Fritz 9: Play Chess (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.9 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Greg Mueller
• Reviewed on: 01/24/2006
• Updated on: 05/17/2006
• Released on: 12/15/2005
• Originally published on GameSpot: Fritz 9: Play Chess (PC) Review

Fritz 9 is the latest version of the superpowered chess engine that was able to defeat Garry Kasparov, one of the world's best players. If that sounds like a challenge you're up to then Fritz 9 won't disappoint. However, if you have anything less than an enthusiast's interest in chess, then you'd be better off playing online for free or picking up the much more accessible Chessmaster 10th Edition. Fritz 9 does have plenty of features that might appeal to the casual chess player, but if that's all you're looking for, then you'll end up missing out on most of what makes Fritz a remarkable program.

Fritz 9 is less a chess game and more a program that lets you meticulously analyze your own abilities as well as those of some of the elite grand masters and other notable players from the past 350 years or so. If you refer to chess pieces as "material" and are familiar with opening strategies such as the Queen's Gambit or the Sicilian Defense, then you'll be at home here.

Supposedly the Fritz 9 engine is even more "intelligent" than the previous version, although the increase is so incremental that, unless you play at the grand master level, you probably won't be able to perceive much, if any, improvement. However, even if you're unable to fully appreciate the strengths of the Fritz 9 engine's most advanced calculations, you can still scale to the artificial intelligence to match your skill level. There are several modes available, most of which simply alter the AI of your opponent. For example, in friends mode, the program analyzes your level of play and adjusts the opponent's skill to roughly match yours. You can also adjust your opponent's handicap based on a wide variety of parameters. If you want to play against an aggressive opponent who likes to move his queen early and often, you can do so. There are also preset AI opponents that play differently based on these elements. You can play against a drunk, reckless, or "fraidy-cat" opponent, each of which behaves quite differently based on the preset behavior characteristics. The problem is that lower-level opponents seem to make completely arbitrary blunders that clash with their otherwise careful strategies. The result is an opponent that seems to intentionally screw up at random moments rather than make subtly worse decisions throughout the course of a game.

That might not make for a natural opponent if you just want a comparable match, but in sparring mode the intentional blunders offer up opportunities to improve your game. In this mode, the AI will play a strong game but will make a serious mistake at a key moment, letting you sharpen your ability to perceive and exploit weak moves that your opponent makes. In addition to sparring mode, there are several other training modes available in Fritz 9. There's an option to play with a chess coach watching, so that every time you make a potentially costly move, you'll be warned and given a hint about why that move isn't advisable. Unfortunately, about a third of the time the coach isn't able to offer any hint beyond the initial objection to your move. Other training modes include an opening-play scenario, which lets you play a game according to a specific opening theory. If you stray from the rules of the selected opening, the coach will chime in and let you know about it. For a more hands-off approach to learning chess, you can watch a series of included videos where chess masters explain the basics of the game as well as a couple of selected openings. The videos are helpful for beginners, but the lessons are a bit too obvious for anyone with even the slightest idea of how to play chess.

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