Thankyou to everyone who has answered. You all have certainly been helpful in assisting me to gain a foundation in this area, which I hope will help me. I just looked at the "File, New, Handicap and Fun" and I see that it does have different personality and settings. Cool. I appreciate all the help!
Does anyone have any good suggestions as to how I can use fritz 8 as a learning tool? Other than simply playing it. (And yes I hear you about playing people online here )
Also does anyone have any good recomendations for instructional dvd's. I viewed some by Susan Polgar from our public library and they really didn't go into much about the thought process of the moves shown IE the why's. I also tried viewing Kasparovs QGD dvd and it was just him talking of what seemed like endless lines of variations, but not covering the why behind the moves. Both dvd's were informative in their own way, but I'm trying to figure out a way to systematically think OTB that will help me to play better games. IE not get killed so quickly or easily. Thanks.
Fritz 8 as a learning tool? I doubt if it's going to be real helpful there, although it does have some opening and endgame training features (Tools, training). In general, chess programs don't make very good learning tools. (The Chessmaster tutorials for beginners and novices would be one exception to that rule.)
I'm a book kinda guy, not a DVD guy, so I can't really help you there.
You might try going to Dan Heisman's web site to visit his Novice Nook columns. There's probably more info there than you'd ever be able to read, ranging from beginner to advanced intermediate.
Dan's main page: http://home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Main_Chess/chess.htm
Dan's Novice Nook page: http://home.comcast.net/~danheisman/Articles/Novice_Nook_Links.htm
OK I figured out how to see the engines in my fritz 8 There's one called crafty, one called comet and 3 types of fritz ones. Is there really any difference in these or are they just listed in order of strength? Thanks again.
They're just engines of slightly different strengths. The Fritz 8 engine should be the strongest, although Crafty might be close.