I've had no trouble downloading games from chess.com and loading them into HiARCS.
Two caveats:
1. I used to work in the IT industry, so "user friendly" might not mean the same thing to you and to me (I can't tell)
2. I've only used HiARCS on a Mac
3. (Bonus point) I hate the "next" and "previous" move icons being << and >>. They should be < and > with the doubled variant being some sort of jump (start, end maybe).
If you're big into building databases of games (doesn't sound like it yet) I don't know how easy that is. But a cautious recommendation that you consider HiARCS.
At least on a Mac (but I assume on Windows as well) it can use other engines. I find it interesting how Stockfish and HiARCS' own engine do not always agree!
Doubtless you will be given recommendations for other user interfaces you can continue to use Fritz with; that's not a silly option. The market seems somewhat split between the user interface and the backend chess engine, with commercial and free competitors in both segments.
Good luck!
Hi Everyone,
I'm a low ranked chess player, but slowly working on improving my play. I think the premium membership on chess.com is fantastic and enjoying it as a gift. What I want is an offline option for playing games, learning and analysing my games. I made the mistake of Buying Fritz 14 on Steam. I say mistake because doing anything requires many clicks, is counter-intuitive and is not user friendly even if the program is potentially quite powerful. What I want to know is what is some User friendly chess software I can save for?
I don't mind if it's not necessarily cheap though that's welcome, I'm happy to take time to save, what I want is for it to be easy to use. Stuff like putting in a PGN or set of chess moves into Fritz is extremely tedious. I want something that will not be a pain in my butt like the chess.com tools only available offline. Do you have any tips on what to buy and where to find it?