I can address some of your points, I believe:
a) "If I shouldn't be concerned with the strength of my actual move, please tell me so."
Sure, you should be concerned with the strength of your actual move ... and you can discern this by comparing the evaluation by Houdini for your move versus the one it suggests is best ... if there's a large discrepancy (> 0.4 pawns), then you're move is surely not optimal, maybe not even good.
b) "I consider buying Chessbase - since I'd like to study master games - but would I be able to do these analyzing tasks in Chessbase (I consider it more as a database where I can compare with master games)? Can Chessbase perform the same analyzing tasks as Fritz (the application)? Basically, do I need Fritz for analyzing, if I buy Chessbase?"
ChessBase can use your Houdini 1.5 engine, but also comes with some version of a Fritz engine (probably not the very latest though). ChessBase can do a lot of analysis with either of these or other engines ... but it typically does not have all the analysis modes of Fritz the program. What I purchased was ChessBase and also the full Fritz program as well. ChessBase has a feature in it where you say "Go to Fritz" and it will move the game to analysis by Fritz with all its heuristics and commentary. This is the best of both worlds but it ... requires two purchases. It's been a while since I procured these ... maybe my data is old by now.
Best wishes.
Hi there!
I want to improve on analyzing my own games. Right now I have Arena and SCID with Houdini 1.5.
The way I'm analyzing my games now, is that I'm looking at positions where I was in doubt about the best move. Then I see what the engine would have done, but it doesn't really make me aware, if my actual move was any good. Usually I only see the engine's four best moves, and maybe my own move would have come fifth or sixth on the engine's list over best moves.
Maybe I don't need to know, if my actual move was fifth or sixth on the list - but at my current level (beginner) I think it's nice to know. If I shouldn't be concerned with the strength of my actual move, please tell me so.
I'd like to be able to do the following things (which I might already be able to in Arena/SCID without knowing how):
Can I do this with Arena/SCID?
I consider buying Chessbase - since I'd like to study master games - but would I be able to do these analyzing tasks in Chessbase (I consider it more as a database where I can compare with master games)? Can Chessbase perform the same analyzing tasks as Fritz (the application)? Basically, do I need Fritz for analyzing, if I buy Chessbase?