Author: odell hall
Date: 02:07:31 08/19/98
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On August 18, 1998 at 22:40:38, blass uri wrote: > >On August 18, 1998 at 21:41:55, mike cooter wrote: > >>Here is the review I pulled from Inside Chess Online. Note the interesting >>comments he makes on each of the playing styles of each of the programs. >> >>Five Chess Engines. >>(A special review by Jeremy Silman) >>More and more players are buying chess computers, and more and more chess >>engines are available to the public. In the past, chess "boxes" like the >>Kasparov series, Boris Handroid, and endless others were all the rage. Today, >>with millions of families owning powerful PCs, a simple CD takes care of one’s >>chess "need" in a simple, inexpensive yet highly effective manner. >> >>What engines are best? This is the question I’ll be examining as I look at five >>of the most popular bits of software. Be warned! I am a computer idiot. Half the I think it's quite clear that silman knows absolutely nothing about computer chess , I doubt if he has even heard of The swedish rating list. But still i think it is interesting that he gives m-chess a 2500 rating!! isn't that a grandmaster? >>in control, though I probably will be off-base there too! >> >>However, I do know what I enjoy, I know chess, and I know a good deal when I see >>one; so heed my advice or toss it in the dustbin. In either case, prepare >>yourself for ultimate annihilation by all of the engines about to be discussed! >> >>CHESSMASTER 5500: For only $35.00, this is a superb buy. This software offers >>you soothing music while you play, pictures of famous players and sets during >>setup (to get you in the mood), and a host of options involving strength, style, >>time settings, and the list goes on and on. >> >>For whatever reason, I did experience some bugs. I couldn’t make it give off a >>sound while moving, though I went into the appropriate box and clicked on all >>the proper bells and whistles. Because of this, it was in stealth mode, and I >>often sat there for several seconds before noticing that it actually did >>something! At one point things got even worse. I’d make a move that got out of >>book and the machine would just think and think, even though it was a >>five-minute game. I’d command it to move and it would ignore me. I tweaked all >>its other commands and they worked fine (so it wasn’t frozen). But the blasted >>thing just kept thinking. Finally, I gave up and ended its miserable existence. >> >>As I said earlier (given that the experienced bugs were peculiar to my system or >>were due to some form of stupidity on my part), Chessmaster 5500 is a giveaway >>for the price. It’s slick looking (though things are a bit cluttered and the >>board may give its owner a claustrophobic feel), strong (though not as strong as >>the other machines that I’ll be discussing!) and well designed. If you’re a >>Class A player or below, why get anything else? This program should offer you >>humiliating defeats for years and years to come. >> >>FRITZ 5: The makers of this software have declared that Fritz is stronger than >>most (or all?) of the other programs. Perhaps it does well when playing other >>machines, but it’s clear to me that, in human vs. machine games, Fritz is a bit >>weaker (and in some cases considerably weaker) than some of the other choices. >>Nevertheless, I would not want to be without my Fritz! >> >>Fritz 5 boasts the cleanest interface of any engine, and one of the nicest >>boards. Easy on the eye, all of its bells and whistles are simple to access. The >>feature I like the best is it’s analytic spread, which enables you to analyze a >>line and have it automatically placed on a spreadsheet. Chess symbols (equal, >>White is slight better, winning, unclear, stuff like that) can be added at the >>push of a button, and sidelines blend in seamlessly with the main features of >>your work to form an instant book of your ideas! >> >>Playing in a very tactical fashion, Fritz 5 tends to think it’s winning as soon >>as it gets a material edge; it has almost no feel for positional pawn or >>Exchange sacrifices. > >I found in the nunn match that Fritz5 sometimes understands that the side with >the material advantage is not better for positional reasons. > >I do not know why chessbase hides this fact and gives us a wrong impression that >fritz5 is only a tactical monster. > > >>Nevertheless, it plays blitz at a 2500 clip, and if you’re >>not paying attention (even if you are rated 2500) it can thrash you unmercifully >>game after game after game. >> >>At about $100.00, it’s considerably more expensive than Chessmaster 5500, but >>personally I have no interest in owning Chessmaster while Fritz has a permanent >>place in my software collection. >> >>CHESS GENIUS 5: This program is the other mainstay of my collection. It’s design >>is perfectly adequate (though not as nice as Fritz’s), but its main plus is its >>positional skills, which are far better than Fritz 5. In fact, after analyzing a >>complicated Exchange sacrifice for several days, I noticed that Fritz always >>thought the sac was unsound, while Genius saw and appreciated the positional >>ideas behind the sacrifice. > >I want to see examples > >Uri
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