Deep
Fritz 14 – 64 bit multiprocessor version
Review by Sean Marsh
A new Fritz for the New Year. Even the number matches the year.
I can remember the first time I encountered a Fritz. It was Fritz
2 and a trendy student insisted on trying it out against me.
It was clearly a huge improvement on the dedicated machines we had played
against from the mid-1980s onwards: Super Novags, Chess Challengers,
even the mysterious Phantom (it could move the pieces by itself). All had
their weaknesses which, once discovered, could be repeatedly exploited.
Fritz changed all of that by handing out humiliating defeats with
alarming regularity. It was no longer enough to keep the position closed
or find a pawn sacrifice which would lead to massive compensation just beyond
its horizon. As we all know, it didn’t take too long for Fritz
and similar programs to beat world champions in high-profile matches. Humans
can’t match them anymore.
Deep Fritz 14 claims to have improved on its great predecessor
by adding 100 Elo points to its playing strength. There’s another
important difference too: “Single-processor engines are a thing of
the past – that’s why the new Fritz comes as a powerful
multi-processor version right from the word go.” So now we have a
64-bit engine, in addition to a new opening book by Alex Kure – featuring
four million positions. Furthermore, the ‘Let’s Check’
facility offers access to 200 million positions. The numbers involved are
obviously incredible.
I tried a number of games against the monster, with results resembling
almost constant one-way traffic. There was one anomaly; Fritz accepted
my draw offer after the following moves:
Replay and check the LiveBook here |
Please, wait...
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 c5 4.c3 e6 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nbd2 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.e4 Qc7 10.Qe2 Bd6 11.Re1 Ng4 12.h3 Nge5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Bc2 d4 15.cxd4 Qxc2 16.dxe5 Bxe5 17.Qc4 Qxc4 18.Nxc4 Bc7 19.Rd1 ½–½ - Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
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Marsh,S | - | Deep Fritz 14 | - | ½–½ | 2014 | D05 | CHESS Magazine | |
Please, wait...
All versions of Fritz I’ve ever played have been extremely
reluctant to agree draws in any sort of position and I don’t know
why it agreed to this one. A few hours later, I tried the same sequence
of moves again and offered a draw at the same point, but this time Fritz
declined the offer immediately. Strange.
Fritz 14 can analyse one’s games, just as before. Will it
make one stronger at chess or just lazier? It depends how much time is available
to spend picking over the analysis. It will, however, make it easier to
win the post-game arguments regarding who stood better and when (“My
Fritz 14 is better than your Fritz 13 and it says I was
better from move 15 onwards...”).
Bragging rights aside, do we really need to upgrade from older
versions? Not really, as Fritz 13 will do more than enough for
the average player. I am suddenly reminded of the famous interview with
Brian Clough and Don Revie on a 1974 edition of ITV’s Calendar
show. Clough, who had just been sacked from Leeds United, was asked by Revie
(the highly successful manager of Leeds just before Clough) why he took
the job in the first place, having been very critical of all things Leeds
beforehand. Clough said: “I wanted to win the league, but I wanted
to win it better.” Revie replied, “There’s no way you
could do that. We only lost four games”, and Clough said words to
the effect that he could win it by only losing three games. Yes, Fritz
14 will definitely beat you “better” than previous versions
– in fewer moves, for sure – if that’s what you really
want.
Newcomers to chess programs will find this an excellent jumping-on point;
there’s no doubt about that. It’s very easy to get up and running;
it took ten minutes on my laptop and most of the features are easy to get
to grips with. There’s also six months access to the PlayChess server
(an interesting reduction from the previous standard of 12 months).
Fritz 14 is compatible with Windows Vista, XP, 7 and 8, which
should make it suitable for virtually everyone’s PC or laptop.
Source: CHESS
Magazine February 2014
New features at a glance
- Fritz runs faster and smoother than ever before, supporting up to eight
cores and 16 GB of hash memory, so Fritz can take advantage of developments
in PC hardware.
- New Fritz playing/analysis engine. Approximately 100 Elo points stronger
than previous versions. Think Magnus Carlsen's Elo rating of 2870 is impressive?
Deep Fritz 14's rating is an astonishing 3150 Elo.
- Access to the 'Let's Check' (with 200 million extensively analysed
positions) and ChessBase engine Cloud.
- New FritzBook by Alex Kure with over 4 million positions - Fritz knows
the latest opening theory, allowing you to hone your opening repertoire.
- Six months Premium membership on Playchess.com.
- Database with over 1.5 million games, including all top-level games
from the last 50 years (up to the end of 2013!).
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Deep Fritz 14
By ChessBase
64-bit multi-processor version ChessBase PC-DVD
Delivery: Download or Post
Price: €69.90 – €58.74 without VAT (for Customers
outside the EU); $80.47 (without VAT).
In England: RRP £59.99 Special price £50.00
Order this program in
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