FRITZ 19
You all remember being a child and walking into a sweet shop, eyes wide open as you stare wistfully at all those jars, filled with the beautiful colours and shapes of hundreds of varieties of sweet candy. There was so much choice that it was difficult to decide what to have. So it is nowadays with chess programs. Before the advent of platforms such as lichess and Chess.com we got our chess fix from the mighty Fritz, and I caveat this review by saying that I have been a fan from the very beginning and don’t ever see myself without the latest edition. We are now on to Fritz 19 and as always there have been some developments and improvements.
The engine that drives this
program has just won the Computer Chess World Championship – in July it
defended its title by winning it a second year straight. But the new software
is not just super-strong: it also introduces a new era of chess training. It
will help you maintain a repertoire, practice playing against it, teach you how
to deal with different kinds of opponents.
Here’s the advertising description.
Attacker, coward, swindler or endgame wizard: I'll show you how to win
against anyone! After my World Championship victories in 2022 and 2023, I am
the reigning Chess Software World Champion and am now looking forward to
showing you how to become even stronger against your opponent With my
innovative training method, I simulate typical player personalities you know
from tournaments and online chess: brash attackers, cautious cowards, passive
players. But how do you win against them? Fritz will show you how! And for
beautiful attacks, combinations or sacrifices, there are the new ChessBase
cards as a reward for you. Practical training that's also a lot of fun. Or
let's train openings: you can try out a new repertoire ideas directly in a
match against me. And how about the new calculation training for a quick Elo
boost? As Fritz19 I can make you play better again.
There are some
aspects of Fritz that you don’t get elsewhere. For example, selecting a
sparring partner and I give you a link to further detail about what that is all
about here:
https://en.chessbase.com/post/fritz-19-pick-your-sparring-partner-a-review
If you fancy
playing against an all-round opponent, aggressive, swindler, positional, timid
or endgame specialist then one of the dear creatures below is for you. I was
amused to see their facial expressions as the game goes on. I have been trying
to think about which actual grandmaster would suit each animal. For example the
turtle (the endgame specialist) might exchange queens early on, then smash you
in the endgame – just like English GM Keith Arkell, so I fondly call the turtle
‘Arkell’.
I played a very quick game (ten minutes or so) against the bull who is an ‘aggressive’ opponent to see what he had in his locker, so to speak. Well, needless to say I got checkmated after I had a promising position. I was Black and it threw the e, f, g and h-pawns at me. The bull scoffed in victory and pulled this face.
Well, I will get you next time Mr. Bull.
You can turn
hints on or off for your game so that’s very useful for people learning the
game, and stronger players too if they want it. The hints are not just
moves, but also suggestions such as ‘attack a minor piece’ and the idea is to
get you thinking, and improving in your decision making. It really is hugely useful.
There is another
element to Fritz 19 that some will really love. Players who earn trophies are
rewarded with digital collectible cards. These cards cover a variety of chess
themes: World Champions, famous players, major tournaments, training materials,
chess stamps, chess art, and rating lists. A series on famous chess books is
currently in development. What's exciting is that cards can be traded on a
market or offered in exchange for ducats. I admit though, probably due to age
or just not being intuitive enough I cant’ really figure out what the value to
me is of having these cards. You can collect them, like Panini stickers and they have a virtual value a bit like NFT's but not the same. I will be very keen to see how well this feature is used. It's not for me - I want to concentrate purely on the chess but it is fun and rewarding and I can see that many users will enjoy it. You can check it out here:
https://en.chessbase.com/post/Collecting-Excitement-with-cards-chessbase-com
And if you want a
more detailed outline of what Fritz 19 is about then have a look at the official
ChessBase site
https://en.chessbase.com/post/presenting-fritz-19
I guess the big
question is this: Why should anyone spend their hard-earned cash on Fritz 19 when they can
enjoy chess at lichess (for example) for free?
Well for me – it’s simply a way of playing and learning that is more fun. I don’t have to go online and I have so many options at my fingertips
that I couldn’t want for anything more. Also, it suits my system of study
and game management because I always input and analyse my ‘serious’ games in Fritz and
save them – then I will open them up in ChessBase 17 at a later point where I
can do more, such as publish and share.
To conclude.
Fritz 19 is still the go to tool for me and many others. As a coach I use it for myself and students who find the options very useful aids to develop their understanding of chess. As well as being
amongst the world’s best programs it has those new features outlined above in addition to the classic ones. Then there is the new
opening training feature where you can play directly against databases, your own
repertoire or even an opening article from a ChessBase magazine. This is
seriously impressive. There is a ‘buddy’ chess engine, and the interface is
enhanced in some areas.
There is a
very useful video online where Matthias Wüllenwebe from ChessBase explains the
features of Fritz 19. Please do watch it. You can find it here:
The playing
experience is very interesting, and that’s what makes it for me. You can set
the level from beginner to grandmaster, so it caters for literally everyone. I
still think it is the ultimate chess playing program and of the 19 editions to
date this really is the best.
A huge amount of work goes into developing and releasing Fritz, but I can see that it is a labour of love.
