Emphasis on approximate. There is no program that simulates human play, so really the ratings aren't accurate. When you handicap the program it still orders all the legal moves from best to worst, the only difference is it will choose bad or less than great moves at random points in the game.
For example it may find a really good tactical move one moment then throw away some material the next move.
I was wondering because I have only been playing a few weeks and I the last several times I have beat it and it was set at 1800. The last game I took its queen in 14 moves, without losing any of my own pieces. I thought 1800 was a high Elo so I assumed that the playing strength must not be accurate, since I only started playing a few weeks ago.
Edit: now I also beat it at 2225 with the careless preset. I'm guessing the playing strength isn't accurate for the handicap mode. Does anyone else play Fritz handicap mode, and can you estimate a rough conversion to real Elo scores?
Indeed, the higher you set the elo, the stronger Fritz plays on Handicap and Fun, but at 1800 or 2000 (or higher) it makes silly tactical or positional errors which a human player at that level would not make. Play it that way and practice taking advantage of those mistakes or learn where you went wrong by playing back over the game with Fritz set on Infinite Analysis and be surprised at your own oversights.
I started playing chess a few weeks ago and I got Fritz 13. I am wondering if when you put it in "Handicap and Fun" mode, if the "playing strength" is equivalent to Elo ratings? According to this pdf http://www.chesscafe.com/text/lopez08.pdf it says the "playing strength" is an approximite Elo, but I am wondering if that is still accurate.