Fritz 17 - The giant PC chess program, now with Fat Fritz
The most popular chess program offers you everything you will need as a dedicated chess enthusiast, with innovative training methods for amateurs and professionals alike.
Learning your repertoire begins by logging in with your ChessBase account.
Now choose "Easy Game" and continue with the "Openings" tab:
Click the tab "My Moves" and the following appears on your screen:
Now load your opening repertoire, either for White ("Load White") or for Black ("Load Black"). The repertoire will appear in the notation:
Fritz 17 comes with a new function to learn and remember your repertoire: replaying the repertoire which allows you to relax while your program replays your repertoire on the screen.
Click "Replay" (on the very right of the toolbar):
This opens the following menu:
The bar allows you to decide whether the repertoire is shown from the end or from the beginning. The blue button starts and stops the replay.
"Speed" allows you to regulate the tempo of the replay:
"N Repeats" allows you to determine how often each variation is shown:
This allows you to choose your "program", so to speak. "Lock on variation" tells the program to show another variation when the end of the given variation is reached:
You can see how much of your repertoire you've reviewed
The "Drill" is a new function in Fritz 17 that helps you to memorize your opening repertoire. It also allows you to check how well you remember your repertoire — the program will provide hard facts and numbers.
"Load White/Load Black" activates the repertoire. To start the drill click on "Drill White" or "Drill Black".
The following menu appears:
You can enter the position with which you want to start the drill on the board (e.g. 1.e4 c5) or you can begin from the starting position. When you are ready, click "Start Drill".
In this example, the repertoire consists of 355 moves:
In a previous drill session a "Memory Score" of 6.2 points was reached (about 1% of all repertoire moves) and 14% of the positions were covered. So, there's still room for improvement!
Now start the drill and enter the moves which you think are part of your repertoire on the board.
When you reach the end of the line the program tells you that the "Drill (is) successfully done" and "You can now play a training game" against "Fritz-Online".
If you want to have another try, click "Repeat Drill".
If you forgot your repertoire move the program gives feedback and a hint to help you remember the right repertoire move. Just try again!
The bulbs indicate how much you have learned — the amount of moves you remember
The "Drill-Ranking" is another playful competition to stimulate you to learn your repertoire. To see how well you remember your repertoire compared to others click
If you are online, you are connected to the ChessBase Opening App and a ranking list appears. The ranking list counts the points you gained at the "Drill" and shows you how you fare compared to others.
If you do more drills, you remember your repertoire better, then you gain more points and will climb the ranking list. However, you cannot rest on your laurels. To pay tribute to the fact that humans forget, points will be deducted from your score over time. So keep practicing!
If you did not enter an opening repertoire with Fritz 17 or if you just want to check quickly — e.g. to prepare for a game — how well you remember a certain line, the "Free Drill" is ideal.
Load the line that you want to drill and go to the position with which you want to start. Then click:
And start the drill with the following menu:
You can start the drill at a position of your choice. Then follow your progress:
The next tutorials will show how Fritz 17 helps to create an opening repertoire.
Have fun and good luck! If you have questions or suggestions for other tutorials, please do not hesitate to e-mail me: Martin.Fischer@chessbase.com.
