Author: John R. Menke, Sr.
Date: 22:41:10 08/21/99
Go up one level in this thread
On August 21, 1999 at 18:37:11, liam hearns wrote: >as most top programs are quiet close to each other,and unbeatable by most >players what is the best buy for comfort ,ease of use,display,analysis ,data >bases and useful fetures. backup and upgrade options etc.I find the likes of >chessmaster5ooo to much and gimmicky.After all i think they are best used as a >encylopedia. Liam, Chessmaster 6000 is my #1 pick, if I had to choose just one. It has everything else beat for ease of use, and ease of learning how to use it. It's very intuitive. I really like the Coach operation in CM which gives instant opening statistics based upon the large database which is included on the CD. Typically you can upgrade to the next version of Chessmaster at low cost, and I understand that Chessmaster 7000 is due out soon (on about October 1). #2 on my list would be Fritz 5.32, mainly because it is the fastest engine I've ever tried that still plays a good game. It typically runs 10-20 times faster than Chessmaster 6000, and 30-40 times faster than Hiarcs 7.32, as measured by the number of nodes per second. If you need a fast & deep tactical analysis of a position, it is first choice. I like it better than Hiarc 7.32 which somebody recommended to me awhile back, which is probably OK with a lot of built-in positional considerations, but that makes it a slow engine searchwise (about half as fast as Chessmaster 6000). Both of these (Fritz & Hiarcs) run from the same user interface (Fritz), and a lot of other chess engines are included and/or compatible with this interface. This interface offers some significant additional search and display capabilities over Chessmaster, but I have found it difficult to learn how to use and understand. The instruction manual and program design leave a lot to be desired, in my opinion. If you are very technically inclined computerwise (I'm not), then Pete's suggestion of Winboard might be your cup of tea. You can plug in a lot of engines, although I don't know what you gain thereby. It depends upon what you want to do, I guess. --JRM
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.