to disable the opening book, go to the tab called Openings Book (next to Notation and Score Sheet), right click anywhere in the box with the opening move choices, and then click close book.
however, i'm pretty sure that fritz would not play the opening exactly. I've played the sparring level on normal and it still makes opening mistakes.
also, when you start a sparring match and choose point out wins, there's a light that would flash every single time fritz made a big mistake.
Originally posted by Santa DrummerJust found it. On Fritz8, you simply go to "Edit" then "Openings Book" then "Book Options" and there's a box to turn the book on or off.
cut the opening book file out of fritz directory, and put it into another place. Now it cant use the file. When you want fritz to have its opening book put the file back in fritz directory (i guess thats C:/program files/cbase/fritz 9)
Fritz 9 just came out. And I havented found either version that useful. The opening tutorial doesnt help all that much. Its better for learning than chessmaster though, because the machine talks to you and tells you what you're doing wrong. Is it as helpful as a text book like "My System"? I would have to say no.
Ok, I have a problem with Chess programs like Fritz. They are absolutely counter intuitive to use. Sure the program runs great, but when it comes to simple things, they are difficult to navigate. Why? Is it that the program writers think that chess players are so damned intelligent that we can overcome their cumbersome menu set-up?
I know that I can't be the only one who has these problems, just ask HomerJSimpson...He couldn't easily adjust the difficulty setting!
Please, software writers, simplify the menus and the entire graphical scheme! You make it more difficult than need be!
Originally posted by HomerJSimpsonBesides sparring mode, you can also use the handicap mode to lower the playing strength (and style) of the Fritz engine. I also noticed that in Fritz 9, the lowest ELO is now 1250 instead of the 1350 in version 8. I like to use this mode because you can create various playing styles. For example when you set "King's attack" to max, the Fritz engine will really go after your king's defenses, often sacrificing material to break up your pawn shield.
It seems like there isnt a big difference between very easy and very hard. Im sorry but I dont think very easy should wip my ass in under 20 moves.
Also, in Fritz 9, the handicap mode has a few more style settings (such as piece placement) that were not available in 8.
Another great Fritz feature is the "Friend" mode, where it tries to play down to your strength after several games where it tries to calibrate a "handicap" value measured in centipawns. You can also manually set this "handicap" value to lower the engine strength value.
I have both Chessmaster 9000 and Fritz 8/9. One thing that I hate about Chessmaster is that at the "handicap" levels, it seems to give away pieces early in the game to create a sort of "at odds" game situation. Then it ratchets up the playing strength at the end. Fritz does a much better job of playing a more realistic game; where you can play a material advantage into a realistic finish. With Chessmaster, I get frustrated with it unleashing "Kasparov" against me after giving me a substantial material advantage.
Fritz is like having your own personal grandmaster caliber coach on the computer. The annotations are outstanding. The new "position coach" is a new very helpful addition in version 9. The "coach" commentary is also included when it annotates a game. This adds an extra "strategical" dimension to the Fritz annotation.
However, don't get me wrong about Chessmaster 9000. It has many features that keep it on my computer. In particular, it has an outstanding collection of commented grandmaster games in the library. It also has an easy to use commented opening book and great tutorials for the beginning player (an area where Fritz falls down somewhat).
Riskdoc