Author: Charles Unruh
Date: 09:45:55 12/04/99
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On December 04, 1999 at 12:01:35, Frederic Friedel wrote: >On December 03, 1999 at 12:50:37, Charles Unruh wrote: > >>Why is Fritz, called Fritz? What's the idea behind that name, or is it named >>after someone? > >When the first ChessBase chess playing program saw the light of day Germany had >just been reunited, and we were feeling pretty good about this. In the >brainstorming session all kinds of different names for the program were >discussed. Then the ChessBase PR advisor, a very talented young man, said call >it “Fritz”! Everyone was stunned, but we knew it was exactly right. Fritz is a >derogative name for Germans (like “Kraut”), and it was appropriate to call the >program “Fritz -- you got a problem with that?”. Thanks for the info! Though not being a German i can't understand what's dergatory about the name Fritz, and have no idea what "Kraut" means. Charles Unruh Fritz is also a teasing name >for Frederic. This fact was not directly responsible for the choice, but it did >help sway my vote. > >Turns out the name was the best we could have chosen. It personalises the >program, makes it feel like a friend. Anand always calls it Fritzy, many of his >colleagues are following suite (when Judy Polgar says it Fritz melts in the CD >drive). It’s ease to speak about Fritz -- “Grandmaster Chess Program thought it >was winning” doesn’t do it for you in the same way.
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