Fritz 10 Arrived - Now What?

I broke down and got a copy of Fritz 10. The beginner's course wasn't much and the DVD clips they have as training material are well beyond me. What's the best way for a novice to use Fritz to improve?

The best for novice is not using Fritz I think. Go through Chessmaster 10th academy, you will learn basics and a little bit of advanced concepts by watching and solving interactive tutorials.

Originally posted by tlswms
What's the best way for a novice to use Fritz to improve?

Get a good book on tactics, such as Reinfeld's 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations and an endgame book, such as Silman's Complete Endgame Course. Practice the positions in these books against Fritz.

You can get a database that has all of Reinfeld's positions (and many more) from http://wwwu.uni-klu.ac.at/gossimit/c/tactic.htm

Originally posted by tlswms
I broke down and got a copy of Fritz 10. The beginner's course wasn't much and the DVD clips they have as training material are well beyond me. What's the best way for a novice to use Fritz to improve?

Click the playchess.com button on start up and get playing online. Once you've played a handful of games go over them in fritz (any game to play or watch on playchess gets saved to your PC) you can analyse them with fritz to see where you went wrong.

you can also change the computers rating so that it plays at your level

Originally posted by Wizard of Fire
you can also change the computers rating so that it plays at your level

sparring mode is excellent, as Fritz will attempt to match your level of play. Turn coach on, and it will log tactical opportunities that you miss. In time, you will see such tactics in games against carbon units.

Now that you have fritz log on to playchess and play.

yea. go to play chess. ops, I mean, do not play chess, just to go play chess. doh. What I mean here with "play chess" is that go to that place. not to "play chess" as a verb but to just go to play chess without playing chess. thats what play chess is for.

darn...

Originally posted by Jusuh
yea. go to play chess. ops, I mean, do not play chess, just to go play chess. doh. What I mean here with "play chess" is that go to that place. not to "play chess" as a verb but to just go to play chess without playing chess. thats what play chess is for.

darn...

stand back people, it's a blitz overdose. nothing to worry about, but his mouse needs to be confiscated for the weekend.

Originally posted by wormwood
stand back people, it's a blitz overdose. nothing to worry about, but his mouse needs to be confiscated for the weekend.

you are soooo wrong. I havent played blitz at all. I am at my peak on playchess so I do not want to risk my high rating. But yes, I have done some tactical training, that might be the case. I admit nothing thou

thanks for the suggestions folks -- the software is terrifically complicated -- in a good way.

Originally posted by tlswms
thanks for the suggestions folks -- the software is terrifically complicated -- in a good way.

www.chessbase.com

go to support and read the t-notes. That's how I learnt about all the fritz features.

Originally posted by tlswms
I broke down and got a copy of Fritz 10. The beginner's course wasn't much and the DVD clips they have as training material are well beyond me. What's the best way for a novice to use Fritz to improve?

I'd say the best thing to improve is analyse all of your games very carefully (set it on 'infinite analysis' mode). Ask yourself what caused you to make the mistake you made.

In my opinion in order to improve you need only 2 basic things:reading chessbooks concerning openings,middlegame,endgame so that you focus in the different steps of a chessgame;Playing against an opponent who is always a little better than you so you will learn gradually to improve your game;I also suggest that you analyze evry single game you lose because it's important,find the mistake and then go on.
Computer are also useful but surely Chessmaster 10th edition is the best recommended for beginners thanks to the great variety of perdonality.Fritz and other stronger engine are also very good because they are the best analyzing tools around and strong opponents too.