Fritz 14, Houdini 4, or Komodo 8 ?

Need some help on which engine to use, for analyzing my games, as well as exploring openings and positions.

Am fairly new to chess software. Have used Arena for a little while, but want something a bit easier to use. A friend showed me the output of a game, that his version of Fritz 12 had analyzed, and I was amazed at how much more detailed it was, than Arena.

Checked out the chessbase site, but didn't find enough information on the engine diferences, to make an informed decision. Fritz 14, Houdini 4, and Komodo 8, all seem to have the same Fritz 14 GUI, and it appears the only difference is which engine is included with the package.

From the vague descriptions on Chessbase, I came up with this (with the quotes from the chessbase site) :

Fritz14, "the most popular chess program in the world".

Houdini 4, Looks like it is best for games against other engines, and it's strength, seems to be that it is the fastest engine for evaluation. Houdini 4 works best with the $60.00 add on, new Syzygy tablebases.

Komodo 8, "primarily known for superb positional play", and "excels in the evaluation of positions with material imbalance, which it handles more correctly than other top engines". Like Houdini 4, Komodo 8 works best with the $60.00 add on Syzygy tablebases.

Deep Junior, "has its own special search techniques and evaluation functions", and is known for "sacrificing material for initiative whenever it sees a chance".

Deep Hiracs, "unique human-like playing style and is renowned for playing sharp attacking chess". It also says that Hiracs learns with you, as an evaluation tool, I'm not sure if that is good or not. Hiracs is the only one of this group, that comes with the Fritz 12 GUI. So it does not have the "Lets Check" option, of Fritz 14. (BTW, for those of you that have used the "Lets Check" feature, is it very useful?) Hiracs is also the only one of this group, that did not mention 64 bits, not that that is a huge deal, but it is a difference.

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I see that Kingcrusher uses Houdini in some of his videos. But really don't know if that would be the best for my use.

I'm about a 1300 player, and would appreciate your thoughts on which engine would suit me better.

Thank you.

Sounds like you have a nice friend!

Well, first of all I would say that at our level (Miles away from titled level), you shoudn't be so enthusiast about making analysis with engines, because:

1- They don't tell you the ideas behind their moves
2- For the same reason you can't trust them on openings
3- They teach you nothing and make you lazy

But, in the other hand you can spot your blunders very quickly but even in this case, im sure that you can spot them by yourself, and even correct them by yourself. This exercise should help you more than engine analysis.

In any case, it's always good to have a good GUI and a good Engine. The best GUI it's named Chessbase but you have to pay for it, but there are many good ones wich are free, for instance:

1- Scid vs PC
2- Arena
3- Scid.

You can analyse your games in those software without problem. And I think you can use Stockfish 5 wich is free (google it), and the best engine. When you have already downloaded it, you have to install it on your software, and then it will give you the evaluation and the best moves of the position.

No doubt about that!

For your purposes, it doesn't matter.  You're generally just going to use it to look for any tactics you overlooked.  Turn engine on, play through the moves and if the eval suddenly jumps to +3 then back to 0 you want to see what you missed and how you could've taken advantage of it or what mistake you made that allowed your opponent a huge advantage.  Stockfish is free and will be more than enough for that.  The "best" is Komodo, of course, but it's not necessary right now.  

I do not agree with that. Complicated tactics are practically impossible to figure out without an engine.

At our level, choose the cheapest.

Since you like Fritz, here's some advice to save some money.  Buy Fritz 13 instead.  It's cheaper and can be bought and downloaded from Amazon.  Then, download and install Komodo 5.1 for use in the Fritz interface.  Komodo 5.1 is free and can be downloaded from the Komodo website.  It's free and stronger than either Fritz 13 or 14.

Edit: Of the three engines you mention, I'd buy Komodo 8.  It might be true that engine choice makes little difference at "our level" but I can think of no good reason, other than cost, to not buy the best.

I forgot to mention that Stockfish 5 is stronger than any of the three you mention and can also be used in the Fritz interface.

Napolean_CHL Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

My appologies for not making my original post clear. Will edit it in a few minutes. My request was for info on the chessbase engines. Already have Scid, Scid vs PC, Arena, Stockfish, and Lucas chess as well.

Try Hiarcs, nice interface, nice engine, nice support.

Even though I hoped for the opposite, Komodo 8 is stronger than Stockfish 5.

My advice: wait for Houdini 5.

Definitely Komodo 8. Currently the strongest engine out there

i am using Stockfish 14122208 (development version), its a monster engine and much stronger than Komodo 8 or stockfish 5 or Houdini 4. its free and open source.

Stockfish is 2nd best engine (from ICE engine comp.), but its FREE

Stockfish 14122208 is not in that list yet, because its development version. but anyone can set matches and see its strength!

Sry I meant stockfish 7

but yh

but no fritz

Current SF version is 5. so next version will be 6.

you'll see at least +50 elo increase in next version!

thats stronger than komodo 8.

Stick a fork in Houdini - it's done.  There will likely be a Komodo 9 in the very near future.