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| From | Message | Posted by jibb666
wordiness.com
1/22/2008
15:37:12
Play online chess |  Subject: Is there a better interface than Fritz?
Message:
Hi all
I've played using Fritz 10, and it's very, very powerful, but I find that the interface is awful. Anyone know of any better chess programs out there that have a nicer interface (even if not technically as good)?
Any advice appreciated.
Jibb
| Posted by spurtus
wordiness.com
1/23/2008
01:42:10
Play online chess |
Message:
I'll second that!... the UI is terrible.... just terrible...
Depends what you want from a chess program though... strength?... analysis?... coach?... english advice?... tutorials?... database?... holographic pieces like in Star Wars?
Chessmaster is good, and you'll find Chessmaster 9000 pretty much just as good as any of the newer additions, if not simpler and better in some ways...
Spurtus.
| Posted by marinvukusic
wordiness.com
1/23/2008
05:06:48
Play online chess |
Message:
Erm... I have Fritz 8, and I like that interface. Did they change it?
———
Vishy Anand able to smile after world title candidates take shape — Vishy Anand can smile. The chess champion's hopes of retaining his crown in 2012 were already boosted when the world No2 Magnus Carlsen withdrew as a candidate. Now the world No3 and favourite Levon Aronian is also out after his tense and nervous play led to missed chances and a 3.5-4.5 loss to Russia's Alex Grischuk. Anand has good form against all four semi-finalists. Gata Kamsky (US), Boris Gelfand (Israel) and Vlad Kramnik (Russia) are from the Indian's 40ish generation, while Grischuk splits his time between chess and poker. Cautious waiting tactics ruled for most of Kramnik's match with the 23-year-old Azeri Teimour Radjabov, as they drew four classical chess games and four rapid. The ninth ...
Posted by masros
wordiness.com
1/23/2008
09:00:43
Play online chess |
Message:
Arena is another good gui.You can find here www.playwitharena.com
———
From the archive, 12 May 1997: Deep Blue win a giant step for computerkind — Originally published in the Guardian on 12 May 1997. When Gary Kasparov beat IBM's chess computer in 1989 he arrogantly told the programmers to "teach it to resign earlier". Yesterday, though, the world chess champion found himself humbled by a 1.4-ton heap of silicone in a victory for IBM's Deep Blue that marks a milestone in the progress of artificial intelligence. It is a depressing day for humankind in general. But why did the computer win? IBM's Deep Blue first caused a sensation in Philadelphia last year when it crushed the world chess champion in the first game of their match. "I was rightfully massacred," said Kasparov. Yet he won the series 4-2, striking a blow for the human race at the same time. Game by game, he learned more ...
Posted by kansaspatzer
wordiness.com
1/23/2008
11:13:38
Play online chess |
Message:
Can somebody recommend an interface that would work on FICS that you could play variants on?
———
Chess Champ Kamsky Marches On — The top-seated Armenian chess grandmaster Levon Aronian was the heavy favorite to emerge as the winner of the 2011 FIDE Candidates matches in Kazan, Russia, and challenge Vishy Anand of India for the world chess title in 2012. According to the same scenario, Aronian's opponent in the Candidates Final was supposed to be the Bulgarian grandmaster Veselin Topalov. But both grandmasters are gone now, having lost the Candidates quarterfinal matches. Topalov was eliminated by the U.S. chess champion Gata Kamsky, Aronian lost to Alexander Grischuk of Russia. The semifinals - Kamsky vs. Gelfand and Kramnik vs. Grischuk - resume Thursday and ...
Posted by wschmidt
wordiness.com
1/23/2008
14:29:24
Play online chess | What is it...
Message:
about Fritz's interface that you don't like?
———
Chess: No need to make a drama out of the endgame — Pawn endgames often involve bold sacrifices â but sometimes there are quieter ways to win. We've seen in the last two chess columns that superior king position does not always guarantee the advantage â contrary to standard pawn endgame chess lore â but here there is no disputing Black's dominance. The only question is, how to break through? RB: Pawn endgames frequently have the potential for dramatic sacrifices. You can have five pawns and give up four of them so one might queen and win the chess game. I don't see that here, however. So I'm going to go the other route: undramatic, quiet moves in an attempt to create zugzwang, force the white king back and invade. So 1âĤe5, when ...
Posted by mathemagician_
wordiness.com
1/23/2008
16:08:57
Play online chess |
Message:
Since the original quesion has already really been answered and I don't really want to start a new thread I assume it is O.K to ask this here.
I was looking to purchase Fritz 11, however when I was searching on amazon there appears to be similarly named products; Fritz Chess 11 by First Class Simulations and Fritz 11 by Chessbase. Does anyone have either/both, what is the difference (besides £10) between the two?
The part puzzling me is that Chessbase's version review is very similar to Fritz Chess 10, but Fritz Chess 11 has no product review.
Regards in advance.
———
Nakamura gets to observe — By Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura. Having competed in six prior U.S. Chess Championships, including the past two here at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, it is certainly an unusual feeling to be a casual observer this year. Over the past few months, I have raised my rating to number eight in the world, and I elected to not play in this year's event to focus my energy on preparing for the world elite and the next World Chess Championship cycle. This break has allowed me to witness the U.S. Chess Championships from the perspective of a chess player and fan. I've enjoyed following all of the games at the same time and watching the great commentary from Grandmaster (GM) Maurice Ashley and ...
Posted by mathemagician_
wordiness.com
1/26/2008
13:35:48
Play online chess |
Message:
Scrap that question. I'm an idiot.
| Posted by ccmcacollister
wordiness.com
1/26/2008
14:51:41
Play online chess | MATHEMAGICIAN . . .
Message:
I'm sorry to hear that ... It must mean I am a bigger idiot since I don't see anything wrong with your Question?! But apparently you have figured it out, and I still haven't :(
Would you mind telling me the answer too? ... as I am really out of touch with Chess software and so have no idea at all what the difference might be. [Was the First Class Simulations product something that they bought license from Chessbase to revamp the program some way and resell it?! Or . . . ? ]
Thanks in advance if you would let me(us?) know. There may be others who are wondering too. Please advise . . .
Regards, Craig A.C.
| Posted by mathemagician_
wordiness.com
1/26/2008
15:08:58
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Message:
Upon closer inspection of both boxes (and previous Fritz Chess editions) on the amazon website they all have the same ChessBase logo in the bottom right. So I've assumed that they are identical products (or extremely similar products with some additional minor details) although my assumption ignores why one is x% off and the other isn't.
| Posted by jibb666
wordiness.com
1/30/2008
18:00:44
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Message:
Oh man - I typed a whole long reply and hit post - but I forgot that I only previewed the post. My mistake. This is probably why I need a simpler interface than Fritz :-)
In essence, Fritz is very, very good - but the whole interface I find completely disjointed. All the windows all over the shop. Trying to do some basic things like start a game from a set piece are over the top difficult in this.
I'm going to try chessmaster (thanks Spurtus).
| Posted by spurtus
wordiness.com
1/31/2008
05:46:32
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Message:
chessmaster is now out on the xbox360, downloaded and played some live games last night... its a really cutdown version though. It has a correspondance chess engine built in though.
| Posted by ogedei
wordiness.com
2/02/2008
11:28:35
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Message:
The last time I used a non-chessbase gui as my main analysis tool was about ten years ago. It was Chessmaster 5500. At that point (I'm sure it has improved a great deal) it was extremely bulky and rather annoying (talk about windows overlapping, jeez!), but I loved the database functionality. That lead me to try Fritz 6 (the latest at the time) and I found it very neat, tidy, and intuitive by comparison.
Granted, they haven't made any significant updates to the gui since then (Chessbase 8 and 9 were mere extensions of this Fritz 6 gui, as have been all the following versions of the Fritz family of guis). Can it be that in those ten years Chessmaster has improved to the point that it's better?
Still, I'll probably stay with the Chessbase stuff because I still find it very easy and intuitive for everything I want to.
(On a side note, I've tried Arena and like it's price, but found it rather homely and clunky).
| Posted by wschmidt
wordiness.com
2/02/2008
20:05:50
Play online chess | I think Chessmaster definitely
Message:
has an easier learning curve and there are some very good tutorials included. I think Fritz has better analysis and database functions. I'd be happy with
Fritz's interface if they'd just include a decent explanation of the functions. It takes awhile to sort out and it's not intuitive in many cases.
| Posted by spurtus
wordiness.com
2/03/2008
00:08:56
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Message:
'darkchess' is a superb variant you can play on xbox360 online.
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