Attacker, coward, swindler or endgame wizard: I'll show you how to win against anyone! After my World Championship victories in 2022 and 2023, I am the reigning Chess Software World Champion and am now looking forward to showing you how to become even stronger against your opponent. With my innovative training method, I simulate typical player personalities you know from tournaments and online chess: brash attackers, cautious cowards, passive players. But how do you win against them? Fritz will show you how!
In Fritz 19, players can win 136 different achievements. Earning achievements is also linked to a points system: a bronze achievement is worth one point, a silver achievement five points, and a golden one ten points. Once ten points are accumulated, a collectible card is awarded. In total, 217 cards can be earned on one ChessBase Account with Fritz 19.
Collectible cards are organized into series. There are currently eight main series, with more in development:
Most series have subseries. For example, a subseries of Chess Stamps is Stamps Yugoslavia or Stamps Germany. Rating Lists has subseries for all major federations.
Visit the website http://cards.chessbase.com. If you are logged in with a ChessBase account, you automatically receive your first card. Click on My Cards to view it. If you own a card from a series, its cover is displayed; otherwise, the card's back is shown.
This account possesses cards from the series Famous Players, Stamps, and Chess Art.
There is a market for trading cards, where you can offer them for ducats, or buy them from other users. If you're not interested in collecting, just offer them in the market. Cards from popular series currently fetch around ten ducats. Ducats can e.g. be used for purchases in the ChessBase Shop. Just enter a ducat amount under payment type during checkout in the shop.
To sell a card: Under My Cards, click on the series, then the card you want to offer. Below the cover, you'll find a shopping cart button.
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Click on it, then enter a price in ducats on the next page under My Price in Ducats. Click on Create Offer to list your offer in the market.
Now click on Market. In My Offered Cards, you can see your offer. If someone accepts it, you'll receive an email, and the ducats will be credited to your ChessBase account.
In the market, under Offered Cards, you can see cards offered by other players, along with their ducat prices:
After clicking on a card, you will see buttons below that you can use to initiate a purchase.
The shopping cart button leads to a page for direct purchase, provided your ducat account has enough funds. Your ducats balance will be displayed there. The button with exchange arrows lets you make a trade offer: offering other cards without using ducats. The button on the far right depicting a dollar note allows you to make a (lower) counteroffer. So, there's room for some negotiation.
There's another way to buy cards: by posting specific purchase requests.
Lacking Chigorin
If you're missing a card from a series, you see a magnifying glass icon at the bottom right under the card cover. Click it to start a purchase request. Make an offer in ducats.
There you'll also the Highest Serial Number setting. Each card typically has a 1000-piece mint run. The serial number and mint run are on the card's top-right corner. The three lowest serial numbers (1, 2, 3) are especially valuable and have a special color. It's possible to own duplicates of a card, which is useful for trading.
In the market, other users' purchase requests are listed under Requested Cards. If you own a requested card, it appears unblurred, and you can click on it to initiate a sale. Your own purchase requests are listed under My Requested Cards.
Cards can change hands multiple times, making their history interesting:
Frank Marshall, serial number 911, has already been traded once.
Cards have at least two pages. On the last page, you find information like image sources and the Card History. For instance, the Frank Marshall card was issued on July 20, 2023. On November 3, it was awarded to Fritz tester "ffmatt" as part of earned achievements. He then offered it in the market, where I bought it on November 10 since I collect Famous Players.
Some cards have many pages: In the World Champions series, each card includes a cover, card information, an additional photo, and a playable game.
A final request: If you find collecting somewhat unexciting, why not just put your cards on the market for a few ducats? This way, you can delight other players who can complete their series with them. Like me, for example. Thank you!
Attacker, coward, swindler or endgame wizard: I'll show you how to win against anyone! After my World Championship victories in 2022 and 2023, I am the reigning Chess Software World Champion and am now looking forward to showing you how to become even stronger against your opponent. With my innovative training method, I simulate typical player personalities you know from tournaments and online chess: brash attackers, cautious cowards, passive players. But how do you win against them? Fritz will show you how!
