chess, chess boards, chess computer, chess database, chess game, chess games, chess improvement, chess instruction, chess lesson, chess playing, chess playing engine, chess program, chess software, chess training, chess tutorial, ChessBase, ChessBase 11, ChessBase how to, chessbase support, ChessBase tips, ChessBase tricks, fritz, Fritz 13, Fritz13, gaming, Hiarcs, Junior, Rybka, Shredder, software, software advice, software how-to, software tips, Steve Lopez, technical support
Removing variations from games using Fritz 13 chess software
We’ve looked at various types of chess engine analysis using Fritz13, including multiple-engine chess analysis in last week’s post, all of which are features in which the chess engine can add replayable variations to a database game. You can also add your own variations to games manually using Fritz13.
But once in a while you may want to remove some variations. For example, you’re annotating a game and have finished and saved a variation, when you suddenly realize that the variation doesn’t work. Or you’ve had three or four chessplaying engines analyze a game and you’d like to remove a few superfluous variations from the gamescore. Continue reading →
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Tagged as chess, chess analysis, chess computer, chess database, chess engine, chess engine analysis, chess engine evaluation, chess game, chess game analysis, chess games, chess improvement, chess instruction, chess lesson, chess playing, chess playing engine, chess program, chess software, chess training, chess tutorial, chess variations, ChessBase, ChessBase 11, ChessBase how to, chessbase support, ChessBase tips, ChessBase tricks, database, Fritz 13, fritz chess, Fritz12, Fritz13, gamescore, software, software advice, software how-to, software tips, Steve Lopez, technical support, USCF, USCF Sales, uscfsales, uscfsales.com, windows pc software
The “Compare” chess analysis function in Fritz 13
We’ve already discussed the “Full analysis” and “Blundercheck” analysis functions in the Fritz family of playing programs (Fritz 13, Junior 12, Hiarcs 13, Shredder 12, and Rybka 4). But there’s a third method of analyzing games which we’ve not yet considered. I recently saw a comment in which a user appeared concerned that Fritz only pointed out a user’s errors, and didn’t provide an “attaboy!” for good moves in the analysis modes which we’ve previously explored. My response to that concern is that the “attaboys” are implicit rather than explicit; if Fritz isn’t criticizing a move, then it’s safe to assume that the move was sufficient (at least relatively, given the “Threshold” parameter that’s used in the game’s analysis).
But there is a way to get Fritz’s opinion on every move in a game, as well as to have multiple engines analyze a game in one go. It’s called “Compare analysis”, and it’s the topic of today’s uscfsales.com blog post. Continue reading →
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Tagged as analysis modes, chess, chess analysis, chess computer, chess database, chess engine, chess engine analysis, chess engine evaluation, chess engines, chess game, chess game analysis, chess games, chess improvement, chess instruction, chess lesson, chess playing, chess playing engine, chess program, chess software, chess training, chess tutorial, ChessBase, ChessBase 11, ChessBase how to, chessbase support, ChessBase tips, ChessBase tricks, database, fritz, Fritz 13, Fritz13, good moves, Hiarcs, Hiarcs13, how to read chess engine analysis, Junior, Junior 12, Rybka, Rybka 4, Shredder, Shredder 12, software, software how-to, software tips, Steve Lopez, technical support
Fritz13’s “chess dashboard”: the Measurements display
Happy St. Valentine’s Day! While we’re on the subject of that holiday, uscfsales.com is having a special sale to celebrate – I’ll give you the details later in this post. But first we’re going to look at a feature from the Fritz “family” of chess playing programs (Fritz 13, Shredder 12, Junior 12, Hiarcs 13, and Rybka 4), namely the “Measurements” pane. It’s a sort of “chess dashboard” which can provide some visual cues about the presence of important tactical or positional motifs in a given chess position. Continue reading →
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Tagged as Big Database 2012, chess, chess analysis, chess computer, chess database, chess engine, chess engine analysis, chess engine evaluation, chess game, chess games, chess improvement, chess instruction, chess lesson, chess playing, chess playing engine, chess program, chess software, chess training, chess tutorial, ChessBase, ChessBase 11, ChessBase how to, chessbase support, ChessBase tips, ChessBase tricks, fritz, Fritz 13, Fritz how to, Fritz13, Hiarcs13, Junior 12, Mega Database 2012, Rybka 4, Shredder 12, software, software advice, software how-to, software tips, Steve Lopez, technical support
Generating “threat” identifiers in the Fritz13 chess program
Over the years, I’ve occasionally seen this interesting question appear on chess message boards: “What’s a threat?” For the old chess grognards like myself, that seems like a pretty elementary question, one which we take for granted, but for newcomers to the game the answer may not be at all obvious or intuitive.
Think about it for a moment. How many times do you see the word “threat” (or its various derivations such as “threaten”) used in chess articles, tutorials, annotated games, etc.? As a chess term, it’s pretty ubiquitous, right? Even some of our treasured chess maxims contain the word, such as Nimzovich’s famous “The threat is often stronger than the execution”. Continue reading →
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Tagged as chess, chess analysis, chess computer, chess database, chess engine, chess game, chess game analysis, chess improvement, chess instruction, chess lesson, chess playing, chess playing engine, chess program, chess software, chess training, chess tutorial, ChessBase, ChessBase 11, ChessBase how to, chessbase support, ChessBase tips, ChessBase tricks, fritz, Fritz 13, Fritz13, Hiarcs, Junior, Rybka, Shredder, software, software how-to, software tips, Steve Lopez, technical support, uscfsales, uscfsales.com
How to get Fritz13 to explain all the moves in a chess position
A typical chess position can contain a couple of dozen (or more!) legal moves, and a beginning player often can become overwhelmed by the possibilities, neither knowing nor understanding the point of a particular candidate move. Likewise, every chess player (regardless of their level of experience) should look at a move his or her opponent has made and always immediately ask, “Now why did he play that?”
It’s not always easy to understand the point of a particular move, whether one is a beginner or a grizzled veteran – heck, I’ve been playing for many years and I still often find myself wondering why a particular move was played. The Fritz family of playing programs (Fritz, Hiarcs, Junior, Shredder, and Rybka), chess playing software which is available from uscfsales.com, contains a feature which can help point you in the right direction when you’re trying to figure out the reason behind a particular move, a feature called (not surprisingly) “Explain all moves”. Continue reading →
Filed under chess, Chess DVD, chess engine, Chess playing software, Chess software, Chess Tiger, ChessBase, Fritz, Fritz Powerbook, Hiarcs, Junior, Rybka, Shredder
Tagged as chess, chess analysis, chess computer, chess database, chess engine, chess engine analysis, chess engine evaluation, chess game, chess game analysis, chess games, chess improvement, chess instruction, chess lesson, chess opening, chess player, chess playing, chess playing engine, chess playing software, chess position, chess program, chess software, chess training, chess tutorial, ChessBase, ChessBase how to, chessbase support, ChessBase tips, ChessBase tricks, database, e4 e5, fritz, Fritz 13, Fritz Powerbook 2012, Fritz13, Hiarcs, Junior, Rybka, Shredder, software, software advice, software how-to, software tips, Steve Lopez, technical support, windows pc software
How to use the chess Mega Database with ChessBase and Fritz
The new Mega Database 2012 for ChessBase 11 and the Fritz family of playing programs (Fritz, Hiarcs, Junior, Shredder, and Rybka) is here! The ChessBase company updates their master database annually to include new games played over the previous year, as well as to add historical games which have recently been unearthed. The latest version of the database contains 5,154,657 games (an increase of 357,739 games over the 2011 version), as well as 700 tournament crosstables and reports, and an updated Player Encyclopedia for use in ChessBase 11. Among Mega Database 2012’s treasures are more than 78,000 games annotated by titled players.
Over the years, I’ve sometimes heard players say, “Why do I need millions of games? I’ll never play through all of them anyway!” Gee, I don’t know – why do you need a local library? You’re never going to read all of those books. Comments like these illustrate vividly that the point has been missed. A database of five million games (or any chess database of any size, for that matter) is just like a library – you’ll never use everything that’s in it, but what you will use is there for you whenever you want it. Let me show you what I mean with a simple chess example… Continue reading →
Filed under chess, Chess DVD, Chess playing software, Chess software, ChessBase, ChessBase 11, Database software, Fritz, Mega Database
Tagged as chess, chess computer, chess database, chess game, chess games, chess improvement, chess instruction, chess lesson, chess playing, chess program, chess software, chess training, chess tutorial, ChessBase, ChessBase 11, ChessBase how to, chessbase light, ChessBase Mega Database, chessbase support, ChessBase tips, ChessBase tricks, database, fritz, Fritz 13, Fritz13, Hiarcs, Junior, Mega Database, Rybka, Shredder, software, software advice, software how-to, software tips, Steve Lopez, technical support