On Jan 2, 6:17*pm, Chess Hack wrote:
I am a long time Chessmaster user, but for some reason my copy of CM9
freezes up on my computer with TheKing.exe eating up 100% CPU time!
This prompted me to look into Fritz as an alternative since my level
of play is not really novice or beginner, and yet I am not really a
great player either. *I don't even know my rating!

The "play rated game" option in Fritz8 will quickly fix that. I quite
like Fritz8 and still haven't found a reason to buy a newer version of
Fritz engine yet. I don't need the Turk or any other 3D gimmicks.

If you are going to get another program with the newer ChessProgram9
front end I'd suggest either Shredder 10 (best since you get high
speed 345 tablebases included) or HIARCS 10. Fritz has blind spots
that a different engine will cover. You also will have a bunch of
other free engines already and a few more are available for download
at CB.

And also other stronger engines available online like Rybka, Fruit and
a host of others for various prices.

*At any rate, I
found a copy of Fritz 8 Deluxe at a local GameStop store for $10 and
bought it.

Thats a good price.

All I can say is wow! *This program is light years ahead of CM9 (or
any previous versions) in terms of sophistication and tools to help me
get actually better at chess. *The CM line had good tools also, but as
a professional programmer I feel pretty comfortable with Fritz's
interface, even as clunky as it is at times.

The one thing it lacks is customisable playing personalities -
something I always though CM did rather well although their cluttered
UI and irritating copy protection scheme means I almost never use my
copy.

I see that the program is up to version 11 now, but the reviews seem
spotty, claiming little if any real value to upgrading from an
interface standpoint.

No. The latest version still has at least as many bugs as the old one.
Worth buying a new one when your free years access to playchess runs
out maybe. Shredder 10 should be a good price now v11 is out ...

My pet hate is the bug that causes certain types of multiple line
"infinite" analysis to run incredibly slowly once a mate in N has been
found down certain lines. The engine writers all agree it is a bug but
CB stubbornly refuse to fix it. The other stupid thing you can't do is
add desktop icons to start different engines (although a grubby patch
is possible for CP8, and a risky script exists to do it on any version
- see earlier threads).

*My computer is a fairly modern one with an AMD
Sempron 64FX 3100+ processor with 1.5 GB memory, an ATI 1300X Pro
video card and a Soundblaster xTreme gamer sound card. *I like what I
see with Fritz and I feel like I would never buy another CM product
for various reasons, but is there any compelling reason for a guy at
my level to upgrade past Fritz 8 at this point?

Find out your level and it will be a much easier call. If you find you
can beat Fritz8 too easily then maybe you will need a better engine,
but that would put you already at the GM or anti-computer specialist
level.

Regards,
Martin Brown