I've found that the Fritz12 engine does a good job of being limited to lower rating (I usually play it on around 1400), Rybka4 less so, I've not used Shredder.
I've found the Fritz12/Chessbase GUI to be the most intuitive and friendly. I dislike Aquarium, though some people love it. I used Arena briefly but the version I had seemed a little buggy (it's possible this was operator error though).
Well you eliminated one answer but obviously the best chess engine in terms of strength is deep rybka 4. In terms of appearance deep fritz 12. They all use the fritz 12 interface. At least the chessbase ones do. The aquarium is not one of my favorites either. Although fritz takes a lot of abuse do to the fact that it has high expectations I think it continues to be the product of choice.
If you want pure engine strength, Fire and Houdini are both stronger than Rybka, and are free.
If you want realistic human style with adjustable strengths, go for Shredder Classic (NOT the Shredder 12 that comes with chessbase, which has the same interface with Rybka and Fritz).
@Nick - thanks for the advice
@Benonidoni - Engine strength shouldn't really be an issue for someone of my rating (~1400 Chess.com). So I'm just looking for compatibility/options of the major software on the market, just basic playing and evaluation tools with a decent opening book. Fritz is ahead at the moment, but that's because of the Premium Playchess membership & new ribbon interface, but it is expensive.
@Philly - What is the difference between Shredder Classic and Shredder 12, exactly? I've looked on the website, but it's pretty limited with regards to details.
I would suggest Fritz 12 above all. I got it back in August and my chess has improved greatly since then. It was $50 through wholesalechess.com. I play at least 3 or 4 games a day on it and study massive amounts of games through it. It's definitely worth the price. 
-Mark
Hahaha - everything's free on Pirate Bay 
@jhb - I have a dualcore laptop, but I think I'll be upgrading my laptop before I'd upgrade my chess program, so a "deep" program is what I'm after. Nice suggestion regarding Houdini and Fritz 12! Btw, isn't Chessbase 11 much more expensive than DF12?
@CMTS - as you've bought it, do you get a decent opening book, and endgame tablebases with Fritz 12? I've been to the chessbase shop, but it's a bit scant on information.
I hav eAquarium, but not Fritz. What does fritz have that aquarium doesn't as far as the interface goes?
@Helipacter Yes! Chessbase11 is more expensive than Fritz 12. But I think I need the Chessbase11 functionality.
Fritz12 is an engine, GUI, media player, allows basic database loading and tactic training, plus analysis of games. However, trying to organize opening repetoires out of Frtz12 is frustratingly difficult; nigh impossible.
For me, personally (and redundantly) I was to have a DB of "JHBs Queen's Gambit" and "JHBs Slav" and "JHBs Najdorf" etc etc. I want to be able to access them quickly, add QGD, Najdorf and Slav games from recent master's events to them, etc. I want to load in the Kasparov Najdorf DB and the Kasparov QGD DB and load in Megabase etc. I can't do that easily in Fritz.
My basic MO right now is to save the PGN of a good fame, run it through a deep analysis using multiple engines, and use it to find where I made my first big mistake and, briefly, to look at variations I could have taken. The multiple engines is nice for identifying different plans, but is largely an unnecessary indulgence. All 3 engines play lifetimes better than I ever will and very easily help pinpoint mine mistakes.
thats what fritz doesn't have is endgame tablebases. Myself, I purchased the tablebases which I forget if its 3 or 4 pieces and didn't find that it helped fritz12 performance. In my opinion Rybka 4 would beat fritz 12 with tablebases about 80 percent of the time.
As far as chessbase and fritz. Chessbase is probably the rolls-royce of chess software. Includes megadatabases and endgame tablebases and runs in the hundreds of dollars. Far superior to the deep fritz.
If you have an extra hundred bucks try picking up an older version of megadatabase. They are very nice and work extremely well in chessbase like fritz or shredder junior rybka. Best software I've ever had with good pro analysis.
I hav eAquarium, but not Fritz. What does fritz have that aquarium doesn't as far as the interface goes?
Anyone?
P.S. Click HERE if you want to vote on these engine's playing strengths
If you want pure engine strength, Fire and Houdini are both stronger than Rybka, and are free.
If you want realistic human style with adjustable strengths, go for Shredder Classic (NOT the Shredder 12 that comes with chessbase, which has the same interface with Rybka and Fritz).
Is there any "proof" of this ? I wonder because Rybka keeps winning the engines championship. Why is that if there are stronger engines out there ? Are you going by ratings alone or what ?
If you want pure engine strength, Fire and Houdini are both stronger than Rybka, and are free.
If you want realistic human style with adjustable strengths, go for Shredder Classic (NOT the Shredder 12 that comes with chessbase, which has the same interface with Rybka and Fritz).
Is there any "proof" of this ? I wonder because Rybka keeps winning the engines championship. Why is that if there are stronger engines out there ? Are you going by ratings alone or what ?
In June, Martin Thorsen ran a match of 48 (Long time control) games between Rybka 4 (x64 4CPU) and Houdini 1.02 (x64 4CPU), and it finished 26.5 vs 21.5 in favour of Rybka 4. Therefore, you can all make your own minds up , but one is free, and the other is quite expensive. (In comparison, Stockfish lost 29-19 to R4 over the same time controls, so Houdini looks pretty good for its "price".)
On the other hand, I've looked at R4 vs the Freebies in Blitz time controls, and it seems to get wiped out (for example, one guy played R4 vs Fire 1.3.x and R4 won 17, but lost 47!).
Anyway, the point of the thread isn't engine strength, as me vs any "deep" program would be like racing my Gran against Usain Bolt -bearing in mind she's been dead a few years now- so it's really irrelevant. The point is usability for playing, and help with regards to training.
Its still fun to know that suchandsuch engine is the best in the world.
I have the Linux version of Shredder Classic 4 and find it quite satisfactory for my needs. I don't play against it a lot - I use it mostly for post-game analysis - but I find the self-adjusting strength quite good and "natural" feeling.
My only gripe with it is the multiple windows - one for the board, one for the game notation, one for the clocks, etc. It can be a bit of a pain trying to get a screen layout that suits you.
I hav eAquarium, but not Fritz. What does fritz have that aquarium doesn't as far as the interface goes?
Anyone?
P.S. Click HERE if you want to vote on these engine's playing strengths
Thanks.
But could you list any features fritz has aquarium doesn't?
If you want pure engine strength, Fire and Houdini are both stronger than Rybka, and are free.
If you want realistic human style with adjustable strengths, go for Shredder Classic (NOT the Shredder 12 that comes with chessbase, which has the same interface with Rybka and Fritz).
Is there any "proof" of this ? I wonder because Rybka keeps winning the engines championship. Why is that if there are stronger engines out there ? Are you going by ratings alone or what ?
Engines championships that Rybka officially participates in don't allow Robbolit and Fire to participate. I don't know why Houdini doesn't.
I've done some testing with Fire vs Rybka 4 and Fire had the better results. I've read in chess com forums that the latest Houdini is stronger too. There are some sites that show statistics but I don't know their adresses.
Howdy all,
Right, I'm aiming this question to those who have bought one or more of the above: which is best?
I'm not really interested with engine strength, but rather usability/functionality. Which would you say is the most intuitive, and which is the nightmare?
Cheers!