Author: Brian Katz
Date: 07:40:31 02/24/02
I just recently entered this position in Fritz 7. It is a simple position from a tournament game I just had last weekend (as Black)with mate to follow after a few useless checks by white. However, Fritz 7 Engine Jan 11, 2002 modification date chooses to announce mate in 133 moves instead with the following analysis: [D]r7/pR6/6k1/3p2p1/1P6/4p1n1/P5P1/2R3K1 b Whang,K - Katz,B Analysis by Fritz 7: 1. -+ (-#133): 32...Rh8 33.Rc6+ Kf5 34.Rf7+ Kg4 35.Rf4+ 2. -+ (-7.94): 32...Ne2+ 33.Kf1 Nxc1 34.Rc7 Rf8+ 35.Ke1 Nxa2 36.Rc6+ Kf5 37.Ke2 Ke4 38.Re6+ Kd4 39.Rxe3 Nc1+ After the move 32...Rh8 it should be at the most mate in 6 moves. (Katzparov, Eatontown, New Jersey 24.02.2002) [D]7r/pR6/6k1/3p2p1/1P6/4p1n1/P5P1/2R3K1 w The previous Fritz 7 engines, Jan 7, 2002 and some of the earlier Fritz 7 versions do not give such ridiculous mate announcements, but they do not have accurate mate annoucements either. This is not good. Some say that this does not affect Fritz' playing strength at all. BUT ...If a weaker player, who is using Fritz to learn with, sees mate in 133 moves rather than the correct mate in seven he(she)may be get slightly confused if they do not know any better. Plus they won't get an accurate mate announcement in a simple position. The entire Fritz 7 program has some SERIOUS PROBLEMS. I was more leniant in the beginning, just appreciating the fact that the new stronger engine was available, but now it is getting very annoying. We have heard all kinds of Fritz 7 problems of late. From database problems to access code problems to crashes. Simple feature problems such as the(automatic switch color option)which is supposed to automatically switch colors from game to game, does not work at all. You have to manually switch the colors. Once in a while strange letters appear in the notation window, such as X's for Rooks. In fact in the position I just gave, I moved Black's Rook from a8 to h8 and rather than the notation reading 32...Rh8 it read 32...xXh8 and the piece completely disappeared from the board. I had to undo a move to bring it back to a8 and then it was fine again. I have become very disappointed with Chessbase for releasing this product before it was ready. I have not heard of so many problems with any other Chessbase products. Fritz 6 was relatively bug free in comparison. Of course there will always be bugs, but come now. This has gone way beyond and then some. Brian
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