Chessmaster or Fritz?
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chessmaster is better and can get the average person interested in the game. It builds on your knowledge whether you are a beginner or expert.
I own both Fritz 8 and Chessmaster 10th Edition. I've had numerous previous editions of the Chessmaster before this one. What can I say at this point other than I love both programs. They are both deep in the playing capability and teaching functions. Their presentations are nice and easy to use. I couldn't make up my mind and eventually decided to buy both and like to change off a little from one to another. I would have been happy as far as play with either program. You won't go wrong.
so for auto-annotation chessmaster is much better?
Chessbase doesn't do auto-annotation. So if you want that feature, yes, you also want another product like Chessmaster, Fritz, Arena, BabasChess, etc.
I like Chessmaster's interface and I bought this program.
fleiman wrote: I like Chessmaster's interface and I bought this program.
Me too. It's so much cleaner and brighter than Fritz's dingy interface.
i would suggest that you can download fritz 5.32 from zarkon fischers free chess programs.this is the engine as well as the interface in one.while this is a old version of fritz it is still gm strength so you could use it to analyse your games or any pgn files you download online.best of all with all of this is that it is free.
you could also download chessbase light 2007 from chessbase.(also free)
there are many other ways to go about it as well but are more involved.the thing of it is that one can have a gm strength engine to analyse and play with for nothing.sure some of these engines are not as strong as fritz 10 or the lastest chessmaster but they are easy to come by and you do not have to wait for the mail or pay money.
good luck regardless of your choice.
pawnroller
If you want a free chess engine, Rybka 1.0 (2919 ELO) and Toga 1.3.1 (2892 ELO) are stronger choices. Of course, they don't come with the tutorials Chessmaster does.
Has anyone got the latest versions of both Chessmaster and Fritz? I'm also considering buying one of these products and I would be interested in knowing the outcome of a match between the two silicon GMs before I purchase one or the other.
Fritz 10 scored 45 wins, 25 draws, and 13 losses against Chessmaster 10th. But if you just want the strongest chess engine Rybka slaughters them both.
Buy Fritz because you want a good interface for analyzing your games and a moderately strong engine. Buy Chessmaster because you want tutorials, human-like opponents, basic game analysis, and a simple game database.
has anyone seen the chessmaster grandmaster edition? is this a new version of 10th edition or have they just added 1 or 2 new features?
CM11, being release in a couple days, has at least three changes:
- They've added a new series of tutorials by Josh Waitzkin which they say is based on his book The Art of Learning.
- It's gone from 2730 ELO to ~2850 ELO based on its Leiden tournament score, so it seems to be about as strong as Fritz 10.
- They've added "mini-games" like "Fork the Fruit". I don't think I would ever use a feature like this, but oh well.
You can also view their feature list, but I don't think any of these fundamentally change the Chessmaster vs Fritz points discussed above. Fritz 10 allows you to insert whatever chess engine you like, such as Toga or Rybka, and Fritz 11 is being released in a month.
I actually think chessmaster is a good software.
It got good graphic and it teach u alot of great move.
Nov 4, 2007
0
#33
likesforests wrote:
To clarify, Chessbase doesn't do auto-annotation. When you post-analyze you games, you write your own annotations based on your thoughts after the game, engine analysis, and similar positions reached by other players. 60,000 of its 3,500,000 games are pre-annotated by top players... the above was an example.
Chessbase products call it "full analysis" not auto-annotation as in Chessmaster. If you strip away the excess verbiage, you'll discover that Chessmaster's explanations are no more extensive than Fritz Co.'s one liners. While CM lacks cats in trees and bulls on ice, it's communication of positional concepts is much weakers. Aside from the simplistic and repetitive spoken comments Chessmaster offers, the Fritz-family's full analysis is leagues better than Chessmaster's. The following is an example:
Ziryab (1717) - IvanGroznii (1672) [A41]
ICC Internet Chess Club, 15.10.2007
[Hiarcs 10 (5s)]
A41: 1 d4 d6: Tartakower System and Modern Defence 1.d4 d6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nd7 5.e3 c5 [ 5...e5 6.Be2 f5 7.b3 e4 8.Nd2 Ngf6 9.Bb2 0–0 10.Qc2 c5 11.dxc5 dxc5 12.Rd1 b6 13.Nd5 Bb7 14.Nb1 Nxd5 15.cxd5 Ne5 16.0–0 Qg5 17.Kh1 Rad8 18.Nc3 Kh8 19.Rd2 Qh6 20.Nb5 Cyborowski,L (2543)-Krasenkow,M (2609)/Warsaw POL 2003/The Week in Chess 443/½–½ (37)] 6.Be2 Ngf6 7.Bd2N [ 7.0–0 0–0 8.b3 b6 9.Bb2 cxd4 10.exd4 Bb7 11.Re1 Re8 12.Qd2 Rc8 13.Rad1 d5 14.Qg5 dxc4 15.bxc4 Bxf3 16.gxf3 h6 17.Qh4 Nh5 18.Ne4 Qc7 19.Bc1 Ndf6 20.Nxf6+ exf6 21.d5 f5 Simonsen,R-Torsvik,C/Randaberg 1991/EXT 97/1–0 (33)] 7...a6 Secures b5 8.dxc5 [ 8.0–0 0–0²] 8...Nxc5= 9.b4 Nce4 10.Nxe4 [ 10.0–0 0–0=] 10...Nxe4 11.Rc1 a5 12.a3 [ Not 12.bxa5 Nxd2 13.Nxd2 Qxa5µ] 12...axb4 13.axb4 Ra2 14.0–0 Bg4 [ 14...Nxd2 15.Nxd2 0–0 16.Ne4=] 15.Be1= Qa8 16.Rc2 Ra1 Black threatens to win material: Ra1xd1 17.Qd3 [ ¹17.Rc1 Ra2 18.c5²] 17...Bxf3?? there were better ways to keep up the pressure [ 17...Bf5 18.c5 Ng3 19.Qb5+ Bd7 20.cxd6 Nxf1µ ( 20...Bxb5 is the weaker alternative 21.Bxb5+ Kd8 22.fxg3 exd6 23.Ng5±) ] 18.Bxf3± Ng5 19.Be2 0–0 20.Bc3 [ 20.f4!? Ra3 21.Qd5±] 20...Rxf1+² 21.Bxf1 Bxc3 22.Qxc3 Qa6 23.h4 White threatens to win material: h4xg5 23...Ne6 24.c5 White gets more space 24...Qa4 [ 24...Qc6 25.cxd6 Qxd6 26.Be2²] 25.cxd6± exd6 26.Bc4 [ 26.Rd2 Rd8±] 26...Rc8 27.Qf6?? gives the opponent new chances [ ¹27.Qd2±] 27...Qxc2–+ 28.Bxe6 fxe6?? hands over the advantage to the opponent [ ¹28...Rf8 and Black is on the road to success 29.Bg4 Qb1+ 30.Kh2 Qxb4–+] 29.Qxe6+= White forks: g8+d6 29...Kf8 30.Qf6+ Ke8 31.Qe6+ Kd8 32.Qf6+?? weakening the position [ ¹32.Qxd6+ would bring relief 32...Ke8 33.Qe6+ Kf8 34.Qf6+ Ke8 35.Qe6+ Kd8 36.Qd6+ Ke8 37.Qe6+=] 32...Kc7–+ 33.Qe7+ Kb8 34.Qxd6+ Qc7 35.Qd4 Qc1+ 36.Kh2 Rc4 [ ¹36...Qc4 and Black wins 37.Qd6+ Qc7–+] 37.Qd8+= Rc8 Black threatens to win material: Rc8xd8 38.Qd4 Qc7+ [ 38...Qc4 keeps an even firmer grip 39.Qe5+ Qc7 40.Qxc7+ Kxc7 41.g4–+] 39.g3?? not a good decision, because now the opponent is right back in the game [ 39.Kg1 Rd8 40.Qa1–+] 39...Rd8–+ 40.Qf6 Rd7 41.b5 [ 41.Qb2 a fruitless try to alter the course of the game 41...Rd5–+] 41...Rf7 [ 41...Ka7 seems even better 42.e4–+] 42.Qh8+ Ka7 43.Qd4+ b6 44.Qa4+ Kb8 45.Qa6 [ 45.Kg2–+ otherwise it's curtains at once] 45...Rxf2+ 46.Kh3 Rf7 [ 46...Qd7+ 47.g4 Rf3+ 48.Kh2 Qd2+ 49.Kg1 Qf2+ 50.Kh1 Rh3#] 47.Qa3 [ 47.Qa2 cannot change destiny 47...Rf3 48.Qg8+ Qc8+ 49.Qxc8+ Kxc8–+] 47...h6 [ 47...Qc8+ 48.Kg2 Qc2+ 49.Kh3 Qf5+ 50.g4 Qf3+ 51.Kh2 Qe2+ 52.Kg3 Rf3#] 48.Qd3 [ 48.Qa2 is no salvation 48...Rf3 49.Qg8+ Qc8+ 50.Qxc8+ Kxc8–+] 48...g5 [ ¹48...Rf2 and Black can already relax 49.Qd5 Qc8+ 50.g4 Qc7–+] 49.Qg6 [ 49.Kg4–+ is the last straw] 49...gxh4 50.Qg8+ Kb7 [ ¹50...Qc8+ and Black takes home the point 51.Qxc8+ Kxc8 52.Kxh4 Re7–+] 51.Kxh4 Qe7+ 52.Kh5 [ 52.Kh3–+ hoping against hope] 52...Qe5+ [ 52...Rf5+ 53.Kxh6 Qxe3+ 54.Kh7 Rh5+ 55.Kg6 Qh6+ 56.Kf7 Rf5+ 57.Ke8 Re5+ 58.Kf7 Qe6+ 59.Kg7 Rg5+ 60.Kh7 Qh3#] 53.Kxh6 Qf6+ [ 53...Qxe3+ 54.Qg5 Rh7+ 55.Kg6 Rg7+ 56.Kxg7 Qxg5+ 57.Kf7 Qxg3 58.Kf6 Qf4+ 59.Kg6 Kc7 60.Kg7 Qg5+ 61.Kh7 Kd6 62.Kh8 Ke5 63.Kh7 Kf6 64.Kh8 Qg7#] 54.Qg6 [ 54.Kh5–+ the only chance to get some counterplay] 54...Qxg6+ 55.Kxg6 Rf3 56.g4 [ 56.Kg5 does not help much 56...Rxg3+ 57.Kf4 Rh3 58.Ke4 Rh5 59.Kd4 Rxb5 60.e4 Kc6 61.e5 Kd7 62.Kd3 Rxe5 63.Kc2 Kc6 64.Kc3 Kc5 65.Kd3 b5 66.Kc2 b4 67.Kd3 b3 68.Kc3 Re3+ 69.Kb2 Kc4 70.Kc1 Kc3 71.Kd1 Re4 72.Kc1 Re1#] 56...Rxe3 57.g5 [ 57.Kg5 cannot undo what has already been done 57...Re5+ 58.Kf6 Rxb5 59.g5 Rb3 60.g6 Rg3 61.Kf7 Kc7 62.g7 b5 63.g8Q Rxg8 64.Kxg8 b4 65.Kf7 b3 66.Ke7 b2 67.Ke6 b1Q 68.Kd5 Qd3+ 69.Ke5 Kd7 70.Kf4 Ke6 71.Kg4 Qe3 72.Kh5 Kf5 73.Kh4 Qd3 74.Kh5 Qh3#] 57...Rg3 [ 57...Rb3 58.Kf7 Rxb5 59.g6 Rg5 60.Kf6 Rg1 61.Kf7 Kc7 62.g7 b5 63.g8Q Rxg8 64.Kxg8 b4 65.Kf7 b3 66.Kg6 Kd6 67.Kf5 b2 68.Kg5 b1Q 69.Kf4 Qd3 70.Kg5 Ke5 71.Kg4 Qc3 72.Kg5 Qg3+ 73.Kh6 Kf6 74.Kh5 Qh3#] 58.Kf6 [ 58.Kf5 doesn't get the cat off the tree 58...Rb3 59.Ke6 Rxb5 60.g6 Rc5 61.g7 Rc8 62.Kf7 b5 63.g8Q Rxg8 64.Kxg8 b4 65.Kf7 Kc6 66.Kf6 Kd6 67.Kf5 b3 68.Ke4 b2 69.Ke3 b1Q 70.Kd2 Qb3 71.Ke2 Ke5 72.Kd2 Ke4 73.Kc1 Qa2 74.Kd1 Kd3 75.Kc1 Qa1#] 58...Kc7 59.g6 [ 59.Kf5 is not much help 59...Rb3 60.Kf6 Rxb5 61.g6 Rb2 62.g7 Rg2 63.Kf7 b5 64.Kf8 b4 65.g8Q Rxg8+ 66.Kxg8 Kd6 67.Kf7 b3 68.Kf6 b2 69.Kf5 b1Q+ 70.Kf4 Qd3 71.Kg5 Ke5 72.Kg4 Qc3 73.Kg5 Qg3+ 74.Kh6 Kf6 75.Kh5 Qh3#] 59...Kd6 60.g7 [ 60.Kf5 does not win a prize 60...Ke7 61.g7 Rxg7 62.Ke4 Rg5 63.Ke3 Kd6 64.Ke4 Rxb5 65.Ke3 Rd5 66.Ke2 b5 67.Ke3 b4 68.Ke4 b3 69.Kf3 b2 70.Ke3 b1Q 71.Kf3 Rd3+ 72.Ke4 Qb5 73.Kf4 Qh5 74.Ke4 Qf3#] 60...Rxg7! hanging on to the material is worse. 61.Kxg7 Kc5 62.Kf6 Kxb5 63.Ke5 Kc4 64.Ke4 b5 65.Ke3 b4 66.Kd2 [ 66.Ke2 is not the saving move 66...b3 67.Kd2 Kd4 68.Kd1 Kd3 69.Kc1 Kc3 70.Kd1 b2 71.Ke2 b1Q 72.Kf2 Qf5+ 73.Kg3 Kd3 74.Kg2 Ke3 75.Kg3 Qg6+ 76.Kh2 Kf2 77.Kh1 Qh5#] 66...Kb3 [ 66...b3 67.Kd1 Kd3 68.Kc1 Kc3 69.Kd1 b2 70.Ke2 b1Q 71.Kf3 Kd4 72.Kf2 Qd3 73.Kg1 Ke3 74.Kg2 Qg6+ 75.Kh1 Kf2 76.Kh2 Qh5#] 67.Kc1 [ 67.Kd3 a fruitless try to alter the course of the game 67...Ka2 68.Ke4 b3 69.Kd3 b2 70.Ke3 Kb3 71.Ke4 Kc4 72.Kf4 Kd4 73.Kf5 b1Q+ 74.Kf6 Qe4 75.Kf7 Ke5 76.Kg7 Qc4 77.Kh7 Qg4 78.Kh6 Kf6 79.Kh7 Qg7#] 67...Ka2 68.Kc2 b3+ 69.Kc3 [ 69.Kd3 hardly improves anything 69...b2 70.Kd4 b1Q 71.Ke5 Kb3 72.Kf4 Kc4 73.Ke5 Qg6 74.Kf4 Kd4 75.Kf3 Qf5+ 76.Ke2 Qf7 77.Kd1 Kd3 78.Kc1 Qa2 79.Kd1 Qb1#] 69...b2 70.Kd4 b1Q 71.Ke5 Qb4 [ 71...Kb3 72.Kf4 Kc4 73.Ke5 Qg6 74.Kf4 Kd4 75.Kf3 Qf5+ 76.Ke2 Qf7 77.Kd1 Kd3 78.Kc1 Qa2 79.Kd1 Qb1#] 72.Kd5 [ 72.Kf5 doesn't do any good 72...Qe7 73.Kg6 Qe5 74.Kf7 Kb3 75.Kg6 Kc4 76.Kf7 Kd5 77.Kg6 Ke6 78.Kh7 Qg3 79.Kh8 Kf6 80.Kh7 Qg7#] 72...Kb3 [ 72...Qe7 73.Kd4 Kb3 74.Kd5 Kc3 75.Kc6 Kc4 76.Kb6 Qd7 77.Ka6 Kc5 78.Ka5 Qb5#] 73.Ke6 [ 73.Ke5 does not solve anything 73...Kc4 74.Ke4 Qe7+ 75.Kf5 Kd4 76.Kf4 Qf6+ 77.Kg4 Ke3 78.Kh5 Qg7 79.Kh4 Kf4 80.Kh3 Qg3#] 73...Kc3 [ 73...Qf4 74.Kd5 Kb4 75.Kc6 Qd4 76.Kb7 Kc5 77.Ka7 Qg7+ 78.Ka8 Kb6 79.Kb8 Qh8#] 74.Kf5 [ 74.Kf6 doesn't improve anything 74...Qd6+ 75.Kf5 Kd4 76.Kg4 Ke4 77.Kg5 Qb6 78.Kh4 Qg1 79.Kh3 Kf3 80.Kh4 Qg4#] 74...Kd4 75.Kf4 [ 75.Ke6 doesn't change anything anymore 75...Qf8 76.Kd7 Kd5 77.Kc7 Qa8 78.Kb6 Qb8+ 79.Ka5 Kc5 80.Ka4 Qb4#] 75...Kd3+ [ 75...Qf8+ 76.Kg4 Ke4 77.Kg3 Qf3+ 78.Kh4 Qg2 79.Kh5 Kf5 80.Kh6 Qg6#] 76.Kf3 [ 76.Ke5 doesn't get the bull off the ice 76...Qe7+ 77.Kd5 Kc3 78.Kc6 Kc4 79.Kb6 Qd7 80.Ka6 Kc5 81.Ka5 Qb5#] 76...Kd2 [ 76...Qh4 77.Kg2 Ke2 78.Kg1 Kf3 79.Kf1 Qf2#] 77.Kg3 [ 77.Kg2 cannot change destiny 77...Qg4+ 78.Kh1 Ke1 79.Kh2 Kf1 80.Kh1 Qh3#] 77...Qd4 [ 77...Ke2 78.Kh2 Qg4 79.Kh1 Kf1 80.Kh2 Qg2#] 78.Kf3 Qe3+ [ 78...Qh4 79.Kg2 Ke2 80.Kg1 Kf3 81.Kf1 Qf2#] 79.Kg2 [ 79.Kg4 doesn't change the outcome of the game 79...Qe5 80.Kf3 Ke1 81.Kg2 Qe3 82.Kh1 Kf2 83.Kh2 Qh6#] 79...Ke2 80.Kh2 [ 80.Kh1 cannot change what is in store for ? 80...Kf2 81.Kh2 Qh6#] 80...Qf3 [ 80...Kf1 81.Kh1 Qg1#] 81.Kg1 Qg3+ [ 81...Qg4+ 82.Kh1 Kf1 83.Kh2 Qg2#] 82.Kh1 ½–½
Chessbase products call it "full analysis" not auto-annotation as in Chessmaster.
When you say "Chessbase products" you of course mean Fritz. Chessbase 9.0 includes neither 'auto-annotation' nor 'full analysis'. It does include excellent features for the improving player to annotate their games by hand.
I provided Chessmaster 11's vs. human annotations of one master and one amateur game in another thread. If you believe Fritz can do better, would you (or anyone else with Fritz) post its annotations of those same games at the same 30s/move? I think this would be helpful for people looking to use their annotation features.
Nov 4, 2007
0
#35
Chessbase products include the CB database software, of course, as well as Fritz, Shredder, Tiger, Junior, Zap!Chess, Hiarcs, and others that share the Fritz interface (and interact smoothly with the DB program). For young beginners Fritz and Chester is so far ahead of Chessmaster that again Chessmaster hardly deserves consideration.
I should say that I have not owned a computer that did not have a Chessmaster programn installed since the fisrt two months that I owned a computer in the 1980s. I know their products well, have used them often, and switched to Fritz etc. quite a few years ago.
I will run the Morphy-Anderssen game through analysis by Fritz 9.
I will run the Morphy-Anderssen game through analysis by Fritz 9.
Cool. That will be interesting to see. 
Nov 13, 2007
0
#37
I've just bought Chessmaster 10 on ebay UK for £4-60 (about $9) - it's brand new & factory sealed. At that price I thought I'd try out the most recent but now 'obsolete' version first 
A steal! It's sold in many stores for twice that price.
I have chessbase and chess assistant , I use both but find I use chess assistant more, I think it is more user friendly. As for engines I also have several , but I usually use them to check my games for tactical errors in complicated positions. It can be rather depressing to see how much we humans miss !
