'Where's my Fritz 9?'

The Ultimate Chess Game

Fritz 9 due for release on October 20

Deep in the shrouds of history we find the world’s first chess machine, the legendary Chess Turk. Built by a Baron for a Queen, the automaton was half human, half robot. Napoleon Bonaparte battled against it, Benjamin Franklin bowed to its brilliant play, and Edgar Allan Poe tried to dissect it with his analytical mind, torn between fear and fascination.

The Chess Turk of Baron von Kempelen recreated in full detail

Now you can relive history and play the dreaded Turk yourself – in perfect 3D animation. It is brought to you by Fritz 9, with optimized graphics, surround sound and amazingly realistic piece rendering. You can also play against the robot Mia, a futuristic chess opponent with a Metropolis look.

The futuristic Mia robot in Fritz9

But of course Fritz9 is not just about spectacular graphics. Unlike its ancestor from the 18th century Fritz can actually play chess all by itself, without a hidden human operator. The program has become more human in a different way. It now has extensive chess knowledge and a human evaluation structure, ensuring that it finds good moves and interesting ideas where there are no direct tactics to guide it. You will appreciate the value of this when you analyze with the program. Fritz 9 thinks and plans like a human, while retaining the tactical ferocity of the world’s top chess engine.

Following multiple games on the Playchess server

If you want to increase your playing strength quickly, Fritz9 is the perfect coach for you. In addition to the many popular training and playing levels, Fritz9 has new functions to improve your chess understanding. For instance a highly competent natural-language “position tutor” which explains the current situation on the board to you in plain English.

Special training modules hone your spotting skills in chess

The new training modules "attack", "check" and "defense" show you at a glance where the action is concentrated on the board. On top of that there are brand-new coach and handicap functions, as well as a giant Fritz database with over one million chess games. And if you are in the mood for something a bit different: Fritz can also play the variants Fischer Random and losing chess!

Globe maps now include weather reports

Fritz9 takes you straight to the center of the great world of top-level chess. You can watch high-class events, which are broadcast live on the Fritz server playchess.com. The "event calendar" informs you about coming broadcasts, tournaments and training courses. The new "multi-board" automatically loads all the top games into a single window. And there are many new, useful server functions: challenges with variable time limit, "who lives here" information, chat harmonization, Fritz weather service, and much, much more.

Photo-realistic 3D board in Fritz 9 (click to download wallpaper)

Fritz9 signed by all the players who received a copy at the San Luis World Championship

What's new and different

1. New 3D-Animation

• 3D-"Chess Turk" with 2D control board
• 3D piece "Mia" with 2D control board
• 3D stereo-surround sound in all boards
• Physics on the board: pieces fall realistically
• Optimized graphics performance through using the latest DirectX-9 features.

2. New in the chess program

• New super-strong chess engine: Fritz9
• "Position explainer": positional comment about the current position
• New forms of training for the topics attack, check and defense with high-score rating.
• New handicap-function for practical training of positional play
• Printout of the score-sheet
• Evaluation profile with depth of calculation
• Presentation function: Show games automatically
• Alternative forms of chess: Engines for Giveaway Chess and Fischerrandom (Chess960)
• 1 million games from 1625 to 2005
• Chess beginners course (1 hr. video in Chess Media System)
• Chess course for advanced players (3 hrs. video in Chess Media System)

3. New server functions of playchess.com

• Calendar of events: list of the current
• Events with direct access through mouseclick.
• Multi-board: comfortably following up to 9 games in only one window, e.g. for team events or top-boards in world class tournaments
• Other variants of chess: Capture Chess, Chess960, Twin Chess, Ouk Chatrang
• Challenges with time limit span
• Automatically follow the best player
• Search for titleholders in all rooms
• Showing tournament title, round number and number of kibitzers in the list of games
• Flags in the dialogues Elo-opponents, channel-listeners, friends online, titleholders online
• "Who lives here" information and current weather information on the world map
• Thumbnail picture of players is shown in the list
• Emoticons in the chat and new chat indicator
• Automatically defuse insults
• Rank information: "When will I become a knight"
• Musical themes for players
• Machine room information: Hardware information saved in game, expected move and first engine evaluation as commentary.

4. Fritz 9 Look

• Supports Windows XP Themes
• Better menu navigation in 3D options
• Boards and interface with new color gradients and new buttons
• New look of the world map
• Direct access to the training databases and videos via the portal screen.

System requirements:

Minimum : Pentium II, 300 MHz, 64 MB RAM, Windows98 SE, Me, 2000, XP, DVD-ROM drive, Windows- Media Player9 Recommended: Pentium IV 2,2 GHz or better, 256 MB RAM, Windows XP, GeForce5 graphics card (or comparable) with 128 MB memory or better, 100%DirectX compatible, sound card, Windows Media Player 9, DVD-ROM-drive.

Price:

49.99 € incl. VAT
43.09 € without VAT (for Customers outside the European Union)
53.44 US $ (without VAT)

Buy Fritz9 now