Is Fritz 11 Worth the Money?

Fritz 11 arrived on the scene last November and Chessbase touted its improvements and increase chess playing strength. Well, I am a sucking for a good line; in addition, I like to keep my Playchess subscription going, so I purchased the new Fritz. First things first, Fritz 11 is a pretty good deal to start with because you get the chess engine, database, Internet chess site, and many more features for about $44 dollars. That is a bargain in my opinion! Next, it offers ways to play and improve your chess. My favorite is the tactical training against the clock for Elo points. The others include opening training, attack training, defense training, and find the check training. All of these exercises are against a clock! You can do much more with the program and the possibilities are boundless if you use your imagination.

There are naysayers among you that will object and tell me that Fritz 11 isn't the strongest chess engine out. I will stipulate that is true; however, Fritz 11 is stronger than the best human chess player is. If you will recall, for those of us who played GM Larry Christiansen, just how strong his chess play was; imagine how much stronger an added 300 plus Elo points would be. That is the power of Fritz. Plenty strong enough for our use as club players.

A few weeks ago, I arranged a Rybka 2.3 (32 bit) v. Fritz 11 themed engine match. The results are below.
Clearly, Rybka is stronger, but who needs that extra strength? In my opinion, only the top Grandmasters in the world would even appreciate the subtle differences between the two. Go buy Fritz--unless you have something against Chessbase--you won't be disappointed.

Larry Christiansen is coming...Larry Christiansen is coming!

Grandmaster Larry Christiansen (USCF 2669) will be at The Chess Club on Saturday, November 3rd. The Schedule as follows:

10AM –1PM Noon- Three Hour Workshop & Book Signing (Cost: $59 for this session)
Here is your opportunity to work with a GM in a small classroom environment.

1-3PM Lunch with Larry at the Corner Cafe (Cost: what ever you buy!).

3PM - Blitz Simultaneous Exhibition (Cost: $10 for the session).
GM Christinasen will play four blitz games at the same time! The time control is 5 minutes. The exhibition will last two hours. If you win, you will receive a chess book award from GM Christiansen!

4:30-6 Barbeque Dinner with Larry at the Smoke house (Cost: again, as much or as little as you like, however, this barbeque is delicious! The Porkker Platter is a must try!!!)

6PM - 30 Board Simultaneous Exhibition (Cost: $30 for this session)
GM Christiansen will play 30 players at the same time. The event is a great opportunity to play against one of the highest rated players in the United States! After, GM Christiansen will evaluate three to five games from the SIMUL.

Total cost for all sessions: $99.

Play the Beaver

Take the challenge...the Rozerem chess challenge. You have to face the mighty chess playing spokes-beaver. He taunts you and insults you, just as he does with "Honest Abe". I find that if you deliver a nice tactical shot he claims: "I didn't see that coming". He plays like a patzer! Go one...take the challenge. Enjoy!!!

Cheating at Chess...are you guilty?

I want to make one thing very clear straight away. My views are my own. Nobody has ordered me to write about cheating nor is it in response to any one event. I write this to make the chess player think about this topic and generate discussion. So we shall begin.

Cheating at chess is as old as the game itself. There are many ways to cheat. The most subtle of these comes in the from of intimidation. This may come by way of outside forces. I shall call it the "God Father" tactic, where well muscled men in suits have a friendly chat with the future losing player. Better to lose the game than get the pawns kicked out of you! It could even come from within the a club's atmosphere. The point can be made by making a new member feel unwelcome just because he beat a long time member and now feels he must lose games to be in good graces. That is shameful and it is cheating.

Another subtle method is claiming adjustment of the chessmen. We are all familiar with the touch rule. If you touch...you must move...if it has a legal move. So say you're in an important game and it is for all the marbles. After thinking carefully for 10 minutes or so, you finally reach out and put your fingers around that Knight. However, at that precise moment you see that move will hang your Queen. What to do? You smoothly say "I adjust". It seems almost seamless, but it is cheating. While I am on this motif; let us discuss quiting a piece and noticing it is a blunder at the same time...a la Garry Kasparov in his game against Judit Polgar. In that game, he blundered but quickly retracted the move by claiming that he had not let go of the piece. Cheating.

Still we find cheating in other forms. Many creative ways of distracting your opponent have been devised and practiced. One could constantly tap a captured pawn lightly on the table. We all know players who will clear his throat excessively, particularly when it is our turn to move. Some hum softly or sip a beverage loudly. Perhaps a player may dress to distract his or her opponent. Whatever works, right? Still a form of cheating.

How about collusion? If two or more players get together and prearrange an outcome of a game or games, it is collusion. We have all seen where the top players in a tournament will have to play each other and the games always seem to end in a draw. I ask you: "Why?" My own opinion is that they both know that a draw is the best way to keep in the money. I suspect that these players instinctively know what is required and just do it. They might think if they don't actively talk about it before the game then there is no foul. Okay, I will give you that...draws happen and they are part of the game. Then let me ask this: "Why then do these players only play 11 moves or so before accepting the draw offer?" This is collusion and it is the most difficult form of cheating to prove.

I think everyone knows that getting outside help during the game is cheating. It could be as easy as getting coffee and somebody talking to you about your position. How about a trip to the bathroom and opening a pocket chess set? Yes, that is cheating too! So is that new pocket fritz or the chess playing cell phone. Any tool other than our own head is cheating! You can not make notes...even on the toilet paper. Maybe a friend of yours has rigged up a way for you to receive messages through your legitimate hearing aid. Cool, but still cheating. No outside help of any kind...period.

Who is harmed by cheating? The short answer is chess as a whole. The game is supposed to be the royal game and the opponents honest. Anything less harms the image and reputation of the game. I say every chess player suffers from the above practices. If this is allowed to exist...we will have less sponsorship for tournaments. Also, the average players will quit the game because they will believe that it is fixed in favor of the higher rated players. The higher rated players that lose to lesser opponents will scream that there must have been outside assistance...and they will back it up with recent media coverage of a suspected cheating scandal involving a radio receiver built into a hat. In my humble opinion, all of this is bad and should stop for the sake of our game. The sooner...the better!