Coming soon to a chess shop near you: Fritz 10

by ChessBase

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10/30/2006 – Fritz is one of the strongest, best-loved chess programs in the world. It will play against the unified World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik in the National Art Gallery in Bonn, Germany, in November. At around the same time a new version of the program will be launched. Is it worth considering. In a first information installment we tell you about the new features.

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Fritz10 – What is new?

New engine developed for the Kramnik match and an extended and updated openings book.
Extended and updated database.
Dynamic hints: when entering a move, you see arrows highlighting direct and indirect attacks and defences of each square your mouse moves over.
Improved pieces for the 2D board. Highest resolution for boards of any size.

The resolution and smoothness of the 2D pieces have been improved (bottom)
Improved move entry on the 2D board: highlighted start and target squares avoid mouse slips.
New set of very high resolution, classical wood 3D-pieces.

A new 3D board "warm wood" (more 3D images below)
Engine animation: while the chess engine is calculating, typical elements of the calculation (e.g. frequented squares) are visualized directly on the board.
More efficient position analysis (correspondence players!) using the alpha/beta principle. The immediate elimination of bad continuations saves analysis time.

New server functions

New ranking list for fairness evaluations, applause and number of games
Total ranking of all players: where am I on the ranking list?
Filtering out of bad internet connections during challenges and seeks (formula).
New video-conferencing or audio-chat functions between two players with an easy-to-use interface. Compatible with modern hardware firewalls.
New ranks for players: dark piece symbols after players have used the server on 500 days.
Bullet rating in the Engine Room.
Easy click-connecting of people in chat.
Faster transmission of player lists during log-in.
Direct link to Google Earth from the globe.
Real-time weather: the DirectX globe will evaluate satellite pictures and show you the prevailing cloud formation. Particularly impressive during hurricane season.

Interface

New control elements for better window handling.
Various buttons optically improved.

Improved high-resolution virtual reality 3D board

Incredible detail, brilliant screen captures in any size

New multimedia content with world-class players: Garry Kasparov, Alexei Shirov, Rustam Kasimdzhanov, new training lessons in German: Karsten Müller: endgames, and Gisbert Jacoby: opening tactics.

One year access to the biggest chess server in the world: 200,000 games per day and 200,000 registered users from more than 150 countries.

Price: 49.99 € incl. VAT. 43,09 € without VAT (for customers outside the European Union), US $53.87 (without VAT)