Ok, so I've heard a lot of good things about fritz and chessmaster 10, anyone got any definite thoughts on what is the better buy? I'm looking to develop stronger lines of attack after my 1.e4 opening.

 

 

Fritz

one word, say's it all hey!

I prefer Fritz for analysis. On the other hand, Chessmaster comes with a lot of tutorials - those alone are worth the money.

Fritz is nice, but I prefer Chessmaster 11 for beginner and intermediate-level players.  The analysis functions between Fritz and CM11 are very similar (Fritz does enjoy a slight edge), but the many tutorials that come with CM11 are superior to anything Fritz offers. 

 If you want to learn more about Chessmaster 11, you can read my review here.

You're looking to develop the stronger lines of attack after your 1.e4 opening.  My suggestion is that you buy Chessmaster 10th Edition for your overall training.  A firm grasp in Opening Principles, Tactical and Strategical Ideas, Endgame mastery is a must if you want to play better chess.  If you already possess the knowledge, and you're just after computer consultation after your original analysis, then I suggest you buy Fritz and set it to its 'Unleashed' mode when analysing a position or variation.  Fritz 10 is quite faster than Fritz 9, I think Fritz 11 is already available, but I still prefer Fritz 10.  When you set Fritz to 'Unleashed', it will play its strongest form, rating over 3600+ elo.

I'm having problems with my Chessmaster GM edition.  Lots of bugs.

Gokukid wrote: I'm having problems with my Chessmaster GM edition.  Lots of bugs.

---

 Did you download the patch? 

I've searched chessmaster.com for the patch, yes, I've seen one now.  Gotta download it cause I like Josh' newest tutorials and the mini-games.  But I still like CM10 because my Grandmasters (personalities) have their corresponding pictures.  When there's a patch like that for CM11 I'll then uninstall completely cmx.

Thanks to all for the excellent comments and suggestions, I was leaning towards CM, but, thinking about it now..

Any problems installing Chessmaster 10th Ed on vista?

Gokukid, there is no way fritz will play 3600. Just no way.

 Rybka is currently rated, in best form on about the most powerful hardware available, in the range 3000-3200. Definitely not higher.

3600 would imply something like giving odds of the bishop pair to kasparov and still winning most of the time. Extremely unlikely! 

I have CMX on vista right now. Works fine!

Fritz for playing, chessbase for storing your analysis