Making sense of Fritz's analysis output

Hi Guys,

This is a post about Fritz 16 using the Full Analysis feature to analyse games.

I've looked in the Fritz Help pages but couldn't find answers to all my questions there. 

I've also tried HIARCS analysis, but Fritz seems preferable because it outputs analysis as natural language. HIARCS just gives lots of numbers and reams of variations.

Can anyone help with the following questions?

- HIARCS provides an evaluation (e.g. -0.55) for every move. Is it possible to get Fritz to do this too?

- Does anyone know what the red rectangle that may appear in the analysis means?

- In Fritz's analysis, can you tell me what e.g. "2.40/29" means exactly?

- Does anyone know how to read the "thermometer" to the right of the evaluation graph?

- Fritz provides an evaluation graph for the game over time, but I find it a rather blunt tool and I cannot even tell by how much of a pawn one side is winning. How to interpret this graph in terms of centipawns?

Thanks for any pointers!

I'm still on Fritz 10 so this may not be relevant but...

When I go through a game using Fritz I put it on "Infinite Analysis" mode, and have Fritz display its top 10 moves, together with each move's evaluation and principal variation. Then I just step through the game. By comparing the evaluation of my move with the best move, I can see where the mistakes are.

Thanks, guys.

I received the following response from CB:

>- HIARCS provides an evaluation (e.g. -0.55) for every move. Is it possible to get Fritz to do this too?

If you for example run the software in the Infinite analysis mode then you get naturally an evaluation for every change of the board position.

>- Do you know what the red rectangle that may appear in the analysis means?

This shows a drastic change in the evaluation.

> A- In Fritz's analysis, can you tell me what e.g. "2.40/29" means exactly?

2.40 Evaluation in pawns, 29 computing depth

> - How do you read the "thermometer" to the right of the evaluation graph?

The evaluation profile graphically displays the evaluation and times in the course of the game.

The evaluation profile offers a graphical view of the use of thinking time and the evaluation of the positions during a game.

Bar above line: advantage for White
Bar below line: advantage for Black
Green bar: advantage for opponent
Red bar: advantage for the computer
Yellow bar: goes beyond the scale of the current window.
The scale is given in “centi-pawns” = 1/100ths of a pawn.
Superimposed in the evaluation profile is the time each side has used.
Blue graph: time used by White
Black graph: time used by Black

>- Fritz provides an evaluation graph for the game over time, but I find it a rather blunt tool and I cannot even tell by how much of a pawn one side is winning. How to interpret this graph in terms of centipawns?

An option is the “Logarithmic” view, which becomes useful when the evaluation is a large number, such as +/- 5. When a game is observed which one side has won slowly it is easier to see the progress if the display is non-linear, i.e. small differences remain apparent even if there are large values. The theory behind this is that the difference between +5 and +7 is irrelevant, but the difference between +0.2 and +0.4 is important.

...

Thanks for finding out the answers.

Thanks, Matt, I might well try to replicate your method in Fritz 16. Btw, if you're only interested in the best move, why do you have it display its top 10 moves?

The main reason is so that I can see my move in the list too, together with it's evaluation - plus other moves that I might have thought about.

Also, I'll sometimes not understand the engine's top move, but may understand the 2nd and 3rd choices, which may be almost as good

Thanks, Matt

Hi Matt,

Can you provide a screenie of the analysis you describe here, or else explain step by step what you do? Thanks!

When it does a game analysis, sometimes Fritz will produce a "medal" for a particular move. To identify the various colors of the medals, go into the database game list. On the top of the screen will be a Filter Games tab. By clicking on the supplemental Medals tab, you can learn and set the color for what each Medal means.

Hi Ed, you switch on "Infinite Analysis" by clicking on the microscope icon on the menu bar.

You can increase or decrease the number of moves that it shows by clicking on the + or - buttons next to the red "Stop" button in  the lower right-hand window.

Let me know how it goes

You may find this useful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5HFpUajHt8

This also talks about Infinite Analysis with Fritz, with a newer version than mine

Well... engines' evaluations are relevant to the positions the engines can calculate, according to their algorithms...

... but humans don't evaluate positions in such way. A trained player will consider the available or possible plans for both sides, the tempos necessary to carry them out, the necessary conditions (typically material and space), and then compare the piece activity (threats) in both. Also, unless a clear forced line, humans tend to evaluate in terms of probability. Hence the "equal", "slightly superior", "better", "decisive advantage", etc.

For example, if a player has more space in one side of the board, and his rival has no (fast) way to coordinate his pieces as to achieve some form of activity, then he will likely regard his position as "superior", and the degree of superiority will depend on how fast can he coordinate (that is: to develop and execute a successful plan, based on threats, as to force positional and, or material concessions to defend against those threats).

As you can see, such approach (to solve the problems on the board) has little to no relation with numeric evaluations.

In the evaluation profile window, right-click and switch off the logarithmic scale. The thermometer at the right should now show the range covered by the full scale of the graph, e.g +/-100cp. The maximum range of the graphical part of the display would appear to be +/-800cp or +/-8 pawns value. The thermometer is split into 8 sections, each representing 1 pawn or 100cp. So when a scale of +/-100cp is used for the graph, this is one eighth of the full range available, indicated on the thermometer by the bottom block (one eight of the maximum possible) being coloured blue instead of yellow. If 200cp is used as the full scale for the graphical part, then 2 blue bars appear on the thermometer, and so on. This is the best explanantion I can see for it.

The following procedure works for me as a viable method for achieving a complete analysis with Fritz. I currently use an old version of Fritz (Fritz 10) with Stockfish 16. 
I first use the fast analysis mode to have my every move with an evaluation to spot where in the game I (or my opponent) made a bad novelty (played out of the book). 
Then, I implement the infinite analysis mode for the position before my mistake to find the best continuation/s. 
Afterwards, I use the function "analyse threat" for every position Fritz proposes as a better continuation but for which I have no clue or understanding. This function alone is worth all the money you give Fritz.
I think Fritz is the better choice for a beginner like me because I am still learning fundamental concepts in chess, such as pawn formations, isolated pawns, bad and good bishops, etc.