Fritz Chess 13 [Download]

If you are searching for a chess software to train seriously or analyze chess games, this is it. Chess software have a tendency to "wait for the mistake". Not so with Fritz, Fritz style is aggressive and quite fun to play with. As a former club chess player, I never won a single game against it. There is also a large database of games included. And the price is incredible.

First of all, yes, this is the real, full Fritz 13 program. From what I've read, the only difference between this and the version you could buy from Chessbase is that this one does not come with the free 6-month membership to playchess.com. Considering all of the other places one can play chess online (for free, even), that didn't bother me at all, but YMMV. If you've used a version of Fritz in recent memory, you'll have no problem jumping in - the last one I used was Fritz 6, and I found 13 perfectly intuitive. If not, it'll definitely take some getting used to, but it does come with a detailed (200+ pages) pdf manual that it clear and helpful. It doesn't have the sheer number of playing personalities that Chessmaster has ("had"? back to that in a second ... ), but it has several adjustable ones, so it should be fine for most purposes. It especially shines as an analysis and study tool, coming with a variety of analysis options, a database of pro games, and a ton of training videos. On that note, it looks as though some folks were confused about how to access the training videos. Start the program, click on the videos option, and then ignore the request to insert the DVD. The database window will open: File > Open, then navigate to wherever you've put the "multimedia" folder, and select that database. It should open up and present all the videos. Only a few years back, the only real choice for software was between Chessmaster and the Fritz family. Now that Chessmaster is apparently defunct (no development or support for years, only used copies available at outrageous prices), Fritz is pretty much the way to go, and at this download price, you really can't go wrong.

Fritz 13 is a bit complicated to figure out but well worth the effort. It has a very good manual and a bulit into program help system. I also own CM 10 and this program is much better and has many more useful bell and whistles.

I can only focus on one aspect of this software: serious and random problems with Windows PCs of any stripe. Both times I have used this application, with different versions (including #13), on different Windows OSs, on different PCs, it has either crashed, affected the PC's behavior in an unwanted fashion, or both. Since I am running Windows 7 on a Toshiba laptop with 16 GB RAM (that is, I'm using a name brand PC with a stable OS and the memory maxed out at a high number), I am left scratching my head. My IT sense tells me that this chess program may be filled with old code that has never been rewritten, it relies on bad programming (e.g., illegal system calls), it only works with certain hardware configurations, or all of the above. Nonetheless, unless you are willing to take a chance that it happens to work with your particular computer and OS, I would stay away from Fritz, lest you want to spend most of your time in a state of frustration trying to figure out why the program behaves so poorly, instead of enjoying a good chess game.

Having used both Fritz and Chessmaster, I suggest most players would prefer Chessmaster. First, the interface is far superior, which makes it easier to just enjoy some games. Fritz I've spent most of my time trying to understand how the various tools work, most of them turning out to do very little. Chessmaster offers a clear progression of simulated opponents to face off against, so players of any skill level can find an interesting match. With Fritz, the condescendingly labeled 'handicap' option allows you to tune an opponent to a specific rating, but it bottoms out around 1400. This is fine for me, but if you don't have tournament experience Fritz is clearly not meant for you. It's true that you can get weaker players by moving the 'blunder' slider, but that just leads to randomly dropped material rather than a strategically weaker player you could have a good game with. Supposedly Fritz has better analysis, but I haven't had an interesting enough game yet to want to use them, plus to do so I'll need to search through their manual for how to get a past game into that, with Chessmaster there's an obvious button on the notation sheet to save the game, allowing you to open it in the analysis area. So, if you're a high rated tournament player, you may find Fritz to be more useful in some way, otherwise do yourself a favor and get Chessmaster, you'll enjoy it a lot more. That said, two downsides to Chessmaster that made me try Fritz: no downloadable version, and you have to keep putting the cd back in the drive for it to verify that you still own the game.

I have Chessmaster 10th edition and an old copy of Fritz 7. Fritz 13 is far superior. It's my go to chess program! My only complaint is that if you are on line and don't touch the program for a while your computer will be usurped by another user to analyze their positions!? This is probably part of the Let's Check function of the program. This is almost unbelievable since there is no way to turn this off. In fact, the only way I have found to turn this off is by turning off my internet connection. Granted, my game appears to be automatically saved but why should someone else use my resources (electric, CPU etc..) to analyze their games, especially when I was using them? Just for this alone, I had to go from 5 stars to 3. And it makes me wonder, what else is the program doing without my permission??

Excellent program. Good price

Sometimes, it appears, you gotta go backward in order to go forward. Case in point: at Amazon yesterday, I exchanged a downloadable version of Chessbase’s newer (and more troublesome) “Fritz 14 with Deep Fritz 64 bit” for an older but apparently better “Fritz Chess 13” program. I’ve written an Amazon review about my recent frustrations with Fritz Chess: Fritz 14 with Deep Fritz 64-bit [Download ]. Like its younger sibling, “Fritz 13" does still occasionally misbehave, but it doesn't freeze up, hesitate, or give me blinking screens, disappearing clocks, and “Not Responding” messages anywhere near as often. “Fritz 13” is apparently the second version to incorporate the “Microsoft Fluent UI” style ribbons. In “Fritz 14,” they were a complete puzzlement to me. Maybe it’s because I’m getting used to them, but the ribbons in “Fritz 13” seem far less cluttered and confusing. They’re still a bit “clunky” in places, and they still could use some improvement… but at least I can find my way around now without getting lost. Like “Fritz 14,” “Fritz 13” launches with both its chess clocks and engine stopped. After contacting Chessbase's technical support team, I found out this is normal operation. I managed to find a “work-around," though, so with a couple of mouse clicks, I can start a game, and if I have to close the program before I finish, I can resume it. The only downside: when resuming the game, the clocks reset to their full preset value. This is also normal operation. It’s not exactly what I would call user-friendly programming; I think that in an unfinished game, the clocks should reset to the value left on them at the time the program is closed. How well “Fritz 13” plays chess? Very well indeed. At its maximum settings, it weighs in with a hefty super-Grandmaster level 2950 Elo rating. With my middling playing ability, I typically find myself in “Fritz 13’s” training area. Here I can use one of several “handicap modes” that allow me to play games against an opponent with a somewhat better skill level than mine. I always face a tough, challenging adversary that wins more often than it loses, but doesn’t mercilessly beat my brains out and dishearten me every time I play a game. By going backward to “Fritz 13,” it appears that I've gained a more stable chess program that works better than “Fritz 14.” By downgrading, however, I did lose a chess engine capable of using the multiple cores of my computer’s processor. This isn’t a problem because I can load any UCI-compatible multi-core engine into “Fritz 13,” and it works just fine. Bottom line: “Fritz 13” is a solid chess program that earns my recommendation. (3½ Stars ^ 4)