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By Michael Kanehl

Human vs. Computer

Computer chess software really came into its own in February 1996 when legendary Chess Grandmaster Garry Kasparov played a six-game match in Philadelphia against IBM Chess software nicknamed “Deep Blue”. Although he declared his 4-2 score a “win for mankind”, he also admitted that it was the most difficult tournament of his career.

IBM, sporting their next generation of chess software named “Deeper Blue” demands a rematch which in played in May of 1997 in New York. The chess software puts a whuppin on Kasparov and defeats him 3.5-2.5.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending upon your point of view, IBM didn’t sell their chess software and the industry kind of went to sleep for a while. Well, it wasn’t really sleeping, big things were going on behind the scenes. And that’s great news for us chess software geeks!

The availability of chess software has exploded since the days of Deep Blue. Now you can run chess software on all of the popular computer operating systems including Windows, MAC, Linux, Unix, and the Palm. You have choices when it comes to the categories or functions of chess software as well.

Chess Training Software

Chess software in this category is designed to improve visualization and move calculation skills in Chess. These are basic essential skills that need to be honed in order to move from being an amature to a master.

Many chess software training titles also teach strategies for the opening middlegame and endgame so you can learn how to strategise and thwart your opponent’s moves while still executing your game plan.

Peer-to-Peer Chess Software

The chess software category is simply amazing. Peer-to-peer chess software enables you to play chess against remote opponents without connecting to a chess server. You simply connect directly to each other over the Internet or via any other network connection including your home Windows LAN.

Most titles give you the opportunity to connect directly to a pre-arranged player or to find an available player through available message boards.

Peer-to-Peer software may likely become the dominant chess software in the future and replace chess servers as the preferred method of playing chess on the computer.

Chess Software Database

Chess software databases are like holding the sub total of the world’s chess knowledge on your local PC. Most programs offer thousands of past grandmaster games for you to review either in text or video format. There are endless opening, middlegame, and endgame strategies. You can read annotations and some titles even have photos of the world’s grandmasters.

Some chess software databases come with built-in chess software that lets you play out the games that are in the database and even allow the database to analyze your game.

Prices are low and chess software databases make a great learning and analytical tool.

Computer vs. Computer Chess Software

These chess software programs pit computers against computers using an Internet or LAN connection. They are good learning tools in some ways but you shouldn’t read too much into their strategies. These chess software programs can’t actually “think” like humans do. Theirs is a mathematical world where moves are calculated according to a set of formulas that allow it to determine the “best” move based upon all possible moves at the moment.

In spite of their “non-thinking” processing, chess software has evolved to become a formidable opponent even for the grandmasters.

In my opinion nothing beats a head-to-head game with a living breathing opponent who is seated a few feet away from you on the other side of a real chessboard. However, I realize that today’s lifestyle does not always allow us the luxury of pre-planned leisure time and they have to pick up a game whenever and wherever we can. With that it mind, you should pick yourself up some chess software for those times when a human in he same room is not an option.

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Fritz 10, released in November 2006, is a superb chess playing PC software with an integrated chess instruction, and online chess play interface. Here are some of the new features: Enhanced and improved chess engine developed especially for the 2006 Kramnik vs Fritz match; extended openings book; updated database; dynamic graphic tips for attack and defence; improved graphics and move entry on the 2D board; new high resolution 3D piece sets in classical wood; live display of the thinking process on the chessboard; more efficient position analysis. New chess server features: additional ranking lists, full rankings for all players, filters for challengers with bad Internet connections, new and simple video conference function, bullet lists in the engine room, animated global weather display, direct link to Google Earth It is only available on DVD and requires a DVD drive for play. Nearly all modern computers have a DVD drive. ChessBase figures that if you don’t have one, you’ll get one eventually and they only accommodate the DVD format. For those that don’t know, DVD’s are the equivalent of about 7 CD’s. Let’s jump right into the installation sequence… The test computer is a P4 3.0Ghz, 512RAM running XP Pro SP2 Installing Fritz 10 Simply insert the DVD and after a few moments you will see this screen. If it does not start, open “My Computer” on your desktop or start menu and open your DVD. From here, look for “Setup” and double click it.

Next, it’s best if you let it install to the default location it chooses. This will keep future add-on installations simple later. Unless you wish to customize your installation most users should just choose TYPICAL as the installation type. It will take about 1.27GB of hard drive space.On this computer installation took 10 minutes.Next, you will need to install DirectX 9.0 if you want to see the high resolution photo-realistic 3D chessboard graphics.

It should install in 1 minute or less.

You will then be prompted to restart your computer Fritz 10 Manual and Support Fritz 10 comes with a 24 page, English only manual that appears to be a good resource. For support, please email to the address provided on the back cover of the manual. Start Fritz 10 for the first time Click the Fritz 10 icon now on your desktop!

You’ll be prompted to enter some personal details such as your name and location. This helps Fritz customize your experience. Next you’ll need to enter the serial number located on the cover of your Fritz booklet/manual.

Play Fritz Click “Play Fritz” to jump right into the main playing program! You’ll be immediately greeted by a very friendly voice that welcomes you to Fritz and promises to do his best and serve you well. Let’s see about that Here’s a screenshot of the Fritz 10 when you start the program for the first time!

Fritz 10 Level Settings There are many ways to adjust Fritz’s playing strength. One of most popular is Handicap and Fun… choose what rating level Fritz plays as well as his style, piece emphasis and more!

I fell for Giveaway chess immediately. This addicting chess variant had me losing fairly quickly to Fritz while receiving aggravating verbal taunts. I’m going to play another game to show Fritz a thing or two…

In the above position Fritz says… “Oops! never seen that before in my life… Never want to see it again either!”Needless to say, I lost…

Ok, for those that have never seen Giveaway Chess before, you’re thoroughly confused!! Let’s return to real chess.Full strength playing levels are mainly for strong club players and professionals. They have different time controls and almost any kind of tournament games can be played. Blitz, rapid chess - This brings up a dialog box in which you can select from a number of blitz and rapid chess time controls (five minute chess or 25 minute rapid chess, etc). Here, you can also use the “Fischer clock” which gives each side a time bonus for each move (e.g. 4+2 = four minutes for all moves plus two additional seconds for each move made). Long Games - Here you can set longer time controls for tournament style games with multiple time controls. Rated Games - This switches the program into a special mode for serious tournament games in which it will give you an objective assessment of your playing strength. In rated games you can’t take back moves or receive any help from the program. You can set the playing strength of Fritz. You can also choose a weaker playing engine if Fritz is still too strong for you (see section 10.1 in the manual). Doubling: In rated games you can play for (virtual) money started with $100. If the “Doubling” option is set you can double the stake at any stage of the game, just as in backgammon. Fritz 10 - the new look and feel All I can say is, this program is impressive!! The 3D version is VERY real and the verbal commentary is very realistic and natural, though sometimes a bit too frequent. Let’s look at some screenshots.

Full-screen 3D is astoundingly real!!

With a simple drag of the mouse, rotate to any view!

And of course, the Turk!

How about this ICE view!

Sculptures…

That’s just the surface… customize it to your liking! Fritz 10 Analysis and Scoresheet view Your current game is recorded on the scoresheet view and current/past analysis showing Fritz’s rating of each move and potential line scrolls into the analysis window.

part 2 get Fritz 10

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The beginning of generation codes used to program computers, was called machine language or machine code, it is the only language a computer really understands. It is a sequence of 0s and 1s that the computer’s controllers electrically interpret as instructions. The second generation of codes was called assembly language. assembly language turns the foreign language of 0s and 1s into human words like ‘add’. Assembly language is always translated back into machine code by computer programs called assemblers.

The third generation of code, was called high level language or HLL, which has human sounding words as well as words put into sentences. In order for the computer to understand any HLL, a compiler interprets the high level language into either assembly language or machine code. All software programming languages need to be eventually translated into machine code for a computer to use the instructions they contain.

As the user you do not see the code used to create computer software programs. However, you do use the results and the end products of software programming which are soft programs that are easy to use by the consumer. Below is an article discussing the history of software programming of Computer Chess and the lives of the software programmer behind one of your favorite software programs.

Dr. Dietrich Prinz wrote the original computer chess program for a universal functioning computer. The program was released in November 1951. Previously, special purpose machines which were designed only for playing chess had been invented, but Prinz decided to invent a program that could be played on any general computer. Since computers of the 1950’s had very little memory power compared to today’s computers, his program could only examine every possible move until a solution was found which took an average of fifteen minutes (a move that can be accomplished by a modern computer in a fraction of a second!) However, for its time this was considered a miracle.

Dr. Dietrich G. Prinz was born on 29 March, 1903. He was educated at Berlin University, where his teachers included genius’s Planck and Einstein and graduated with a Ph.D. in Philosophy. He left for England in 1935 where he began working at Ferranti Ltd., a major computer business. He soon became the companies head programmer and in 1957, after his original chess program, a full-fledged chess program introduced by Bernstein for an IMB. In 1983, a chess program called Belle was designed by AT&T and became the first to reach the U.S.A. Since, Chess programs have become widely popular to a large group of people, including mater chess players as well as novices.
by Barney Garcia

Barney Garcia writes about many different topics. www.plenty-of-software.info and www.tax-software-galore.info and www.software-for-tax.info.

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See great new features in Fritz 10 mentioned below! Well, in case you’re wondering if you can upgrade your Fritz 8 or 9, the answer is no. ChessBase doesn’t release upgrade versions for anything but their database products. The Fritz product is outstanding and relatively inexpensive, so for less than $50 every couple years, the latest, newly worked features are a bargain according to many.

Fritz; the program that for many years now has fascinated the chess world. Whether it was the match against World Champion Vladimir Kramnik in Bahrain in 2002, or against Garry Kasparov in New York in 2003, or the revenge match against World Champion Kramnik in the National Art Gallery in Bonn, Germany, in 2006 the pitting of wits of the strongest players on the planet against the world’s finest chess playing program has generated unprecedented media attention and fired the imagination of people from all walks of life. “Man vs Machine” has become one of the great themes of our time.

But don’t be afraid - Fritz has a different side to its personality. The program will help you along during the game, with numerous sophisticated coaching functions, adjusting its playing strength to exactly match that of any opponent. It graphically displays threats and plans, and provides full opening statistics. For beginners Fritz will explains moves and positions, or warn you of dangers and of errors you are committing. It has instructive training modules and amusing handicap levels. For club and tournament players Fritz has long become a trusted friend and indispensable advisor, helping them to study their games and find new opening ideas for their next tournaments. A database with more than a million games provides the basis for state-of-the-art analysis. Even Garry Kasparov has used Fritz on a regular basis.

How often have you attended personal grandmaster lectures or training sessions? With its Chess Media System Fritz brings the world’s greatest chess players into your living room, in full high resolution video and sound and a synchronised graphic chessboard. Listen to Garry Kasparov, Viktor Korchnoi, Alexei Shirov or (former world champion) Rustam Kasimdzhanov while they explain important openings and ideas that lead to success. A host of famous chess teacher provide instruction in more mundane subjects, like opening traps, middlegame strategy, or endgame skills. For those of you who have never played chess before there are elementary courses to teach you the basics in a matter of hours. Fritz has a variety of beautiful photo realistic 3D chessboards, and can provide amusing verbal comments during the game.

Fritz makes it easy for you to play against other human beings, at any time, day or night. It provides you with a one-click connection to the largest chess community in the world, Playchess.com, which has over 200,000 members. You can play quick and informal games at any level, take part in tournaments, or attend live lectures and training sessions. You can also watch great international events, which are broadcast live on the server, and you can discuss the moves with players and grandmasters from all over the world. It is an experience you will not want to miss.

New in FRITZ 10

Enhanced and improved chess engine developed especially for the 2006 Kramnik vs Fritz match; extended openings book; updated database; dynamic graphic tips for attack and defence; improved graphics and move entry on the 2D board; new high resolution 3D piece sets in classical wood; live display of the thinking process on the chessboard; more efficient position analysis. New chess server features: additional ranking lists, full rankings for all players, filters for challengers with bad Internet connections, new and simple video conference function, bullet lists in the engine room, animated global weather display, direct link to Google Earth

System Requirements

Fritz 10 will be compatible with Windows Vista

Minimum : Pentium 300 MHz, 64 MB RAM, 2000, XP, DVD ROM drive, Windows Media Player 9.

Recommended: Pentium IV 2,2 GHz or higher, 256 MB RAM, Windows XP, GeForce5 or compatible graphics card with 64 MB RAM or higher, 100% DirectX compatible sound card, Windows Media Player 9, DVD ROM drive. Fritz is Windows Vista ready!

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Although the famous Man Versus Machine matches of Garry Kasparov against IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer and the upcoming match of Vladimir Kramnik against Deep Fritz coming November 25, 2006 get the media attention, this article is more about how computers have helped people play better chess.

You can find articles on how to beat chess playing computers. Personally, unless you’re a famous chess star playing a famous chess computer for lots of money, I don’t see the point. I don’t want to beat computers — I want to beat people.

For example, one tip for playing computers is to open with a highly unusual move. Computers know all the common openings and if you open with Your Own Silly Unorthodox Suboptimal Invented opening instead of Ruy Lopez or the Caro-Kann, it’s forced to use up processing time to calculate the optimum response instead of saving that for the mid-game.

But if you want to use the Sicilian Defense or The Queen’s Gambit Accepted when you play a real person, then why practice something you made up just to trick the computer? What use is it in a real game or tournament?

Of course, if you’ve discovered a brand new super-opening and want to test it out against a computer, then more power to you.

Fortunately, computers can help you do that, and analyze the game at any point.

1. As a training tool.

2. As a resource to make it easier to learn from past games

3. To analyze the game

4. To practice and play with when no person is available.

There’re a wide range of chess computers and software you can buy. And these functions overlap, of course. The same computer you play when you have nobody else to play with can also teach you what you’re doing wrong.

1. If you’re a beginner or novice then of course a good chess computer or software program can help you. They’ll play against you and point out your errors.

You need to learn the basics. That includes learning from the best books, playing other people and playing with a computer that provides good feedback.

If you’re already a grandmaster, you don’t need me to tell you that you need computers to support your strategies against your opponents, not to teach you.

In Mortal Games: The Turbulent Genius of Garry Kasparov, Fred Waitzkin relates how part of Garry Kasparov’s team during the world championship tournament of 1990 against Anatoly Karpov was a database of past chess plays and someone who constantly scrolled through to research them.

If Karpov opened a game with the Zaitsev, then that night they would research that opening on the assumption (possibly false) that he would open with it again. And of course he and his team thoroughly researched his King’s Indian defense.

Naturally, computers have been used to analyze chess theory and positions. Although chess is too complicated for them to have yet to come out with a totally optimum start to finish guide (the way they have come up with a Basic Strategy for blackjack), they have analysed the end game. Chess computers have databases of all 3, 4 and 5 piece endgames.

Chess computers include: Excalibur, Novag and Saitek.

There’re three types of chess computers: hand-helds, portable chess computers and desk-top chess computers.

Chess software includes Shredder and Fritz.

by Richard Stooker

c 2006 by Richard Stooker
Read more about the world’s greatest game at Richard’s Play Chess Online blog

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On this DVD, Susan teaches beginners basic chess knowledge including pieces, points, rules and moves. Susan, along with her teaching helpers, Champion and King Harold, set a fun stage for learning chess. Also included is a brief history of chess, a short biography on Susan, and “Fun Facts” about Chess.

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