Curious about Aquarium

Anybody out there using Aquarium (i.e. the UI designed for sale with Rybka)?  I'm curious to hear what people think of the interface itself, especially in terms of how it would compare to Fritz, etc.

I've read some of the articles on ChessCafe, and it seems like there has been some genuine innovation here.  (?)  Thanks.

Isn't Aquarium just one of the frontends for Rybka. It is my understanding that Chessbase does, or will, offer a Fritz-like frontend specifically for Rybka, and that that Russian company that makes Chess Assistant will offer it (it being Rybka 3) with Aquarium as its frontend.

In either event, good luck finding an intstruction manual printed in English.

In the interest of full disclosure, I haven't used Aquarium. I've only read about it thus far. I am using Rybka 3 as the main engine in my regular Fritz 11 game.

Here's a link to the Aquarium demo.

http://aquariumchess.com/AquariumDemo/AquariumDemoSetup.exe

Thanks, guys.  I actually did find the .pdf manual in English (thank you, Google).  There are some nice new analysis features in Aquarium to be sure.  Let's face it, the "Fritz-style" interface hasn't changed much in years, so I was hoping for something fresh.  Of course, given that I'm a mac-user, my curiousity is mostly academic. 

i hate it .all i got is a fancy registration number .since i got it; it has not worked $50.00 gone ill never buy anything from chessok again 

I downloaded the demo, and I like the way it looks. I don't know how much of the "real" program is missing, but for now it's a good introduction.

I'm not sure if printing out that manual on pdf is worth it just for the demo. Lots of pages.

stwils

hooperxxx> Isn't Aquarium just one of the frontends for Rybka.

Isn't the Ferrari body is just there to hold the engine? In my case, Aquarium is one of the main reasons I bought Rybka 3.

hooperxxx> It is my understanding that Chessbase does, or will, offer a Fritz-like frontend specifically for Rybka

They do. The question is, the relative quality of the two interfaces.

hooperxxx> good luck finding an intstruction manual printed in English.

I know three ways to accomplish it:

1. Use Google.
2. Buy the product.
3. Visit the Aquarium forum.

My take:

• The Chessbase interface you install once, it's easier to use, and less buggy.
  
• The Aquarium interface has more innovative analysis features and the developers regularly talk to users and ship updates / patches.

You have to weigh which one appeals more to you.

IDeA rocks. When Chessbase analyzes a position overnight, it shows you the final evaluation of 1-3 key lines. When IDeA analyzes a position overnight it provides the full analysis tree and you can step through it to see why it liked or didn't like particular moves. It also listens to your suggestions about lines you want it to investigate or ignore.

Randomizer lets you play a bunch of games very quickly--in some positions no engines cannot accurately differentiate between 2 or 3 moves, even though the choice may be very important. In these cases asking it to play itself dozens of times is very useful.

missingkasparov, did your system meet the minimum software and hardware requirements for Rybka and Aquarium? If so, did you contact support? I have always had good support from both Convekta and Chessbase. Be sure to check your spam folder--sometimes their replies get dropped into there by your e-mail service provider.

DeepGreene

Go to this link  http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybkaforum/forum_show.pl

you will find everything you want to know about Aquarium

This was very informative since I was looking into this system. I think I'll stick with Chessbase for now. Thanks Deepgreene for starting this post. I found it very informative!

To bump an older post, I should say that I'm now eagerly awaiting a new iMac that will easily accommodate a Windows 7 partition/virtual machine (thank you, "black Friday"), so I got back into comparing Aquarium ("2010" now) to Fritz (12 now) to better inform my Xmas shopping.  :-)  With due respect to Aquarium's awesomeness as regards deep analysis tools, I'm going with Fritz.

One thing that almost swayed me to Aquarium is the fact that a delay in the release of Rybka 4 means that ChessOK is offering a free copy of Chess Assistant 10 with every purchase of Deep Rybka Aquarium (instead of a free upgrade to Rybka 4 whenever it shows up).  I've never used Chess Assistant, but I know some people much prefer it to Chessbase, so that's a pretty compelling deal (even given the fact that Aquarium is > $100, so relatively expensive compared to Fritz 12). 

In the end, however, the feature-set & look-and-feel aspects of Fritz won me over.  I look forward to sparring mode (best computer chess I've ever played I think) and to trying out calculation training, etc.  The crux of it is that I just started to feel like Aquarium, when held up against my own priorities and current practices, came out a little heavy on the sophisticated analysis features, whereas Fritz currently offers a broader variety of practical training features.

My 2 cents, anyway.  Even so, I will be looking forward to the eventual release of Rybka 4 with some interest, I must say - especially since the developer has suggested there will be some cool new features that may have great appeal to learners.

I am still partial to the Shredder GUI (non-chessbase) that is sold on the Shredder website.  I just purchased Shredder 12 and it is stable, unbuggy and has great and easy to use analysis features.

I have tried Aquarium and Chessbase GUI's and have even tried the free SCID and Arena...and yes even Chess Partner from lokosoft. 

Shredder's GUI, for ME, wins hands down.  Chessbase GUIs are nice but I cannot deal with their customer service.  Aquarium is  just messy.  Chess Partner is just a waste of megabytes!!

But that is the beauty of having different GUI's to check out.  We can all find one that works for us!  :)