Best Chess Software for Casual Players

IrecommendFritz

fritz is good for everything, but if you want to train than chessmentor is the only option. Fritz doesnt have training like chessmentor.

and again for not so strong casual players chessmaster is still the best, even if its not supported anymore.

I mean when i was weaker, you know fritz always played like super strong in the opening and you just had to wait till the endgame when it totally gave winning positions away. You know personally even if it has the bug, for me personally i felt like playing a human. Sure its not perfect but still i liked it.

Fritz is good no doubt, it has good analysis and if you are stronger good friend mode with awesome games... But for the weak casual player definetly Chessmaster is best, and for training chessmentor.

You know sure Fritz for top level player is best, but you have to wait for ages, if you analyse on chess.com you dont have to wait on your computer and waste time yourself, they just send you the analysis. Yes its only 2500 but then again GM´s are also only 2500 so its totally enough for me.

i hate to admit it, but i think pfren is correct.

I'm happy with Fritz 13.  My version is the download version with the databases but not the Deep Fritz version.  It does run on all 4 cores of my computer or can be scaled down to one core.  It comes with a large database of games, many of them annotated, an opening book and a number of tutorial videos.  You can read either Chessbase or regular PGN and FEN files and will export to PGN/FEN (many UCI's cannot read CBV/CBH files directly) and you can install any UCI chess engine you like, although Fritz 13 engine is plenty strong for anything except perhaps online computer chess vs. another computer.  It will analyze completed games or positions and render an analysis in both variation lines and/or verbal text.  The play engine can be adjusted for Elo level.  You can turn the engine off and enter games manually to generate a PGN file, or you can play against the computer, or stop at any position and let the computer analyze just that situation.  You also receive one year's worth of access to the Chessbase online database of positions and games although I have yet to use that to any extent.  The "friend" mode is also good because it adjusts to your strength and can give you varying amounts of feedback depending on how you set it, though I prefer playing humans.

I would warn you that the Chessbase database program is enormous, expensive and is probably best suited to GM level players or aspirants.  The Chessbase program itself is not so much a teaching/playing interface as it is a massive search engine for millions of games and it is expensive.  Fritz 13 by itself is more than you'll use during it's useful life most likely.

Although some complain a bit, I find the user interface to be intuitive once you learn a few menu choices and keyboard commands.  I'd buy it again and will consider renewal of the online access when the time comes, although that isn't a priority.  In just a couple of months, mine has been upgraded from build 5 to build 19, so the program is kept up to date.

mldavis no doubt about that but for playing against computer for casual player i would say chessmaster is the definetly the best.

I won't disagree, @TetsuoShima since I haven't used CM since back in version 6000 or so.  I just know that for my needs today at my level, Fritz 13 works nicely since it not only provides the engine and analysis feedback, but also interfaces with the online community that CM was never intended to do.  If you can find a recent version of CM for $10 or so, go for it.  I wouldn't pay $50 for it, however.  There are more online training videos available from other sources than anyone can possibly find time to watch.

mldavis but how can you use multicore, i thought only deep fritz uses mutlicore. where is the difference in those 2 then?

I may be wrong about that, @TetsuoShima.  I know that if I use (for example) Houdini 1.5a, it will allow me to configure the number of cores to use, and there is a "1 CPU" toggle button that is not activated when running Fritz 13 engine, but whether or not that actually toggles between 1 and 4 cores I don't know.  In retrospect, I think that Fritz 13 may in fact only run on one core (the "crippled" non-Deep version) and the "1 CPU" button is reserved for those who bought the Deep version or for other CPUs.  If I find time, I'll do some checking to see how many cores are running with each engine.  I have 15 engines installed in Fritz 13 so it will take a bit to verify them for 4 cores.  I'll report back later.

OK, my error.  The "1CPU" button simply shows the number of effective CPUs running, which is only one with the default Fritz 13 engine.  If you press it with any multiple core engine, it will open a window and allow you to set the number of cores you want and then display that number on the button.  On the other hand, strangely, when observing the CPU load during "1 CPU" operation with Fritz 13 engine, all 4 cores are running about 25%, so it appears that it actually does use all 4 cores but cripples them each down to 25% load.  Fritz has simply put a "speed limit" on their lower-priced version rather than installing a better engine in their Deep version at a higher price, it would appear.

When I load Houdini 1.5a x64, or Rybka 2.2n2 mp (the only two I tried) I have the option of enabling 1,2,3 or 4 cores and all 4 cores run at 100% when they are enabled.

There is also a vast difference in efficiency.  The Fritz 13 engine running with 4 cores at 25% efficiency generates over 2200 kN/sec, Houdini 1.5a x64 is over 6000 kN/sec with 4 cores at 100% and Rybka 2.2n2 mp only 500 kN/sec using 4 cores at 100% load.  Interesting. 

Well yes i have had several of the chessmaster programs over the years and i have to agree it is a good buy. Really i doubt if you need anything else.The lessons  on there by Josh Watzkins (?) are particually good. I also like the tournament options. btw off subject but i think its good to play in the tournaments here as well.

Is there anything that acts more like a coach after a game?

I feel like chess master will tell me what move I should have made and what material gains it would have led to and thats it - it doesn't seem to tell me how I should have known or seen.

I am looking for a program that will tell me I should have seen that dark squares were weak, or there was a weak square on the board, or an outpost I missed; something that will help me learn how to look at the game.

Someone was telling me there used to be a game called Power Chess that had something like that. Anything out there these days?

thanks for the posts above

ive just got a new pc so i can get the most from chess.com

going by your posts chessmster is better for training and fritz is good for all round analysis.

do either of these contain a database or do i need to get chessbase.

i havent seen houdini mentioned. what do people think of it?

are there any free programs that compare to the ones mentioned above for training and analysis and with a database function.

similar to joeylapetinas qs above, is there aa analysis program that shows you the moves you should have made but also tells you the reasons why?

They both have databases. I don't have the latest version of Chessmaster, and I stopped paying attention to their databases in 2003, but I recal there is something more than a million games. Certainly enough to keep you busy for awhile. Adding games to the CM database is possible, but not as easy as it might be.

Fritz (or any other ChessBase engine using the Fritz GUI) comes with 1.5 million games. It is vastly superior to CM in what you can do with the database from the ways you can search to the ease of adding more games.

I use ChessBase 11 for my databases (CB 12 is out now) and Fritz when I want to play against an engine. Sometimes I'll be looking at a game in CB 11 and wondering why a GM resigned. Maybe I'll think I know the continuation, but have some doubts. One click closes CB and opens the position in Fritz, where I can play against Houdini, Rybka, Fritz, Hiarcs, or any other engine that I have installed.

Fritz will then save the result of my play against the box, and I can view this game in Fritz or in ChessBase.

None of this is possible in Chessmaster, so I would limit any claims concerning its instructive value. It does come with lots of tutorials.  

Chessmaster postgame analysis uses the program voice to explain the reason behind moves, which is simply reading and playing through variations. In Fritz, the variations are better quality, but you have to play through them on your own.

Fritz is handy. ChessMaster seems bloated anymore.

Set Fritz to sparring, hardest. I find it helpful to take back moves until I win.

It's good for understanding what piece-constructs are strongest, most flexible for-longest.

I prefer any version fritz over any version chessmaster as far as commerical programs. I think arena is a good free programs.

@ziryab   you say below

"I use ChessBase 11 for my databases (CB 12 is out now) and Fritz when I want to play against an engine. Sometimes I'll be looking at a game in CB 11 and wondering why a GM resigned. Maybe I'll think I know the continuation, but have some doubts. One click closes CB and opens the position in Fritz, where I can play against Houdini, Rybka, Fritz, Hiarcs, or any other engine that I have installed."

im confused as you said fritz has a database. so why would you use chessbase 11.

is fritz and chessbase 11 the same program or are they part of a suite of programs.  does houdini etc come with frtiz or is it a seperate program also.

Fritz, Houdini, Rybka, Hiarcs, are all playing programs (or engines).

Chessbase is a database software. Although Fritz comes with a database, the size of it is much smaller than the databases that come with chessbase (around 1.5 million games in Fritz compared to over 5 million in CB), Chessbase is also much more sophisticated in terms of what you can actually do with the raw data, in terms of searches, storing your repertoire etc etc. It doesn't play against you or analyse though. For that you need one of the engines - which you can use within chessbase - it's not even a question of closing one and opening the other.

I don't understand why people spend good money for chess programs like Fritz and so forth when there are good chess gui's available for free--SCID vs PC for example. If you need databases there are plenty available on the internet also for free. People must have lots of money to throw around even in this day and age of recession, depression and obsession.