Fritz 8 Chess Software

I have Fritz 8 chess software, but I don't know how to use it.  The user manual that came with the two CDs is virtually useless to get started.   For now, I only want to play games and have Fritz make comments on the moves.

What, it won't play any games?

I am playing in Friend Mode.  The Chess Coach makes comments about moves I make.  i am satisfied with playing this way.

I would like to use some other capabilities of Fritz 8, but it looks like a steep learning curve.  The instructions don't give a hint on how to get started.

I can't find a way to resign, so I simply click on New Game.

I can't play other games with the clock, because the computer freezes or Fritz is thinking.  I left the computer on and the clock times out.

Actually, I always thought the instruction booklet wasn't half bad.

Resigning - When playing a game, click on the resign button, a small red circle with a horizontal white bar inside the circle. The resign button should be located in two places, as an icon on the menu bar, and in the "Game" menu.

BTW, you should probably try to update the program, that is, if Chessbase still supports the program. (Fritz 8 is sorta old...). I think there's a choice somewhere in the menu system for updates. If Chessbase no longer provides updates, you might still be able to get the update file from someone who has Fritz 8. (I have update 30; I don't know if there's a more recent one.)

Thanks for your replies.

I bought Fritz 8 knowing it is an older version, although the product I have came in an unopened package.  I am running Windows XP and I was sure Fritz 8 would work  in my computer, as opposed to newer versions.

How can I get to use other capabilities of Fritz 8?  If they are described in the user manual, they are well hidden from me.  I would like to eventually play against Fritz in a regular game.  Now all I can get is a partial game that stalls out or is thinking after only a few moves.   My only recourse is to terminate the game and begin a new game.

Maybe I need to change some settings, but I do not understand how to do that.  Do you have any ideas?  The main objective right now is to play a regular game to its conclusion.

Well, I would think it should at least work decently right out of the box. Either it's buggy because it hasn't been updated, or you just aren't picking the right choices from the menus.

Have you tried clicking on "File" --> "New" --> "Blitz Game", then just clicking on a default setting like 5 minutes or 10 minutes? It should just start right up.

i feel confident the program is working fine.  I am not familiar with the terms used and I don't know how to choose the correct settings.

I did finally play a regular game.  It was  a rated game and there were dollar amounts shown.  I ignored the dollar amounts and just played through the game.  I did not get any comments from Fritz.  Maybe I need to change some settings.

So far I can play the partial game with Chess Coach comments.  Also, I can play a rated game without comments.  For those games I can set the level of difficulty.

The icons on the toolbar are beginning to make sense, but I need to study those more for what they do.

For rated games, I don't think you'll get any comments from the coach. You don't get any help during rated games.

I don't understand your problem of only being able to play partial games in Friend mode. That shouldn't happen.

Okay, at least I can play the rated games.  What are the dollar amounts for?  It looks like betting, but with whom do I bet?

Maybe in Friend mode I should turn off Fritz's brain or set the program to allow less time for thinking.  What do you say about that?

"What are the dollar amounts for?  It looks like betting, but with whom do I bet?"

I don't know, I always ignored the betting too.

"Maybe in Friend mode I should turn off Fritz's brain or set the program to allow less time for thinking.  What do you say about that?"

I don't think you should turn off its brain. If you do that, it won't be able to move. Maybe you've just chosen a very long time control. What time control did you choose for Friend mode?

The dollar amounts are just a bet with Fritz. when he feels really ahead he will double. You can do the same if you feel you are winning. Switch that off if you find it disturbing (i cant remember where the command is), I hated seeing it around the board. 

Friend mode will allow takebacks etc. and is a good learning tool. The rated games will allow you to practise against the engine. Fritz, under rated conditions, should also change his/her/its strenght to give a more even game (or is that later versions?). You can use that to see how you progress.

As previous peeps have noted, every command is somewhere on the interface. It took me a while to understand it, and sometimes I still get confused about where certain commands are. Just thrash around and it will eventually become clearer; that doesn't make it less frustrating, I know.

Good luck.

I just played a Friend game with Fritz's handicap set at Drunk.  We played the entire game and I lost (I am sober at the moment).

As I get more familiar with the settings, more features of Fritz will become accessible.

Thanks for your help.  It was good to talk to someone about Fritz.  If you have further suggestions, please write here or message me.

Troggie, thanks for your helpful hints and comments!

Anytime pizzapier.

Posting this despite the feeling that I am about to be ridiculed by the experts: Looking back through your posts, and here I emphasize that I am no computer expert, perhaps the XP (SP) version you are using is incompatible with the base Fritz8? Have you done the usual compatibility workarounds etc.?

I just checked my Fritz 8 box (the cardboard box that the disks came in). System requirements are Pentium PC, 32 MB RAM, Win 98 / ME / 2000 / XP, so I don't think the OS should be a problem.

Thanks for the info.  I did read that too, before I made the purchase.

I am having a slight problem with Friend games now.  The games do not begin moving if Fritz has white.  I have to click on "Move Now."  This program will drive me "keerazy" if I continue any longer.  I'll give Fritz a rest for a while. 

That is odd; My Fritz 8 doesn't have that problem.

I really think you ought to try updating your program. From my experience, there were a lot of bugs in the original program, and Chessbase issued a lot of GUI fixes for the bugs. You should really try to update it online. If you can't update online, I'll see what I can do to get my latest update  (Gui update 30) file to you so you can manually update the GUI. If you have to go that route, I can explain how to do the manual update (that is, if I remember how to do it. )

Thank you very much for your offer to help.  i don't want to impose on you.   Let me try to sort things out for now, as I am getting familiar with the program.  Maybe it's only the settings.

If I continue to have problems, I will contact you.

It might only be the settings, but I know from experience that if you don't update the GUI (that is, the graphical user interface, or the "look" of Fritz), you're going to run across a lot of bugs, which is very frustrating. You might as well get rid of the bugs now and save yourself future aggravation.

It's not an imposition, as I've already done the work on the upgrade. I'll just assume that Chessbase no longer supports online updating for Fritz 8, so I'll give information for the manual update.

I found two links; The first link gives very brief instructions for manual updating and a download link for the update file. Unfortunately, the file no longer exists at that link, so I had to find it in the Internet Archive, hence my second link.

http://chessbaseusa.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=lREu4PX5B5s%3d&tabid=373

https://web.archive.org/web/20070206091156/http://www.fritzserver.org/updates/gui8.iup

The update file is "gui8.iup", and it's a little over 10 MB in size. I checked the file's hash signature, and it's identical to the last update that I have on my system (update 30). (The MD5 hash is  5DD09181A184FEDB4B960FB57B184A9B, and the SHA1 hash is  8C09882B131AE71B5676BC396D2A4E9D66D6FF70.) I can't guarantee that it's the last update that Chessbase ever issued for Fritz 8, but it's the last one I found in the Internet Archive.

So, from that second link I gave, go ahead and download the gui8.iup file to your computer.

Now, with Fritz 8 shut down, go to your Fritz 8 folder. On my system, it's C:\Program Files (x86)\ChessBase\ChessProgram8\

In that folder, you should see the original gui8.iup file. You don't really need to save a copy of that original file, but I'd go ahead and save a copy anyway. Just make a backup folder and save the original gui8.iup file to that backup folder. Now delete the original gui8.iup file from the "C:\Program Files (x86)\ChessBase\ChessProgram8\" folder, then copy the new gui8.iup file to that folder.

Once that's done, you'll need to run the GUI update. In that same folder, you should see a file named "IUpgrade.exe". Double-click on that file, and the upgrade program should start. Just do whatever it says, and it should update the GUI to rev 30, I think.

That's it, the GUI upgrade should be complete. Now just restart Fritz!

Whew!  That explanation used up the half life of my mental capacity.  Thanks for your help.

I copied your message and will study it, before I make changes.  Then I may get back to you.  This is unfamiliar territory.

Fritz seems to be working to my satisfaction now.  I only want to use the program to play against different levels and also get comments on my moves.  Anything more than that is not useful to me now.

I won a Rated game a few minutes ago.  The coach came back with an angry comment!