Hey fellow players,
I'm looking for an engine for helpful game analysis (analysis i can understand at a 1200 rating). I was wondering what was the strongest engine is and which has the most user friendly analysis tools. Any information would be much appreciated.
Thanks guys!
-Lord
Originally posted by LordofADown Hey fellow players,
I'm looking for an engine for helpful game analysis (analysis i can understand at a 1200 rating). I was wondering what was the strongest engine is and which has the most user friendly analysis tools. Any information would be much appreciated.
Thanks guys!
-Lord
well, rybka is the strongest engine of the moment (as far as i know)
and for analysis i would recommend fritz or chessmaster both do a good job at analyzing games. If you do not want to have an engine analyze your games you can always asl people on the forum to help you will see that a lot of the time they like helping (or is that critizing 😉) someone with his games
Rybka 2.2 mp is the strongest, but it's 70$ or so. I think just the plain Rybka 2.2 32-bit is only 50$. There are also many free engines out there. Check out uciengines.de
As a first purchase, I would recommend getting a Chessbase engine like Fritz, rather. Rybka is a UCI console which doesn't come with its own graphic user interface. Any number of UCI engines can be imported and run through Chessbase. But you need a good user interface to start with, particularly if you want to run game analyses.
Originally posted by LordofADown Hey fellow players,
I'm looking for an engine for helpful game analysis (analysis i can understand at a 1200 rating). I was wondering what was the strongest engine is and which has the most user friendly analysis tools. Any information would be much appreciated.
Thanks guys!
-Lord
I have both Fritz and Chessmaster and they are both well done.
For a 1200 level player I would say get Chessmaster... They have natural language advice and annotation that is very well done.
The relative strength of Rybka, Fritz and Chessmaster is not so important at a 1200 to 1400 level.
As a sidenote, if you can find older versions of fritz or chessbase, that would also be sufficient for your needs. I think the analysis feature has been around for awhile (those who own the programs/know this may want to correct me)...
You could get Crafty which has the great benefit of being free. You can download it from the chessbase site. It's compatible with the chessbase frontends. Play around with that for a month or two so that you know what you're doing and have a better idea of what you want out of an engine before spending any money.
Originally posted by briancron I have both Fritz and Chessmaster and they are both well done.
For a 1200 level player I would say get Chessmaster... They have natural language advice and annotation that is very well done.
The relative strength of Rybka, Fritz and Chessmaster is not so important at a 1200 to 1400 level.
I agree for the most part. I differ in that I find Chessmaster (which was the leader in chess software when I bought my first version 17 years ago) is now produced by gamers, rather than chess professionals. Its analysis bears no comparison to Fritz. However, you should be able to find it for $20 USD, and for a 1200 to 1400 player, its lessons and analysis capabilities are more than adequate.
Soon, you may wish to begin using databases in your study and correspondence games. The database features of Chessmaster are almost a waste of time.
Originally posted by zebano As a sidenote, if you can find older versions of fritz or chessbase, that would also be sufficient for your needs. I think the analysis feature has been around for awhile (those who own the programs/know this may want to correct me)...
I bought Fritz 7 for $10 two years ago. You may be able to find Fritz 8 for close to that price if you look around a bit.
The major change I've seen in the analysis feature from Fritz 7 to F 8 is that in 8 you can choose to retain old annotations (such as notes you might have made during the game) when running full analysis. Fritz 7 always erases old annotations.
Originally posted by Wulebgr I agree for the most part. I differ in that I find Chessmaster (which was the leader in chess software when I bought my first version 17 years ago) is now produced by gamers, rather than chess professionals.
I remember when Chessmaster was king of the hill and I had it for my Apple IIGS. 🙂 In retrospect, it's amusing how unbeatable I thought it was then (even in the late 80's, it was probably master strength already when playing with no handicaps), and how weak it was compared to anything available now.
I remember the manual had some tactical problems in the back you could solve, including a mate-in-seven - a problem it said that no computer program could solve in a reasonable amount of time. I'm pretty sure Fritz or Rybka can nail even the strangest 7-move combinations in a matter of seconds.
Originally posted by Wulebgr I agree for the most part. I differ in that I find Chessmaster (which was the leader in chess software when I bought my first version 17 years ago) is now produced by gamers, rather than chess professionals. Its analysis bears no comparison to Fritz. However, you should be able to find it for $20 USD, and for a 1200 to 1400 player, its lessons and analysis c ...[text shortened]... study and correspondence games. The database features of Chessmaster are almost a waste of time.
I agree that chessmaster does not hold a candle to Fritz in analysis... Fritz can insert similar games if you use a reference DB... it comes with a great database and it's much easier to use. I have not opened CM10 since I got Fritz 10 except for my kids...
However, for a 1200 player on this site (I might be a 1200 player elsewhere, less than that on FICS blitz) I would say that ChessMaster 10th for $20 or less is better than Fritz 10 for $50 and it is much more friendly and plenty strong enough for a less experienced player.
It has very realistic weaker personalities to play against so you can work your way up the ranking with rated games. Get ChessMaster if you want to learn it has great annotated games and many many more lessons and drills than I have seen in Fritz
Well, I'm already planning on purchasing Chess Tactics Arts to improve my game tactically, so i'm just looking for an engine for nothing more than analysis and opening databases.
Originally posted by LordofADown Well, I'm already planning on purchasing Chess Tactics Arts to improve my game tactically, so i'm just looking for an engine for nothing more than analysis and opening databases.
Arena with Rybka will get you there for free but it doesn't explain the moves. I don't think you will regret getting ChessMaster. It has a complete tactics, strategy, opening and endgame training for a begginer and many well annotated games to listen to. It has a million game database as well.
You can try ChessMaster Challenge for free to get a feel for it but you will want to buy ChessMaster 10th edition if you want to get the full value.
Chess Engines
11 Dec '06 05:111 edit
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