'This one is a must-have!'

by ChessBase
7/9/2003 – Pocket PC Magazine has reviewed a chess program in it's September issue. Author Doug Mackey, a 1421 rated chess player, obviously had a lot of fun with Pocket Fritz. "For $50, it will provide you many hours of entertainment and competition," he writes.

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Pocket Fritz 2

A strong chess program that teaches you while it beats you

A review in Pocket PC Magazine, September 2003
By Doug Mackey

Excerpts

Among chess players, "Fritz" is a name to be spoken with respect and perhaps fear. Pocket Fritz 2 by ChessBase (www.chessbase.com) is the latest Pocket PC version of this software, a scaled-down version of its elder PC brother.

How good is it? "Deep Fritz," has a grandmaster rating of 2760, Pocket Fritz probably plays closer to a 2450 level – still, that is an awesome level of chess mastery to be carrying around in your pocket. Your Pocket PC can be among the best hundred chess players in the U.S.

With my lowly 1421 rating I cannot come close to beating Pocket Fritz, but I can be taught by him. As the game progresses, Pocket Fritz tells me what my best next move is (if I ask). By selecting the analysis view I can watch him calculating variations, thinking progressively farther ahead (ten moves or more) and looking for the best continuation. I can load games that I or somebody else has played and ask Pocket Fritz to render his opinion on the relative merits of each move. If you are playing with Pocket Fritz and you make a move that is significantly inferior to the "best move" that it has determined for you, it will ask you if you want to take it back.

The recent man-computer match between the highest rated human, Gary Kasparov, and Deep Junior, the first chess event to be broadcast on television since the Fischer-Spassky match of 1972, I was able to sit on my couch with my Pocket PC and enter the moves as they were made, and see what Pocket Fritz regarded as the best continuations.

Pocket Fritz is much stronger than any other Pocket PC chess program. For $50, it will provide you many hours of entertainment and competition. It will also help you improve your game. If you're a chess player and have a Pocket PC, this one is a must-have!

If you agree with Doug Mackey you can get yourself a copy here.


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