Guide to Computer Chess

Guide to Computer Chess

I've written Guide to Computer Chess as a complete step-by-step tutorial for using Fritz (and other chessplaying programs) to help you sharpen your chess playing skills and improve your game.

Drawing its examples from the programs Fritz6, Fritz7, Chessmaster 7000, and Power Chess, the CD offers you concrete advice for using the powerful computerized tools at your disposal if you're the owner of any chess program (not just the specific ones discussed on the CD).

The CD is a complete step-by-step tutorial on how to use Fritz Family of chess software programs (and other chessplaying programs, such as Chessmaster) to improve your chess game. While the bulk of the CD consists of explanations of Fritz' features and how they work, I've added a lot of other goodies to the disk.

For example, the first section of the CD is seven chapters long and is a (believe it or not) short history of computer chess, starting with The Turk and running up through Kasparov vs. Deep Blue and the home PC revolution. You get some interesting games in this section (some of which I've annotated) showing milestones in computer chess history.

Another seven chapter section illustrates ways in which you can use any chessplaying program to help you improve your game. And, so you can learn and practice the database searching functions of Fritz, I've included over 500 games played by Wilhelm Steinitz (the first official World Chess Champion) as a bonus.

Guide to Computer Chess isn't a collection of my prior articles gathered together in a CD format; although the topics are (obviously) related, the CD was written totally from scratch. While my ChessBase columns on the Internet are a great resource, they lack structure; I jump around from topic to topic from week to week, answering questions as they arise and covering new program functions as they're added. They're timely and comprehensive but they certainly don't qualify as an organized step-by-step tutorial.

Guide to Computer Chess offers a structured guide to learning the myriad features of your chess software programs. I start you off with the easy stuff (installing the program and playing games against the computer) and work you on up through more involved procedures, like doing database searches and analyzing games. The CD is meant to be read like a book; the later chapters build on the previous ones. By the time you're finished with this step-by-step approach, you'll know everything you need to get the most out of Fritz and any other chessplaying program you own.

There's a whole chapter on "personalities" offered by other programs such as Chessmaster, Power Chess, and Kasparov's Gambit, in which I even take you step-by-step through the process of creating new Chessmaster personalities. And the concepts discussed in the comprehensive multi-chapter section on improving your play can be applied to any chess program that contains an "analyze game" feature. (Plus you'll learn why I love Sierra's old Power Chess and Power Chess 98 programs). If you own any chessplaying program, there's plenty of useful information on this CD. Plus the CD comes with a demo version of Fritz6, so you can install the demo, load the CD in it, and follow right along with the text.

Although the CD focuses on Fritz6 and Fritz7, the disk covers all of the core features of the Fritz "family" of chessplaying programs, and everything on the CD is still fully applicable to Fritz8 and the current Fritz9 version as well as all of the other chessplaying programs ChessBase currently offers.

So if you're finding yourself at a loss when trying to figure out how to use your chessplaying program to help you become a better chessplayer, my CD Guide to Computer Chess from ChessCentral will guide you through the features and processes and will set you firmly on the road to chess improvement.

-- Steve Lopez

May, 2006