Release of Chessmaster 11 - November 1, according to ChessCentral:
http://www.chesscentral.com/Chessmaster-XI-Grandmaster-p/chessmaster.htm

And release of Fritz 11 - November 30:
http://www.chesscentral.com/Fritz-11-p/fritz-11.htm

so what do you think?

Oh, and new Shredder versions are also going to be released on November 1st.

A Fritz that's 80 elo points stronger than Fritz 10!?! That's a real killer. Fritz looks like its better off than Chessmaster to me. The PC version of Chessmaster looks very good. I read the DS review of Chessmaster and was a little sadened. I think the PC version of Chessmaster will be great and I'm buying it on the first day. But it seems in most ways Fritz is always a step ahead. I think Ubi is a little underappreciated. I was happy to hear in the DS review that the chess engine for the new Chessmaster is strong. Chessmaster doesn't seem to be boasting about its chess engine this time though.

quote:

Originally posted by gdalpha7:
Oh, and new Shredder versions are also going to be released on November 1st.

The new Shredder versions are available from the Shredder web site now.

In my opinion, Chessmaster is better than Fritz, because I have do a match between them in two computer. But, Chessmaster playing style was boring, otherwise Firtz more exciting.

Sorry, I meant that Chessmaster was so bored but Firtz was so excited in their playing style. Thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by Juda1975:
In my opinion, Chessmaster is better than Fritz, because I have do a match between them in two computer. But, Chessmaster playing style was boring, otherwise Firtz more exciting.

Actually, chessmaster is much weeker than Fritz. See http://computerchess.org.uk/ccrl/4040/rating_list_all.html

I would not recommend chessmaster if you are looking for the strongest possible engine. CM is great for the different personalities and the tournement and rated play. I like the videos as well. But when you are talking engine strength, cm is really not that competitive in the top 10

True, Fritz has a stronger engine. But seriously, is that really an issue? I mean, can you beat CM? I can't!

yes, fritz and cm are way to strong to beat, and fritz is absolutely no fun to play against. the main advantage of cm11 is that it has "believable" personalities at the lower level. They still don't quite emulate human behavior, but at least the are interesting and varied.

I think maybe you need another engine for analysis though. I think you could get away with cm for fun and rybka for analysis.

quote:

Originally posted by KHollister:
True, Fritz has a stronger engine. But seriously, is that really an issue? I mean, can you beat CM? I can't!

that's not a good argument for not using stronger engines for analysis. first of all, CM completely sucks for analysis anyway. it's not designed for that.

second, it's best to have best engine available for serious analysis, because if you are a serious player and you play and analyse a lot, you slowly absorb the style of engine you analyse with in the long run. and the more the engine is better positionally, the better positional moves you get and understand what went wrong in the game better.

so, I agree with the above post: CM for fun, Rybka for analysis.

This Fritz vs CM argument is pointless. They are as similar as apples and oranges. CM is a tremendous product aimed at beginner to intermediate chess players, with a simple UI and loads of excellent beginner training material. CM Game analysis focuses on basic tactical themes appropriate for the <1400 player
(probably 80% of all chess players and 40% of all competition level players). Its also fun and engaging.

Fritz is aimed at the intermediate to expert player, with a complicated UI, and really fairly poor entry level material. Its analysis is sparse but very good, and more appropriate for the >1400++ player.

The Fritz engine is stronger than CM sure. But only in the sense that Kramnik is stronger than Susam Polgar .. and guess what that would both whup you. The CM engine is more configurable i.e. it can be set up to create a wider set of 'personalities' and thats why they use it in CM.

If your a beginner or junior player start with CM, progress to Fritz when you hit 1300...

i have actually played chessmaster (11) vs fritz (11) games and in my experience chessmaster is stronger. chess master won 2 times and drew 2 games... i found it interesting that chess master won both black games, and drew the white games. and when i say chessmaster won the black games i mean dominated. in the end i think chessmaster had about at least 4 pieces (other than the king.) so i don't know guys... i played only four games... so who know fritz might win the next two i play but i don't think it will not happen. you guys make your own test... don't just take what other people say for granted

For god's sake 4 games are not enough to make such a conclusion, after all that's the point of ELO ratings.
It's not a matter of opinions, it's a matter of which engine has the highest ELO and that cannot be disputed.

quote:

Originally posted by EdDoyle:
This Fritz vs CM argument is pointless. They are as similar as apples and oranges. CM is a tremendous product aimed at beginner to intermediate chess players, with a simple UI and loads of excellent beginner training material. CM Game analysis focuses on basic tactical themes appropriate for the <1400 player
(probably 80% of all chess players and 40% of all competition level players). Its also fun and engaging.

Fritz is aimed at the intermediate to expert player, with a complicated UI, and really fairly poor entry level material. Its analysis is sparse but very good, and more appropriate for the >1400++ player.

The Fritz engine is stronger than CM sure. But only in the sense that Kramnik is stronger than Susam Polgar .. and guess what that would both whup you. The CM engine is more configurable i.e. it can be set up to create a wider set of 'personalities' and thats why they use it in CM.

If your a beginner or junior player start with CM, progress to Fritz when you hit 1300...

When player x is better than y and player y is better than z does not mean that player x is better than player z (in 1on1 games).


If I don’t hit 2700+ (CM), why in the world do I need Fritz for?

If I become a freaking chessmaster then I could fire up Rybka 64bit multiprocessor on a quad PC!

Not in this life though!

Maybe, if you beat CM, you can do same thing for Fritz and Rybka

quote:

Originally posted by Nickr2:
i have actually played chessmaster (11) vs fritz (11) games and in my experience chessmaster is stronger.

Nickr2:
What processor is your computer using? If Chessmaster beat Fritz 11 as you said, it is very likely you are on a dual core processor. Chessmaster will use both cores, Fritz 11 only uses one core. So in essence, Chessmaster is playing with the equivalent of almost twice the processor power.

Also were both running on the same computer at the same time? Chessmaster in the past had a history from what I can remember of "hogging" the processor, even when it was the other computers turn.

I agree with the other folks here that said Chessmaster 11 is the best for lower ranked players (with all the tutorials... plus its more fun to play against the program itself). If I want to play against the computer, I use Chessmaster. If I want to really look closely at why I lost a game against a 'real' person, I fire up Fritz and use it to help me find my errors. If folks have the money.... I recommend purchasing both: Chessmaster for playing against, and the tutorials, Then Fritz to go online (playchess.com usually has at least a couple thousand folks on at the same time) and then Fritz to check for errors and where I need to change.

quote:

Originally posted by mechman2:


Fritz 11 only uses one core.

Fritz 11 is only 1core?
I wonder because Fritz 10.1 is on a 4cpu quad list?

http://www.husvankempen.de/nunn/40_120_ratinglist/Quad/qratinglist.html

If you're interested in on-line play, Fritz is the way to go. Chessmaster on-line play is dreadful, buggy, few players. When you purchase Fritz, you get a one-year subscription to their on-line site "playchess.com", thousands of players on-line, broadcasts of tournaments, in my opinion, it's worth the price of Fritz. Now that Fritz 11 is out, you can probably pick up Fritz 10 for around $20.00, you can play on-line with both versions, unlike Chessmaster.