Cheap Fritz 8 Deluxe (Software) (Windows 95, Windows XP, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 2000) Price

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Customer Reviews of Fritz 8 Deluxe

Horrible interface, smart chess engine
This software literally has the worst interface I've seen on any software in the last 5 years (atleast). Using it feels like you're piloting a 747 running on Windows 95. Sadly, this is an improvement from earlier versions. <
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>You may notice that many reviews mention the "chatter" as an actual feature. That people are highlighting a set of 40 unfunny prerecorded looping sound clips should tell you something about the rest of Fritz's features. Imagine playing chess with an autistic fan of Monty Python that kept throwing gems like "I strike at thee!" at you. Cute for a day, but you'd be crushing Ritalin in his orange juice soon thereafter. <
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>The hardcore chess community has latched onto this product due to a combination of three things. <
>First and most importantly: near-flawless play. Fritz will destroy you. <
>Less critical but still influential: high ranked namedropping and the more mainstream competitor's (Chessmaster) recent foray into obnoxious copy protection. <
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>If you're at competition level with chess, Fritz is the choice for you.. but you probably already know that. If you're anything less, go with the much more pleasant, visually impressive, feature-rich and still respectable playing Chessmaster.

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Excellent Features. Powerful Program. Difficult to Use.
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>Excellent features in an extremely powerful program, although a bit difficult to use. As I improve, I'll appreciate the program more and more. <
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>DETAIL: <
>I've spent the past bunch of years with Chessmaster, starting with my C64, I think, through a 386, and now onto a P3 (and a P4, too). In all fairness to the people at Ubi - and this was maybe (12-15) years ago, they upgraded my Chessmaster program for five bucks so I could use it on a new computer. Pretty classy. Now, though, they've become so paranoid of the chess community that they've screwed us over with unbearable copy protection. It's an insult, so I bought Fritz 8 instead of upgrading CM6000. <
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>Onto Fritz 8 Deluxe: The great features are the analysis tools, the coach, and the soft levels (handicap, friend mode, etc) that take some of the pain out of computer play. The Spy-on-Fritz option is fantastic (Fritz will show you what he's thinking so you can consider a counterstroke). Understanding your opponent is a challenging climb in learning chess, and this option puts it in the front of your mind. And, Viva throws in a year membership to Chessbase. Excellent stuff. <
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>A few other posts hinted at the poor features: It can be difficult to use the advanced functions due to program design and mediocre documentation. And, for some reason, the natural language advice doesn't work on my machine (P3 and P4). Chessmaster never gave me any problems there. Also, Chessmaster's Josh Waitzen (sp?) tutorials are brilliant. The Gary Kasparov stuff (Viva threw in a few demo chapters with Fritz) doesn't come close. Gary's just too good for us hacks; Josh talks to you. <
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Absolutely fabulous
This program is a HUGE IMPROVEMENT of the original release of Fritz 8 as far as playing strength goes. It is much much stronger. It is right up there with the newest version of Shredder 9 which has been the top computer program for years as far as playing strength goes. Wonderful tactically but the positional play improvements with this program are scary good. Whether you're a beginner or master, this is the first computer program you must have. Almost all GMs have Fritz for an analysis tool and quote them often with their annotations. On a 600 Mhz computer or higher, unless you're an International Master or Grandmaster, you will not beat this program when you don't limit its playing strength. You'll be lucky to draw. It's a wonderful teaching tool as well. Nice-sized database of high quality games without having to purchase Chessbase 9.0. I could go on and on and give a tutorial about the many neat features in this program with the diagrams, graphic coloration of weak squares, files, combinational motifs, etc. You won't be disappointed. If you're new to computer chess programs, the manual helps A LOT and there are a lot of bells and whistles. The 3D boards are marvelous and it's really fun rotating them all around from bird's eye view to table level. It's a great program, bar none. Enjoy it. Grandmaster player that can beat the world's best for under $40. Can't beat that.