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Subject: Re: Which Program to buy?

Author: Michael Ginat

Date: 06:52:13 03/11/99

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On March 11, 1999 at 00:30:01, Richard VonMau wrote:

>Hi, I'm looking to buy my first (professional) chess program. I established a
>1493 rating 8 years ago and have not concentrated on playing until 6 months ago.
>I'm studying some books like "How to Reassess Your Chess", "Endgame Lab",
>"Comprehesive Chess Course" and "My Best Games 1908-1937 Alekhine" and using
>some shareware programs to play.
>   I'll be joining a chess club next month because my night shift changes to
>dayshift (after 17 years I finally have enough seniority!) and I'll be able to
>attend the meetings.
>   Anyway, my budget is no more than $100 (single income with 3 small children).
>I want the most helpful program for the buck.
>   -Rebel 10 sounds good. Within budget, $60
>   -Hiarsc 7.0 sounds good too, at $100 limit. Is it twice as good as others?
>   -Nimzo 99 is another nice one and within budget, $50.
>   -Fritz 5.32 sounds great, right price at $50, could this be the one?
>There are others but ... well dont know if they're worth the cost.
>Which leads to another question:
I think you already have a good idea, using CB Light with the freeware.
On your budget and at your rating all the professional programs are so strong
that I wonder if you'd be happy.
If you want to have fun (and feel like the money was well spent) probably Fritz
is the way to go, especially if you have any kind of ChessBase. When you start
playing in tournaments etc. you can then enter your games in CB and then get
Fritz to anlyze them for you later. It also complements CB and has a windows
interface.

Another idea is that you can purchase CB 6 for $100, and in my opinion this is a
serious alternative, because you can still use a chess engine to analyse your
games as you enter them, plus have a database with an unlimited amount of games.
You can upgrade to CB7 later if you want. It depends what you're looking for.

Rebel is also a great program and of course Hiarcs, but I don't believe it's
worth twice as much - perhaps to top GM's who are looking for new ideas, but not
for 99.99% of players.
Those who tell you to give up chess etc. - don't listen to them!!! , frankly I
don;t understand what they're doing in this forum :) Get a life guys :)
regards,
Michael
>   -ChessBase 7.0 looks good, really good but is well out of budget, $220.
>   Should I save my money until I can afford CB7 basic (or even CB7 Mega $400+)
>and continue with the CB light, Rebel Decade, Arasan shareware/freeware's?
>   Or get one of the above programs that is within budget now?
>   Can someone with experience with chess programs give me some guidance?
>Thanks for the help, in advance.   Richard



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