Using Deep Fritz 14 on a smartphone

By A. Ganesan

Meanwhile, in an interview, Vishy Anand said that smartphones were now strong enough to beat the world champion. Here was a nice opportunity to test this assertion. How would ChessBase for Android smartphones, with Deep Fritz 14 built in, compare to GM Gormally’s analysis with Komodo, ‘rumoured to be one of the strongest engines around, if not the strongest’? For those interested in the technical details, I used my two-year old LG Nexus 5 Googlephone and generally followed Fritz’s instant recommendation. In some complex positions, I let the program run up to a depth of 20 ply (taking about a minute on the Googlephone).

In the Engine settings, you will find an assortment of engines. Don't
think of them as stronger or weaker, but rather as different styles, all
of which are World Champion caliber.

Once done, you will see the eninge you chose. Deep Fritz 14 on Android is true to its 'Deep'
roots, and can take full advantage of mult-core processors. Quad-core smartphones are
commonplace nowadays.

Daniel Gormally vs C. Huassernot

As can be seen, sometimes one engine can choose a top move, in minor
disagreement with another engine, but that fits your understanding and
perception of the game. It makes sense to play it than one you find bizarre.

Daniel Gormally vs John Anderson

Here is another short example: 

Daniel Gormally vs C. Haussernot

As can be seen, in all three examples the key ideas and variations were quickly found by the smartphone. All this at an incredibly modest price of 10 €! While ChessBase on the smartphone doesn’t have all the features of the PC version, it is great value for money and handy to use. It has certainly made my preparation literally lighter as nowadays I don’t bother taking a laptop to a tournament.

Even this handheld device will take down the greatest grandmasters

The key to using engines is to know when to trust their evaluation and when to let them run a little longer. For serious readers, I highly recommend Robin Smith’s book ‘Modern Chess Analysis’ for examples on how this is approached by correspondence chess players.

While looking at the games taking place in the 2015 US championship, the game Holt-Troff caught my eye straight from the opening. I remembered a couple of classics in this Gruenfeld variation such as Petrosian-Fischer 1971 where Petrosian ended Bobby’s 20 game winning streak, but I was unfamiliar with the sacrificial idea 8... Rd8 used by Troff.

Here is a short video tutorial on analyzing your games with an engine in ChessBase for Android

No problem, I fired up ChessBase on my smartphone. It is in situations like these that the app’s value comes to the fore as it combines a database and an engine into one handheld program. I could quickly familiarise myself with previous games and analyse some ideas with the engine. For example, I wasn’t sure why Black refrained from playing 11... Na6 until Fritz showed that White can then win a piece for some pawns. The next day, I was pleased to see that GM Josh Friedel gave the same variation.

By the way, it was clear while watching with the help of the engine in the Playchess app, that White was not following up the opening in the most precise way. Ah well, it just goes to show that chess is played by imperfect humans- if not, it would lose its charm.

One dark side of the smartphone’s power is the potential for cheating. At the professional level, I fully believe it is the responsibility of tournament organizers and FIDE to ensure that it does not happen. At the amateur level, yes it is possible, in the same way I can dope myself with illegal drugs to run a local marathon as there is no monitoring. But what is the point? For most of us, these are hobbies and cheating neither has a large financial incentive nor is it personally satisfying.

You can scan the QR codes below with your phone or tablet to go directly to the Play Store or click on the link:

Playchess for Android	ChessBase for Android

About the author Ganesan is a professor of chemical biology at the University of East Anglia. Nowadays his chess activities mainly revolve around reading books and watching tournaments on the internet. He occasionally plays OTB chess with a 2000+ rating.