What is Fritz?

My favorite in SCID (chessDB's predecessor) is the Endgame Tablebase Window, Crafty, Fruit, Rybka 3, Rybka2.2n2, Toga, etc.

Girolamo/Likesforests/other:

I know you guys are really trying to help.  Unfortunately, I am not only a patzer at chess, but also with computers.

From what I can see searching, both Fritz and Rybka are stand-alone programs.  I don't understand how you get just the Fritz interface & Rybka engine - or other such combos.

Could you please give me a final recommendation - one free & one pay for a combo for me to practice & get my play analyzed?

Would either of you mind if I message you directly to help with the downloading/installing and eventually using the new program(s)

Thanks,

Dan

Update:

ok, I've found the free download for Rybka2 with the Arena interface.  I will give that a try.

Dan

I actually seemed to figure it out myself.  My IT guy at work wouldn't believe it!

I have downloaded Arena, Rybka2.2n2, and the opening book.  I've started playing around a little - got beat in a game real quick.

How do I get openings analyzed & download a chess.com game to be analyzed? - thanks!

Pay

Rybka 3 + Fritz 11 interface ($55 or $110)

   http://www.wholesalechess.com/chess/Rybka+3

   http://www.wholesalechess.com/chess/Deep+Rybka+3

The "Deep" version can take advantage of multi-processor computers. Basically, if your computer says "dual core" or "quad core" it's a step up but costs more.

Free

Rybka 2.2n2

   http://www.rybkachess.com/index.php?auswahl=Download+demo

Arena 1.99 beta 5

   http://www.playwitharena.com/directory/download.htm

Well, I've never used Fritz or Rybka, but I can tell you how to set up the combo ChessDB-Fruit(Crafty).

Since you can't do much with a chess engine alone (it usually is just a "piece of logic" without graphics), you'll start by downloading and installing ChessDB from http://downloads.sourceforge.net/chessdb/ChessDB-with-tablebases-3.6.19-beta-1.exe

After it's done, you'll get the engine from http://www.superchessengine.com/Fruit-2-3-1-Win.zip

and the openings book from

http://wbec-ridderkerk.nl/html/downloada/lacrosse/performance.rar

Unzip the openings book, extract and install Fruit and then launch ChessDB. Open the Tools menu and select Analysis Engine. Click New, then insert a Name (eg. Fruit) and click on the button at the right of Command. Browse your filesystem until you find the directory where you installed Fruit and select its executable (should be something like fruit.exe). Then click on the UCI rhombus and after that on Configure UCI engine. In the new window, set the full path to the openings book. Finally, save and exit the engine setup.

Now you should see Fruit in your engines list: double click on it and an analysis window will open. From this moment on, whenever you make a move on ChessDB board, Fruit will show you the suggested continuation.

That's all! Let me know if you still need help.

Second, we discussed Chess Database Software. This is another way to analyze games--you can compare them to master games. 

Pay

Chessbase 10 Starter Package - $180

   http://www.wholesalechess.com/chess/Chessbase+10+Starter+Package

Free

ChessDB - Free

   http://chessdb.sourceforge.net/downloads/

Ehm, it seems I was a little late...

Anyway, to get your games on chess.com analyzed, you only need to select Get PGN from the game window itself and then use the Import PGN feature of your chess interface to load it.

girolamo, the detailed steps you provided should be very useful. Of course, it's exactly the same whether installing Rybka 2.2n2, Fruit, Crafty, etc.  :)

You're weren't late - I was impatient!  :-)

So far, it seems similar to explorer.  You get move probabilities as you play.  Is that the analysis?

You should see output like:

Nf3: +50

e4: +.33

d4: +.33

Which is its way of telling you what move it likes best. A score of +1 means the line wins a pawn, +3 it wins a minor piece, +5 a major piece, etc. A positive score is better for White. A negative score is better for Black.

What you'll usually want to do is under the menu Engine | Automatic Analysis. That's where you can ask it to analyze a complete game for you in one shot. Arena is quite functional. Fritz is easier to use and more powerful... but costs something.

That helps - thanks again!

dont forget, you can download an old version of Fritz (5.32) on the downloads section of this very site!

sorry if that info comes a little late, but thought i should throw it in. i have this edition of Fritz on my computer, and very very rarely use it (on account of my preferring other chess programs), but i definitely like the options it has to limit the strength of the computer (it even has a "drunk" option) in an easily adjusted way.

At this point, I'm playing with Arena with the Rybka 2.2n2 engine.

couple ?'s:

I did a position set up, both kings & one pawn.  I wanted to do an endgame practice from my current book against the strong computer.  I set up the positions but can't figure out how to play from there.  When I go to move a piece, the complete board reappears like a normal game with all 16 pieces.

How do you play a positional game?  How do you make the computer move if you want him to move first?

Also, in a normal starting position game, is there a way for the computer to not play?  That is, I want to make the choices for both sides and see the analysis.

Thanks - hope it's not too many ?'s

Question 1: I went to Position | Setup a Position, added two kings and a pawn, and clicked OK and was able to play it out. I don't have that issue.

Question 2: On the bottom-right of your screen to the left of the word demo is a rectangular, black icon that looks like a microchip. If you want to be White simply make the first move. If you want the computer to be White click that icon to force it to take over. You can also use it to switch sides at any point.

You can adjust the computer's playing strength in the Levels tab by setting (a) how much time it has and (b) the Limit Playing Strength to Elo option.

Question 3: I don't know. I usually use Chessbase to explore lines on my own.

I think if you have Arena-specific questions it's probably better to open a new thread with Arena in the title in the Chess Equipment forum. There are quite a few Arena users here... I only use it lightly, because I already own Chessbase and Aquarium.

likesforests wrote:

To give an idea of their relative strengths, at 1 minute per move on the CCRL Crafty is rated 2646, Fruit is rated 2879, and Rybka3 is rated 3241. That means if you play Fruit & Crafty a dozen times Fruit should win more than 2 out of 3 games. The testing is done with 3-4-5-man EGTBs (free) so you'll probably want those, too.

ELO strength is relative, not absolute. The rating would be derived from its opponents ratings. That means unless rybka 3 has faced many top level humans, as opposed to mostly computers who ALL have high ELO anyway(and thus propel rybka3 up), that would be a good indicator of inflation.

Somewhat OT but a funny quote i stumbled apon

""""""""""""""""""""

"Rybka is the new Paul Morphy."

There is inadvertent truth in this. Judging from comments on Chessgames.com, Rybka has fanboys breathless in praise of its genius, the same way that Morphy and Fischer do. Rybka outputs are copied and pasted as though they were pronouncements of the Delphic oracle. I daresay that no other chess engine inspires this level of weird geek devotion.

""""""""""""

To give an idea of their relative strengths, at 1 minute per move on the CCRL Crafty is rated 2646, Fruit is rated 2879, and Rybka3 is rated 3241. T

SuperKala> ELO strength is relative, not absolute.

That's why I said, "To give an idea of their relative strengths".

SuperKala> The rating would be derived from its opponents ratings.

Aye, that's how rating systems (elo and glicko) work. If you beat a 1400-player 4x in a row, then lose to a 2400-player 4x in a row, that implies something about your own rating. As you play more games we become more confident about your rating.

SuperKala> That means unless rybka 3 has faced many top level humans,

Rybka 3 has faced several titled players and performed well above the super-GM level, but this doesn't affect its rating. FIDE doesn't award ratings to machines, and CCRL doesn't award ratings to humans. They are separate ratings.

SuperKala> as opposed to mostly computers who ALL have high ELO anyway(and thus propel rybka3 up), that would be a good indicator of inflation.

CCRL+CEGT are what are available now. They're imperfect, just like FIDE and USCF ratings, but anyone is free to join them and suggest improvements... or compete...

Match Statistics

• Deep Fritz 10 vs Kramnik: 2 wins, 0 losses, 4 draws
• Rybka 2 vs Deep Fritz: 19 wins, 2 losses, 12 draws
• Rybka 3 vs Rybka 2: 24 wins, 1 loss, 27 draws

CCRL Ratings

• Rybka 3 (3229)
• Rybka 2 (3128)
• Deep Fritz 10 (2988)

> Rybka outputs are copied and pasted as though they were pronouncements of the Delphic oracle.

This is not how to use a chess engine.

> I daresay that no other chess engine inspires this level of weird geek devotion.

Trolls are a penny a dozen on the Internet.

Strange, I've never had problems opening PGN files with ChessDB (Scid's successor)... maybe your .pgn is damaged? If you send it to me, I could try to open it with ChessDB.

About adding Fruit to Scid, I suppose the instructions I gave Dan in one of my previous posts should be ok. However, note that, as far as I know, Scid doesn't support UCI engines (like Fruit); so you should pick a Winboard one (eg. Crafty) or update to ChessDB (it's free).

I've sometimes downloaded PGNs of non-finished games, and they've always been imported correctly on ChessDB, so I don't know why it doesn't work for you...

Again, I can only suggest you to e-mail me the PGN or upgrade to ChessDB.