Fritz Chess 13 (PC DVD)

As usual there are 2 versions of the program to choose from; the full one from Chessbase and the generic product from Excalibur publishing.

I'd recommend firstly visiting the Chessbase website, entering the Chessbase shop and selecting the English version of Fritz 13. Just above where it says "System requirements" there is a link to further information including a downloadable PDF manual. It runs to 932 pages and is specifically written for Fritz 13 making it a useful item to keep whichever version you buy.

Fritz 13 will look pretty much the same as its predecessor Fritz 12. It will contain the latest engine and opening book, but if you just want a program to play against it may not be enough to justify the upgrade. It may be helpful to look at Fritz 12 reviews to compare.

The major new feature which might tempt some is called "Let's check". This is a powerful new analysis tool which enables the user to share their own chess analysis with other players throughout the world and to receive other people's analysis back.

Essentially all chess input and output is sent to a massive central database called a cloud; which is managed by Chessbase. To participate you need to connect to the internet through the Fritz 13 program. There are various ways of doing this but the easiest is to click on the big blue arrow by the side of the engine window pane. Also, in the notation window pane there is an extra tab called "live book"; this is where all the best analysis eventually filters into and can be referred to much as in Fritz's own opening book - you can connect here too.

Initially your Fritz 13 engine will begin analysing the game's opening position. You can literally enter any subsequent position you like to study; perhaps from a database of your own games or from a Chessbase one featuring more famous players. You will see a list of users already analysing or who have analysed your position previously and the depth to which they have done so. The depth is described in Ply. 1 Ply usually means a white move if it is white's turn, hence 2 Ply being a white move and a black reply etc.

If you analyse a position more deeply than anyone else it becomes named in your favour on the database until someone else analyses it deeper still. If you analyse a position no one else has first, it becomes named in your favour forever. It is usual to set the feature up with your normal Playchess nickname and password to be credited for your new discoveries.

If your computer is not particularly fast or powerful you can set up Fritz with a position or game you wish to analyse quickly. The let's check facility can enable you to access other people's analysis for that scenario often in a matter of seconds.

Personally I wouldn't bother uninstalling previous versions of Fritz. I've got Fritz 11, 12 and 13 all installed with no problems. I still occasionally use Fritz 12 when setting up engine tournaments as I find some of the finer settings within to be more user-friendly.

It is a good idea to regularly check for service pack updates. As I write the latest Fritz interface is dated 09 December 2011; making it the fourth since I installed the program.

The full version of Fritz 13 offers 6 months basic subscription to Playchess and 6 months premium. The subscription to Let's check lasts until December 2014. It is not yet clear what the Excalibur version offers but the price difference between the 2 indicates something would have to give.

This was my 1st time at re-learning chess after suffering a diabetic coma 4 yrs ago, Ive found it quite complicated and I'm struggling quite badly at the mo but it seems very well sorted. I have found it has made my comp crash a fair few times (windows 7 ultimate, dual core 1.86 ghz with 4 gb of ram)
Overall I think this will help me learn once ive got over the intimidation, its just a shame that it keeps trying to get me to buy a yearly membership in order to get the full functions to work !!

As chess software, Fritz lives up to it's reputation. It is a strong chess engine with a nice graphical user interface. It can adapt to your chess level, and you can do all sorts of tricks, like setting it to play the openings that you want. The games database is very good for the beginner and hobby player, and can be easily expanded with new games. The analysis functions are excellent to check your games and improve your play.

The major drawback is the poor instruction manual and help, even to set it up - which makes it loose a star in the rating. The most frustrating thing is that there is good information available, but you have to dig it from the notes on older versions found in the ChessBase website. Why not updating it and including it in the manual?

As on this version (13), there are no major changes from version 12, but the "Let's Check" and "Book Live" functions, which I do not use. I have had some issues with software bugs, as the chess set locking in one colour (I was not able to change playing from black to white), but I downloaded the update and seems to be working fine. If a previous version of Fritz is installed, I would recommend to back-up the existing databases and un-install it first (I uninstalled v12 after installing v13, and the white pieces dissappeared from the board - had to uninstall v13 and reinstall it).

For an absolute beginner, ChessMaster is probably a better option, as it is more user friendly and the chess tutorial is by far better. Once you get to the stage where more in-depth game analysis is required, Fritz is definitely better. I know some people who use both: ChessMaster to play the games, and Fritz to analyse them.