Not necessarily. They could have skipped the cd verification on the download.
Does anyone here have Fritz on cd who could tell for sure?
Fritz 13 question
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Dont bother, Houdini 1.5 is better and its free. No CD. Just download.
Ok thanks for your help. Will try Houdini with Arena tomorrow before making the commitment to buy Fritz. Thanks for telling me about it.
Mar 1, 2013
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#5
I have the downloaded Fritz 13. All you do is register online after they send you the verification code by e-mail. I'm sure the CD comes with the code so the only difference is that the download version needs the code sent by e-mail rather than reading it from the CD. It does apparently "phone home" on occasion to check for updates which is good. I started about six weeks ago with build 5 and it's up to build 18 now. I suspect the CD version is the same.
I have both Arena with Houdini 1.5a and Fritz 13. Fritz has a few perks that Arena does not such as an online database access and opening book, positional comparison with other analysis that others have sent in, and some nice demo/teaching features such as arrows, circles, etc. It also handles both the common PGN/FEN files as well as the Chessbase CBV files transparently. There are some teaching videos and thousands of games, many of them annotated.
If you don't need the perks, save the money. I am very happy with Fritz and would buy it again.
I don't know anything about Arena, but SCID is a useful interface tool, you could give that a try with Houdini.
http://scid.sourceforge.net/links.html
Thanks for the replies. Will check out the SCID. My Chessmaster 10 requires me to have the cd in the computer. Very annoing. Mida, excellent review on Fritz. May still end up with it after trying the free ones. At the same time someone told me I'd be much better of getting the Chessbase database and study those games and enter my own to study. That may be the best way to go.
Mar 1, 2013
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#9
One of the three Chessmaster 10th patches is supposed to fix the "CD in the PC" problem. I assume you haven't installed the patches?
Nope, have not installed the patch. Thanks for telling me.
Mar 1, 2013
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#11
The U.S. version has three patches. Just make sure you install in order, 1, 2, 3. It should fix the problem.
Mar 1, 2013
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#12
you have to start your chessmaster as an administrator otherwise the updates will not apply.
Estragon wrote:
Chessbase offers a "clean" database - the duplicates, partials, and incorrect games have been eliminated (for the most part, it's not possible to be 100% accurate when you get into the millions) - and lots of features. I've always used it, but probably the free programs have most of the popular features, too.
If you want to improve your game, you will get more help from a database than from an engine. The engines are so strong now you will just lose over and over without understanding why.
how does the database tell you why you lose?
Mar 2, 2013
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#14
The various versions of Chessbase are huge databases of games. It's main claim to fame is the size of the databases (far more than any human could possibly work through in a lifetime) and the ability to "quiz" or search the database for very highly specific positions, variations, situations, etc. As a learning tool, I think it is more designed for searching than for instruction which in turn is more suited for established players seeking to research new variations or look back over games played by upcoming opponents looking for trends.
Does the CD have to stay in the computer for Deep Fritz 13 software? Don't like that about Chessmaster.
Thanks