Glad you liked my Komodo review!

brabo wrote on 06/26/15 at 11:37:45:

Interesting read. Never thought about that. Why are the engines running that much better with a different interface?

lnn2 wrote on 12/22/13 at 08:19:14:


I wonder if Fritz 14 would solve my Fritz 11 problems. See following.

I use Houdini 64 with 8G of cache on Win 7/8, but I don't use it with Fritz 11 (I use the free GUI SCID) because:

1. You can install a UCI engine like Houdini, Stockfish, etc. (See Engine tab in main menu) but setting the amount of cache the engine uses is at best buggy, at worst does not work. On windows 7, if I set Houdini's cache to 4096 megs, it works for a while, but then I noticed (using windows Task Manager) the cache gets smaller and smaller until it is a very small cache. If I try to set the cache to 8192 megs, Fritz 11 changes the number to 4096, and then you go back to the previous problem. (I don't think the problem is Windows because the SCID GUI does not have this bug.)

2. I like to use infinite analysis, and pause the engine when I want to enter moves manually (or when my AMD machine gets too hot!). Every time you load a new game or position, Fritz resets the analysis setting for you. If I had analysis paused on a previous game, and then started a new game, Fritz reverts to default analysis settings. If I forget to turn the engine off after loading a new game, and enter a new move not existent in this game, Fritz does the following:

- Starts analyzing at a low setting, and adding moves in the new variation automatically

- Flips the board upside down.

I have not found a way to configure Fritz from doing this. When I turn off the engine, I want it to stay off until I turn it on. Is there a way to make "turn engine off" sticky between games?

It seems ChessBase 12 is required to make use of the new edition of the playerbase in Megabase 2014.

http://chessbase-shop.com/en/products/mega_database_2014

Anyone tried using Fritz 14 GUI with Megabase 2014?  
I assume the old option is still available (?) as it under system requirement says "...ChessBase 11 or  12...".

Just translated my latest article about annotations to English which is closely related to the topic here earlier discussed: http://chess-brabo.blogspot.be/2014/01/annotations.html

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lnn2 wrote on 12/22/13 at 08:19:14:

This is indeed the main need in Windows 8 and 8.1.

The desktop applications need to have their menus and other controls at least slightly redesigned to better support manipulation by the fat human finger.

Msft Office now offers to spread out the ribbon controls to make it easier to avoid accidental touches of the wrong control. However this consumes limited screen real estate.

I dunno. Maybe I would like to see a special button that modifies the reaction to a finger touch - by creating a little window which overlays the touched area, and which acts as a magnifier of the few controls in the limited area around the touch. Then a second touch could more easily be made on just the intended control (in the magnified window) to achieve the real touch activation --- and immediately after the touch the temporary magnified area window goes away.

-- -- -- --

Looking back I think 98% of the reviews of Windows 8, when it first came out, were kinda dumb. They made a gigantic deal over the altered format of the Start Apps menu (from list to tiles). We use the Start Apps menu a few times per hour. Meanwhile we are using the GUI's of the desktop apps 20 times per minute --- yet the early reviews barely mentioned the desktop apps touchability.
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Many thanks Brabo. Just got Houdini 4 which perfectly suits my needs and coming from Chessbase previously, I don't seem to miss anything so far. 

I suppose one needs Chessbase to do lots of advanced stuff (e.g. creating ebooks with hyperlinks) but for me the Fritz 14 interface which comes with Houdini 4 is good enough for all kinds of annotation and publishing. 

The only drawback with Fritz 14 interface is that it is still not perfectly optimised for touchscreens (which is found in 99% of new PCs these days). 

Many thanks to all of you for your answers. 

I agree with Brabo that Chessbase is too expensive as it does not come with latest engine. We want to do some printing and publishing (for local club newsletter) - is Fritz capable of inserting diagrams for printing and Informant-like symbols? 

Also I am thinking whether to get Houdini 4 or Fritz 14. CB says Houdini 4 "comes with the latest Deep Fritz 14 GUI and also offers the complete range of training features and analysis features included as standard in Deep Fritz 14."

http://www.chessbase-shop.com/en/products/6656?ref=rf70-5oh0efn840

I think this means everything is exactly the same between Fritz and Houdini except for the engine? One difference I note is that Fritz contains an opening book: "A new opening book compiled by Alex Kure (over four million position)"

http://www.chessbase-shop.com/en/products/6631?ref=rf70-5oh0efn840

What is the significance of this opening book by Alex Kure? Apologies for the really basic question but I have never used a Fritz opening book before while using Chessbase.