Fritz

Someone please help me! I am looking for a Fritz program and I have devoured the internet looking for one. I found two different versions of Fritz 11, one on Amazon and one on specific chess websites. What are the differences between them because the one on Amazon is cheaper!!

And also the one on Amazon said it was for Windows XP, the one on the other websites said it was for Windows Vista.  I have a Windows Vista laptop so are both versions compatible?

PS. if some1 can post a working link for Fritz 10 or 11, that would be great. thx

The one on Amazon.com is cheaper because it is sold and licensed via Viva Media. You can think of them as a North American distributor for ChessBase. It is the same product as on the other web site. I would go with the cheaper one. I purchased Fritz 10 from Amazon and have it running on a 64 bit edition of Windows Vista, so Fritz 11 will certainly run on your laptop.

Thanks for the quick reply. I was looking at amazon.co.uk though as I live in England. The front cover of the Fritz 11 was different from the front cover of the other websites as well.

Plus I found out that the one on Amazon doesnt include a membership to PlayChess, there is a free 30 day trial available on the other Fritz 11. I'm not planning to use it (this site is way better XD) but there are othe functions available on the other Fritz 11

I paid $20 for Fritz 10 off Amazon.com. With Fritz 11, you pay more for the newest version of the engine.

back to my question?

in reply to the above, I just want something simple that I can use straight away which is why I chose Fritz.

$59.90 i reccomend getting it off ebay sometimes it really cheap.  I got mine (i.e. fritz 10 not a real big differnce with 11 but just graphics i think) for $40  and it also had a 1-free year subscription to chessbase.com live internet play. 

And hmmm what sort of programs do you reccomend that are free and bettter than fritz? 

In my opinion i love fritz.  After 30-45 minutes of game anaylsis fritz gives great commentary.  Such as: a threat discovered on d4-d5, black/white cramped position, a8?? white let the game slip away, pinned, white/black has the upperhand and can make the calls, lost initiative, etc.  ANd its very organized, you can let fritz be your sparring partner so the computer can intentially make blunders so the player can discover tactical attacks.  I love iT!

RainbowRising,

I agree with Kepler to a certain degree. Every few years I purchase a new comercial chess engine just so I know I have the latest and strongest. Currently I have Rybka 3 using the ChessBase interface. I love it. But there is no reason why you cannot run an older, free engine using Arena. It's a good interface. But if you have the money getting a good ChessBase engine like Fritz is not bad either as there are some cool features you get with it that you do not get with the free engine. (large database, tutorials, sparring mode, etc)

I love free software but I really disagree with you guys touting Arena. It's got so many (unuser friendly) bells and whistles -- being designed by & for the serious computer-chess geek --that if your hobby is chess (rather than chess software) it's completely overwhelming, time consuming, complicated and annoying.

SCID, or ChessDb are GREAT programs (and are what I use as an engine interface 99% of the time, but that's because I'm not using the engine much except to analyze lines in openings and positions...) but SCID and ChessDb are too minimal engine interfaces for someone looking for a training partner.

An older but recent version of Fritz running Rybka 2.2 (as kepler suggested) is IMO the best solution for someone who wants a quick easy effective quality engine+gui -- it's not a free solution... but an older fritz can be picked up cheap  Fritz < $20, and the rybka download and install is easy-peasy.

thx for all the comments guys! I'll run through all the options in the weekend