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A missed opportunity
One would have hoped that this version of Fritz for Nintendo DS might demonstrate at least some of the incredible playing strength of it's PC based namesake. Afterall, the Nintendo DS console has hardware comparable to that contained in some dedicated chess computers and those machines play around the 2400 ELO level. Indeed, the official advertising for Fritz DS makes mention of the historical feats of Fritz and strongly implies that Fritz himself has finally come to the rescue of Nintendo console users. Even when one actually plays against Fritz on the Nintendo DS, the quoted rating at the top level is 2320 ELO. This is an extremely high playing level and only 80 points below the rating required to achieve a human International Master title.
Unfortunately, the performance of this product on paper is completely at odds with it's performance in reality. The biggest single problem with this version of Fritz is that the level algorythms are inexcusably buggy. It is all but impossible to make Fritz think for more than around 80 seconds in the middlegame (except in extremely complicated situations), even if the playing level is set to one move in 23 hours and 59 seconds! And if the playing level is set to something like 40 moves in 2 hours, then Fritz DS will move extremely fast - within seconds infact. At the default Blitz levels - even when set to 2320 ELO, the program moves rediculously quickly and barely uses any time at all. Anyone who is knowledgable about chess computers will tell you that using a tiny fraction of the playing time available will severely weaken the playing strength of a chess program, simply because the program is unable to examine as many moves as it would otherwise be able to.
And this is the crux of Fritz's problems on the DS platform. In the endgame, things get far worse again. Even when set to make one move within a day, Fritz still moves literally within seconds when in an endgame situation with a minor piece and pawns on the board. Given the program does not appear to utilise hash tables, this makes it's endgame incredibly weak indeed. In some games against my Mephisto Miami dedicated computer (which is known itself to have a weak endgame), Miami could simply pick off Fritz's pawns almost at will. Quite simply, Fritz does not give itself anywhere near enough time to come up with a competent move. Even if it's excellent middle game tactical ability confers some advantage going into the endgame, the endgame is so poor that any advantage often rapidly evaporates.
This is why I say that Fritz DS is a missed opportunity. There is no denying that the actual playing engine behind this product is extremely competant. I would go as far as to say that if it actually used the correct amount of time as per the level settings chosen by the user, then its playing strength might well approach 2320 ELO. But because it moves extremely quickly, it's playing strength is far below this. In the endgame where it cannot think for more than a few seconds, I would estimate it only plays around 1400 ELO - pathetic for a product that is advertised to play at 2320 ELO and which has some pretty decent hardware to run on.
To add insult to injury, there are other, irritating flaws in the program. The resignation function is rediculous. In one game I set the program to resign "at the first sign of trouble". It was down a rook and two pawns for 25 moves with zero compensation, but it still did not resign. It only resigned when mate was inevitable. If that is an "early" resignation, I would hate to see a "late" one. Secondly, the drawing contempt factor is unfathomable. In the aforementioned game, when I was a rook and two pawns up and about 5 moves away from queening a pawn, I offered it a draw. It told me I must be joking and that it wanted to play on. At least Fritz was correct when he said that I must be joking.
Other problems with the game include the cumbersome menu structure as mentioned by another reviewer. None of the stylus "buttons" in the menus seem to have auto repeat functionality (i.e where you keep the stylus pressed down). This made changing the number of moves extremely cumbersome for example, since changing it from 40 to 20 meant pressing the stylus down 19 times.
I was also disappointed to discover that it is not possible to change playing levels once a game is in progress. The only way to change levels is to start a completely new game. Additionally, it is not possible to save a rated game - you can only save practice games. And even when you save a practice game in progress, if you have the playing level set to a very slow one (due to the afrementioned bugs in the level algorythms), then it will not retain that time control setting when you reload the game later. This means it is rather pointless saving a practice game where the thinking time is genuinely more than 20 seconds, since when you reload the game, it isn't going to be able to think for much more than 20 seconds, regardless of what level you had set previously.
Overall, I cannot find any reason to recommend this program. The playing strength is nowhere close to that of the advertised 2320 ELO, with the endgame in particular being absolutely pathetic beyond any redemption. The levels are so buggy that they might as well not have existed at all. There are far to many other choices on the market if you want a decent portable chess game. For the Nintendo platforms, the best chess game thus far is Chessmaster for Gameboy Advance, which of course also runs on the Gameboy Micro. At least that program has only one minor openings book bug and it plays a consistently strong and human-like game with no relative weaknesses (approximately the same playing strength as the Mephisto Amsterdam dedicated machine from the 1980s). For other platforms, given that there are numerous very strong programs that run on modern mobile phones (and which genuinely do play at master strength), I see absolutely no reason whatsoever to compromise and buy this product.
Great trainer but could be better
I bought Fritz looking for an alternative to http://www.monroi.com which till now was the only pda size chess game recorder you can get (and it @$#%^). I had hoped that Fritz could replace it - but not quite - at least not for tournaments. Otherwise it beats MonRoi hands down and is 1/20th the cost!
Good Stuff:
Lots of help and hints for training.
Supports Chess 360 and giveaway as well.
Thousands of great historical games.
A Chess clock available.
Cool dual and single DS multiplayer support with a demo so you can do it even if you only have one card but two DSs.
A clearly rendered board with lots of style options.
Rates your play.
Fritz can kick your butt or let you win. By default it matches your strength.
Chess notation supported.
Lots of good problems to solve.
Great for kids and beginners!
Whacky Stuff:
Menus are kinda wierd - you set Fritz strength under the historical game menu instead of the game play options.
Only supports stylis functionality and forces you to play it sideways (but it supports left or right-handed users.)
You cannot remove fritz from the game even with all help off and playing a multi-player game on one DS - this makes it unsuitable for tournament game recording.
When doing practice games it has an annoying habbit of talking with you, flashing a red light to get your attention. I could not see how to turn this off.
The menus force more clicks and take much more space than necessary - I don't see why this was done. In fact, the menus are so big that they force you to scroll to see all the selections - I missed the scrolling at first and couldn't find all the options.
Although there are 2000+ historical games on the machine, you can only store two of your own games named Game1 and Game2 - really lame.
Minimal profile information - first name and rating. And no support to store the other player's name or date or event, etc. if you save a multiplayer game.
There is no variation or comment support on your games. This program could be a full PGN editor.
The game does not teach you chess. You will just figure it out by the legal move restrictions and hints.
No endgame training here and fritz is pretty crummy at mating with a King and a Rook against a King unless it is jacked way up.
Doesn't rate a position, just your record of play.
Here are the features I would add:
Allow tournament mode where fritz is inaccessible and you are simply recording a game. Use an alternate background to indicate this mode clearly from a distance - this will put MonRoi out of business!
The DS needs a printer! This would enable fritz to print out the game record for you. Or alternatively, some way to store and dump the games to a PC.
Fix the menus man - they are really lame.
Support PGN and annotations and interface with PCs or something outside itself for game up/downloading.
Support variational analysis.
Get 4 DS's together to support Saiamese, Kreigspeil and other variations.
It's definitely worth the $ but I hope v2 comes out soon so I can record my tournament games on this thing.
It plays at a wide skill level
Apparently chess reviews must be long.
I apologize for the shortness of this review. Fritz plays chess at a wide range of skills. It varies the opening to a greater degree then chessmaster. No it's not like playing against a chess master. Its like playing against a fairly sophisticated chess game made for nintendo DS.
Finally,
Which is better Chessmaster or Fritz? Fritz seems to play a less predictable and more varied game-and that is a good thing. Chessmaster is friendlier more intuitive to use. To play chess games I would buy Fritz. To learn chess, I would say both are flawed.
Good Knight to all.
Price:
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