Fritz 12 - £40

A Short Overview of Fritz 12:

• Completely redesigned interface
• New gauges indicating move accuracy and mate threat
• New Spy and Analysis functions
• New possibilities on Playchess
• Twelve hours of video training
• An up-to-date openings book and database with over 1.5 million games
• One year PREMIUM subscription to Playchess.

 

 

Fritz prepares you for serious encounters over the chessboard. Have you ever trained with a human grandmaster? Fritz provides you with twelve hours of video lessons for every level of play. Enjoy the instructive analysis of master games, the discussion of clever openings traps, and deadly combinations to solve. And if you haven’t yet learned the rules – Fritz will have you playing your first game within an hour.

There are also totally new instruments to measure the sharpness of a position and a mate-o-meter. How can the character of a position be evaluated? Is there perhaps an unsuspected mating motif lurking somewhere deep in the thicket of variations? Fritz 12 takes on the tasks of measuring all this and shows you every possible angle in absolutely clear fashion.

At the same time the playing strength of the Fritz engine has been increased and the openings book re-edited. Many well-known functions have been further enhanced. Rated games now lead to a more precise and realistic rating. The ‘Spy‘ points out clear refutations and concentrates on strong unambiguious threats. Those with high specification machines will be glad to see improved engine management. 64-bit UCI engines can also now use more than 4GB RAM.

Not only do you receive a full year’s subscription to playchess.com but now all memberships have been upgraded to Premium status. Now you can tune in to TV  and Radio ChessBase, play thousands of opponents on the world’s biggest chess server, listen to live audio commentary of GM tournaments and get training sessions from experienced commentators such as GM Daniel King and GM Yasser Seirawan. There are also opportunities to play in simultaneous exhibitions against top GMs and compete in league tournaments.

What will you need to run Fritz 12? According to Chessbase the minimum is: Pentium III 1 GHz, 512 MB RAM, Windows Vista, or XP (with Service Pack 3 installed), DVD-ROM drive. The recommended set-up is: PC Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.4 GHz, 3 GB RAM, Windows Vista or Windows 7, DVD-ROM drive.

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Rybka 4 - £44.95

STOP PRESS: Rybka wins ICT10 in Leiden!!
31.05.2010 – The tenth edition of the International Computer Chess Tournament in the Dutch city of Leiden saw yet another triumph by the leading chess program Rybka, which scored 8.0/9 points (eight wins, one loss). Behind it were Deep Sjeng, Hiarcs and Deep Shredder.

 

 

 

Rybka 4 - Computer Chess World Champion
For years Rybka has been the uncontested number one in computer chess and since its great breakthrough in 2006 the program has won with remarkable regularity one world title after the other. So that this state of affairs will continue in the future, the Rybka-team gathered around programmer Vasik Rajlich has developed a new version which is even better: Rybka 4 plays more aggressively and more tactically. During the last two years the engine has been improved in almost all areas. One major theme has been the understanding of the attack on the king. The new Rybka 4 is in this case more precise and reliable than its predecessor. At the same time the search function now operates more quickly and efficiently and the evaluation function delivers even more spot-on judgments. As for the playing style, Rybka 4 logically continues the development of the past few years.

Thanks to further development in the tactical area too, the new Rybka 4 will be indispensable for all those who work and analyse with chess engines. Rybka 4 is delivered with the new user-friendly Fritz 12 interface and contains a database of 1.5 million games and includes CLASSIC membership for playchess. com for one year.

System requirements:
Minimum: Pentium III 1 GHz, 512 MB RAM, Windows Vista, XP (Service Pack 3), DirectX9 graphics card with 256 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows-Media Player 9, internet access (playchess.com, updates and activation).
Recommended: PC Intel Core 2 Quad, 2.4 GHz, 3 GB RAM, Windows Vista or Windows 7, DirectX10 graphics card (or compatible) with 512 MB RAM or more, 100% DirectX10 compatible, sound card, Windows Media Player 11, DVD ROM drive and internet access (playchess.com, updates and activation). The activation of the program requires internet access.

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ChessBase 11 (Starter Pack)- £149.95

ChessBase 11 – Starter package includes:

• ChessBase 11 program
• Access to the CB online database (over 5 million games)
• Big Database 2010 + voucher for free upgrade to Big 2011
• Games download until 31st December 2011
• Half year’s subscription to ChessBase Magazine (3 issues DVD + booklet)

 

 

 

 

Achieve success in chess. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy your chess even more. Let it show you which variations are really being played nowadays. Find your next opponent’s weak points and exploit the advantage of well targeted preparation. Spice up your repertoire with new tricks and traps. With ChessBase, chess becomes even more fascinating and all the more exciting.

In our new ChessBase 11 program we never lost sight of what matters. This led to a new interface design with a Microsoft Office look. The new function “Fashionable variation” kills two birds with one stone: ChessBase 11 shows you which continuation is currently fashionable. Frequently these are not the moves which have been played the most, and sometimes these new lines kick off very early on. For example, in the Queen’s Gambit, 2…c6 is now clearly the main move and has taken over from the traditional 2…e6. Your opening preparation should not be hampered by studying old or amateur games. For that reason, ChessBase 11 places the latest games between the strongest players at the top of the games list. When you prepare for a specific opponent, you can see at a glance what he is playing at present and when he modified his repertoire.

ChessBase 11 offers you access in seconds (DSL) to the ChessBase online database with over 5 million games from the dawn of chess history right up until the latest top tournament. The commentary function “Theoretical innovation” will rapidly and reliably show you where the players entered new territory and it will also add reference games. And the best of all: your database will always remain up-to-date. Both the ChessBase online database and also the database received with your package (Big or Mega) will be regularly and automatically kept bang up to date (the update Service lasts till 31.12.2011).

Other innovations in ChessBase 11:

• On playchess.com the last 40 games of a player can be downloaded as a database (as long as the player has activated this function).
• Improved super functions “Opening report” and “Dossier”.
• Single click publishing of games on the Internet, even without your own web site.
• More comfortable solution of training questions.
• Better access to MegaBase update subs: shows what is on offer with tournaments, strong players, etc. Direct choice of which individual databases to download.

System requirements: Minimum: Pentium III 1 GHz, 512 MB RAM, Windows Vista, XP (Service Pack 3), DirectX9 graphics card with 256 MB RAM, DVD-ROM drive, Windows-Media Player 9, internet access (online database, updates and activation). Recommended: PC Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.4 GHz, 3 GB RAM, Windows Vista or Windows 7, DirectX10 graphics card (or compatible) with 512 MB RAM or more, 100% DirectX10 compatible sound card, Windows Media Player 11, DVD ROM drive and internet access (online database, updates and activation).

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