Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12871 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Contact Sales
• Released on: 2005-10-28
• Platform: Windows XP

Manufacturer's Description
Deep in the shrouds of history we find the world's first chess machine, the legendary Chess Turk. Built by a Baron for a Queen, the automaton was half human, half robot. Napoleon Bonaparte battled against it, Benjamin Franklin bowed to its brilliant play, and Edgar Allan Poe tried to dissect it with his analytical mind, torn between fear and fascination. Now you can relive history and play the dreaded Turk yourself -- in perfect 3D animation, 235 years after the empress Maria Theresia had the ancestor of all chess computer programs let built. Experience the fascination of the chess duel "Man vs. Machine" in a unique combination from past and present: the Turk & Fritz Chess 9. Face up to the duel. As did World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and Garry Kasparov, who, followed by millions of chess fans, played for mankind against FRITZ.

Customer Reviews

Fritz 9 is the best fully-fledged chess program
I have been using Fritz 9 for two months and I am convinced that it is the best fully-fledged chess program. All independent tests and rating lists show that Fritz 9 is stronger than Fritz 8, Chessmaster, Junior, and the long-time leader Shredder 9. It is not the strongest engine because Rybka 1.2 is stronger and Fruit 2.2.1 is of similar strength. However, these are engines that require a program such as Fritz in which to operate. Thankfully the creators of Fritz make it possible to use these engines (which can be purchased on the Internet) within the Fritz interface. The strong Toga engine, a clone of an earlier version of Fruit, can be obtained free!
As well as having a very strong chess engine Fritz 9 has all the tools a chess enthusiast wants - a million game database, a free one year subscription to Playchess (where one can play chess or watch grandmaster games), and training functions. Completely new features include engines to play Giveaway (aka losing or suicide) chess and Chess 960. Bobby Fischer invented Chess 960 and argues that it is much better than conventional chess. It is certainly fun to play and it is even harder to beat the computer than in conventional chess even though Fritz has no opening knowledge in Chess 960.
I am puzzled by reviews that claim Fritz 9 is difficult to use or does not work. I have no problems and Fritz would not have become the No.1 choice of enthusiasts world-wide if there were such problems. There are so many features that the program may seem daunting at first sight but they do all work if one perseveres.
Unfortunately I did not buy Fritz 9 from Amazon. I paid £35 which is the price charged almost everywhere. Amazon is the only place where I have seen a price lower than £35 so this is remarkably cheap, particularly when one considers that an annual subscription to Playches is normally about £20.

Excellent value, but not easy to use
Well, it plays exceptionally well, has numerous extremely sophisticated features, looks beautiful (e.g. if you switch on the 3D marble board with marble), and is ridiculously inexpensive.

On the minus side, the wealth of features make it somewhat hard to use. E.g. as pointed out elsewhere, it's not clear how to save a game, and even changing the level of difficulty is somewhat confusing - too many options.

The program really tries to cover two different markets - expert players wanting all the advanced features, and ordinary players who don't. The program attempts to appeal to the latter (such as me) by various annoying bells & whistles, such as the program making silly audio comments in silly voices (some of them oddly racist!) while you play. These things can be customized & switched off, but there are so many features & options it's not easy to work out how.

But overall, for the price (especially on Amazon) you'd have to recommend this program.

Superb and the Best Chess Playing Software
This has to be the number 1 chess game you can buy in terms of playability, computer based and online. The graphics are superb and it has so so many options to select. I also own Shreeder 9 UCI - which is a fantatsic piece of software, however, Fritz has the edge in terms of graphics and online play. Unlike others, I have no negative comments about the user interface - its all logical to me. So go on - if you thinking about getting a chess game, there is only one - Fritz 9.