While the personalities are fun, you might look into the Friend + Handicap mode. Fritz (I use version 11) dynamically assesses your strength AS YOU PLAY and tries to match it up (or even play a wee bit stronger if you like).
Training vs. that just forces you to push your boundaries and get better, IMHO.
While the personalities are fun, you might look into the Friend + Handicap mode. Fritz (I use version 11) dynamically assesses your strength AS YOU PLAY and tries to match it up (or even play a wee bit stronger if you like).
Training vs. that just forces you to push your boundaries and get better, IMHO.
Outstanding post. Thank you. 
This program is deep and has so much to offer. I'll need to give the handicap mode a try. In the manual for Fritz 12 it states:
"Training - Friend Mode: In this mode the program automatically adjusts its level of play to match that of the opponent. When you start it asks you for your 'Handicap'. This is similar to golf and is measured in 100ths of a pawn. If you give a high value (e.g. 200 = two pawns) the program will reduce its strength considerably. Afterwards the program will adjust your handicap to reflect your real playing strength, according to your results." 
I could not find a way to export my game out of Fritz as a pgn file. I could view it in ChessBase Light - the free version, but that's as far as I could get. What you see in post one was all hand entered using Chesspad. Do you know how to save/export a Fritz game as a pgn file? Thanks!
Sure ... go to the database window and you'll see options for Export to txt / pgn.
BTW, a big source of frustration for Fritz users is lack of good packaged documentation. So most people go to chessbase.com and sniff around for Steve Lopez's tutorials on using Fritz. There are also a few of them up on chesscafe.com. Those look like perfect tutorials for you.
If you plan to increase your OTB strength, I would recommend to play without the opening tree. It might be more difficult at first, but will provide better results in the long run.
I am really getting a kick out of my new adventure in computer chess. I recently received Fritz 12. Wow! First, I spent a few hours watching the instruction videos with Kasparov and company. A very slick production.
Second, I played a training game against one of the Fritz characters - The Assassin! I didn't take any moves back in this game, however, I lost to checkmate in 36 moves.
Well, The Assassin is rated at 1800, and I'm still a beginner. I had the Fritz opening tree open to guide me through the Caro-Kann. A very nice feature. After 16 moves, I was on my own.
About the Fritz characters:
Fritz has eleven sliders from low to high for each of the character's attributes.
Examples: Playing strength: 1375 - 2337, Bluder Range: 0.0 - 10.0 and King's Attack: Min-Max
Character names: Assasin (one "s"), Steam roller, Fraidy-cat, Desperado, Reckless, Tit-for-tat, Patzer, Moron and Careless.
The Patzer is set to 1375 and a Blunder of 7.
The Assasin is set to 1800 with a Blunder of less than one. King's attack is set to max!
The Fraidy-cat is set to 1800, has the lowest blunder rate of almost zero and a king's attack of about 25% of max.
Below is my first game against Fritz - The Assasin. I did a post mortem analysis because yes, I did die. Fritz 12 has an amazing and easy to use analysis engine. It's a bit embarrasing
showing everyone here this game, but I want to show those that don't have a computer chess program that a computer can make human moves. I greatly enjoy The Patzer, as I can always get him to resign. 