Instead of the usual blah-blah gabfest about best this, future that, and most likely to whatever, I thought it would be interesting to occasionally have a few questions related to sales and sponsorship for useful debate. Starting off with software. Feel free to expand on your answers or fill in your own in the comments. [Clicking "see stats" on the results page takes you to a different site.]
Suggestions for future "chess business" polls also welcome.
I'm particularly interested in what people think about the various training videos/DVDs. I have a bunch of them and while they are cool and often informative, I feel the whole experience is too passive. You're just watching. Do any of them use interactive elements like pop quizzes or other things to take advantage of the fact that you are using a computer and not sitting in front of the TV like a vegetable? We had questions and such in the old distance learning video lessons we made at KasparovChess.com seven years ago.
This reminded me of an old and debatable quibble of mine about amateurs replaying games with software instead of in books and magazines. With a screen showing every move with a click or arrow press, you don't build any visualization power at all. You are always seeing the position, even the analysis. This is convenient, but it's like trying to learn to read from an audiobook. Or something. My gut says working through a game from five diagrams forces you to visualize, a critical skill. For those who don't play hundreds of serious games a year (and thereby develop their visualization in combat) it's a skill that must be practiced. I guess it's better than what so many amateurs do with printed material, which is skip from diagram to diagram without gaining much from what's in between.
I'm eagerly awaiting a good chess app for my G1. Since Android is clearly going to be a dominant platform for mobile devices in 2009 good development should be rewarded. Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, and Asus are all coming out with Android devices. The Open Handset Alliance rocks. Who will make the first killer chess app for it? Any of the ones for the iPhone decent?
Amusingly, there is a little "chess clock" app for the G1. It turns your touch screen into a two-sided digital clock the players can press. Rather handy, actually. Would love to see the arbiter's face when you break that one out. But the rules say no cell phones! But it's my clock!
With the blessing of a US NTD, I used the iPhone + Chess Clock app for two rated G/60 games earlier this month. (Put the device in airplane mode + silent & it's no longer a phone.)
While it supports Bronstein & Fischer modes, the touch pad is too small & there's no tactile feedback. (The first game was a mutual time scramble: we both had to continually check that we'd successfully pressed the clock--it's possible to miss.)
So it's not an adequate substitute for a "real" clock.
I think that if you don't play games from books and stuff out on a real board, you're losing most of its value. Unless you only play chess online, you'd be better off setting up positions.
(I'm not really in a position to talk, considering I'm an awful chessplayer, but oh well :) )
I think that while a 15-minute video lesson can be effective if you use it properly, there's no point in buying a DVD just to watch the same stuff over and over again. Get a book!
I am trying to persuade my parents to buy me an iPhone for Christmas. The whole "But Mum, I can play chess.... IN THE CAR! ON A PLANE! WAITING AT THE TRAM STOP!" doesn't really work.
Looks like I'll be getting lots of chess books for Christmas, instead.
I haven't even been tempted to try any instructional videos. Most (apart from game collections, for which I prefer books) seem to focus on openings, and I can't believe they go into sufficient depth to be of practical use.
I like the few DVDs I have. That said, I can't say I have gotten much out of them from an improvement point of view. They are entertaining, and perhaps that is the role that they play.
Perhaps a DVD will inspire a player to investigate certain concepts more deeply on their own - given that so much information (albeit somewhat superficial) can be presented so quickly via a screen and commentator.
No software here. Software's too demoralizing these days, I can't even eke out a draw against the latest top programs.
I used to play online until adult time constraints made that impossible. Anyway, I've hit my plateau stage so there's nothing left to prove (more exactly, I can't.)
99% of instructional chess materials (in any form: books, dvd's, videaos, database, paying engine, etc) is useless to the average chess player.
Most people could become masters (if they have the natural talent and work hard) by reading no more than 30 well chosen books.
Unfortunately, most low-rated chessplayers think that the solution to their lack of talent (or bad study habits) is to buy a few more books.
I believe that an average-talent player should not spend a lot of money or training time on openings before hitting the 2000 rating mark.
All chess databases are just humongous collections of garbage games that never serve any purpose other than satisfying the owners' thirst for having "everything", as if osmosis will replace talent or hard work. A talented player could become a grandmaster with a tiny (by today's standards) database of 50 thousand games. I know because they did that with the Informants in the pre-Chessbase days.
99% of rated players would have their needs covered by any of the dozen free chess engines out there, along with a few thousand well-selected games.
A talented player could easily study and improve to the limit of his capacity with a $0 investment. A talentess hack can throw millions away without ever crossing the 2000 mark.
Very true, Irv. We like to believe that a new product will improve us, the reality is that hard analysis and training, which can be done with a few hundred games and a couple dozen books, are key to improving plying strength. Most of us don't bother cos it's too like hard work. But then I guess Chessbase (for example) ain't gonna release the "final" version of Fritz ("Fritz 15-you have all you need so don't bother with any more products) any time soon. So is capitalism. And while I have no stats I would say that most money is spent on opening books, the most overrated ones. Vive the quick fix! :) btw don't think I am immune; I am getting Rybka for Xmas :) :)
I agree with you about the passivity of watching DVDs. It is similar to watching a movie based on a book rather than reading the book. More palatable, perhaps, but also blander.
@irv: While I think you are right about the quality and availability of training material, I don't see how it could be done. How would a talented player select those 30 well chosen book and a few thousand well-selected games?
(asks a talented player with a few dozens books, 16 years of chess informants, and a notoric frustration over not finding a methodic approach to understand chess)
i don't there is any need to deride the average tournament player for buying more chessbooks than they need for improvement.
for many, chess books and other instructional materials, are simply an enjoyable experience.
I think instructional videos are a valuable source of instruction. There are very good ones on all phases of the game and I have found that they give a panoramic view (of an opening for example) that I can then expand upon by using books or software. By the way, if your attention span is such that you don't retain what's in the videos then your chances of remembering the dense analysis in many books is slim indeed.
Methinks chess videos (some of them) are a useful addition to training and development for average players like me.
It seems that all masters can play blindfold. It's probably a requirement for visualizing longer combinations. I had a friend who had only been playing a few months, and he played a complete blindfold game the first time he tried. No training needed. Of course, he later became a strong master. The ability to visualize is clearly innate. Can it be improved by training? Maybe.
Bartebly wrote:
"How would a talented player select those 30 well chosen book and a few thousand well-selected games?"
Very interesting and legitimate question, Batebly. I'll try to answer based on my own experience (others will rightfully have other, equally valuable, experiences).
First: I'm a lowly, run-of-the-mill master. Not greatly talented, and not special in any way.
I bacame a master in about 2 years of study/play that began at age 21 (yes, I was a late-comer to the game). I studied (books) an average of 4-5 hours per week. Played speed chess (5 minutes) against the strongest players I could get and participated in serious tournaments once per month (your average 4-round American Swiss).
My study consisted exclusively of approximately 50% endagame theory, 20% combinations and the rest a mix of playing over the games of players with a clean, simple, direct style like Capablanca, Fischer and Karpov and reading books like "The Theory Behind Openings", "The Middlegame" and "Pawn structures" (I think Fine, Kotov and Kmoch are the authors and the titles might be slightly different).
I found the above "regime" very entertaining and easy to implement. I studied mostly in 1 hour sessions (never more than one per day and never for more than 5 days per week).
I played about 10 hours of speed chess per week and used the games to learn openings from my oppponents! (I'm not exaggerating). I have - to this day - never spent more than 15 minutes trying to memorize opening lines; I find it better to just play an opening many times in casual games - losing many against strong players. After a while you get the idea of the type of middle game and thems that comes out of that particular opening.
Things to avoid as a young player: wasting time on opening memorization before you reach the expert (2000) level, studying books on opening traps or playing against mostly weaker opposition (if you want to/must play weaker players, change your game to try crazy, dubious, interesting stuff).
I want to mention that all this took place in the early eighties (before personal computers). Today, a young player can do the same with less than 200 bucks, if he is smart: get something like Rybka ($60) and a tiny database (FREE) of best games by classic-style players like the ones I mention above). Buy a few books on ideas behind opeinngs, endgames and a few more on history/trivia of the game and combinations (the $8 1001 Checkmate and Combinations by Reinfeld is a classic and excellent for beginners or low-rated players).
Bottom line: with a little talent, moderate work, tournament participation and the right opponents, any player can make very fast progress.
Tournaments: you don't have to play in gigantic swisses. Enter small tournaments for small money and always play in the highest section. I spent several years playing Kamski, Dzinzhi, Benjaming, Fedorowicz, D'Lugi, Benko, and many other very strong masters at the now defunct Manhattan Chess Club in NYC for $20 bucks per tournament! I lost most of those games, but had great pleasure learning from real pros (Kamski beat me twice badly while never sitting at the board fro more than 20 seconds - it felt like a simul!).
Thanks Irv that was very helpful! lowly master or not! :) That kind of thing sounds like the systematic yet entertaining regime I need...
Good insight by Irv. Got similar from my coach, an experienced GM and coach. He recommends working hard on the endgames and having a narrow, simple opening repertoire + playing through the game collections of a few strong GMs similar in style to yours.
>>With a screen showing every move with a click or arrow press, you don't build any visualization power at all.
You are right Mig. I used to teach chess to a group of high school students. It was not good experience, nor successful and the group fell apart. They enjoyed playing among themselves but they had no taste for studying. My method was to show them a position and have them discuss the best move among themselves and explain their thinking, but all they really wanted to do was move the pieces (much easier). I remember telling them, as I believe, that the chess board is nothing but visual aid to remind both players of the current position. After than everything that matters is trying to imagine the board will look like after a move is made. That's why, I suppose, that the best means of improving are playing competetive games or just (visually) studing critical diagrams.
I assume there is a lack of mac based software, owing to the number of chess geeks who are on the pc platform...
Surely we are approaching a time, when more people on macs can access chess software, encoded for their favourite platform?
You can't even play games on the chessbase server, as there is no mac based client software, like on icc!
James
The percentage of youth tournament players who study doesn't seem very high. For instance, I'm a low-expert who has read maybe only 15 books (and purchased four or five of them), and that's more than everyone below expert level who I know. Basically, non-experts do not study (except for one or two guys usually headed for much more.) It's a tiny, tiny market to target... if someone has the brains to make master, he should find a real career.
Speaking of which, does anyone know the total U.S. market for chess books and videos?? For instance, my lifetime consumption of four books, five chess sets, two chess clocks, and a stack of old Chess Lifes probably adds up to $100-$150 in profit along the supply chain. Spread that out over ten years, and it's not much of a market.
On the other hand ... Don't you think that the time savings of not having to keep looking down at a book and back up at a board, not to mention moving the pieces around (as opposed to continually staring at a screen and clicking) is unrelated to the speed with which many are achieving ranked status?
Thanks irv for the post. Will get myself a good book on endgames and study them.
Btw, could you give us advice how to use the engines in analysing our own games? When I run through my games, it makes me sick how many mistakes I make. However, it's hard to understand most of them (except tactical shots). Any advice?
Someone mentioned blindfold chess. Do any of the programs for the iPhone, Android, Symbian or Windows Mobile have a text-interface option - allowing "true" blindfold play? Seems an easy enough option to add (in fact, "subtract"), but I've not been able to find it anywhere.
Thanks.
I once writed a mail to chesssbase and the answer was that ¨Mac represnt 5 % of the market and that they wont release software for that.
I believe that Mac is more than 5% and potentially can become a monster in the chess market , but for the rime being i have to use boot camp for that(chessbase) and other reasons.
Thing is that the PC that lives inside my Mac has become the best PC i had.
I never went above expert level myself, once played in a club with quite a few masters, once was youth coach in a smaller club .... so who am I to comment (and slightly disagree, or have somewhat different opinions) than irv ? ,:)
Anyway, I wonder if _that_ much focus on endgames is worthwhile for players who hardly ever reach (complicated) endgames over the board? Personally I would [and did] put more emphasis on combinations. One advantage is that you can solve combinations 'almost anywhere', for example during daily commuting train trips if you want to. For openings, I agree that opening _memorization_ is mostly a waste of time. It is more important to understand typical middlegames (or even endgames) resulting from particular openings - and there are opening books available which include that type of information.
To quickly comment on playjunior's second paragraph: I think one point is not to put excessive trust into engines. They are good at finding tactical shots, no doubt about that, but for strategy, long-term plans etc. they clearly cannot replace a suitable coach (one with experience in both chess and coaching). And I wouldn't even consider every move as a mistake just because engines give a better one (rated 0.1 pawns higher).
For the under-2000 players (especially beginners) I highly recommend the tournament books of the 1920s through 1960s annotated by a participant GM.
The top GMs explain the concepts in every type/phase of the game well (opening, middlegame, closed game, endgame), his psychology also, and rounds out the reader's game in a way specialized books do not.
Slight elaboration: The 1920s-1960s tournament books do best because basic chess theory was still under development. The student can see how the top GMs reasoned through their opening moves, first figured out how to handle certain positions, punish elementary (by today's standards) positional mistakes, etc.
It's totally unlike today where Topalov blitzes out 15-20 book moves, and does a wild tactical melee for another 10-12 moves no-one under 2200 can properly follow.
There was a ChessBase for Mac ages ago, but I switched to the PC a decade ago because of the dearth of chess software.
I still don't understand playing against a computer, I like solving puzzles at Chess Magnet School and vs. TrainingBot/ProblemBot since I find that helps a lot more.
I'm also a huge database jockey but that was well known. :)
The thing about studying the endgame is the actual acquirement of technique is less than half the reason you do it.
The endgame is like a laboratory for studying how pieces work. You don't have to worry about all the extraneous stuff to work on how to use rooks, or bishops or whatever.
Second reason is pawn structure. Again, studying EGs that are heavu with pawns will go a long way to aiding your understanding of pstruct, levers, weak squares etc.
Third reason is building your calculation & visualization skills. You can calculate a long way when there are fewer things to worry about.
Finally, it is also good for working on your tactics. And again, the point is that in an endgame with a tactical shot, it is more "pure" than a heavily populated middlegame.
This type of study is/can be a little different than going through a didactic endgame book. One must do that of course, but endgame studies are perfect for the above. Jeno Ban's "The Tactics of Endgames" is cheap, abundant, and a great place to start. It will occupy for a long time.
I went to a week long chess course/camp at UW Whitewater some 10 years ago. One of the things they had us do was solve pawn endgame studies in your head. It was hard, but definitely worth doing. Shortly afterwards, I cracked 2200 for the first time in my life (at 50!).
The polls are a great idea Mig, let 'em fly! How about one on openings books? I think they're going to go the way of the dinosaur, but maybe your readers can weigh in.
I think the various training videos/DVDs are very good. I have a bunch of them too, and sometimes I think they are too passive, but generally they've helped me understand things much better than before (especially Kasparov's!). It would be good if they came with the ability for the user to select whether they were presented with exercizes or not (sometimes I feel like doing 'em, sometimes not).
I think the ability for amateurs to replay games with software instead of books and magazines is imperative. Players don't have to view all the moves ahead of time, but they can if they just can't puzzle it out for themselves. And I definitely want/need the analysis when I just plain can't figure it out (at least not in the time I have available). Yes, it can be used too much as a crutch, but those players weren't dedicated enough to improve their skill in the first place!
sorry for the off topic but seems that Hensel is no longer Kramnik's manager!!! http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5107
Well I need to weigh in here because I have bought many books, much software and many dvds and or tapes( remember those). Some are excellent some are trash. I recently wrote to Chessbase that if there were a category for dvd of the year ( like book of the year), Anands two dvds would win hands down. They are entertaining, instructive and insightful into a top player's thought processes. Also Karsten Mueller's endgame dvds are EXCELLENT. I learned the rather hard bishop and knight mate from watching that dvd. He is one of the most entertaining and effective instructors out there. Many years ago, Julian Hodgson's Foxy Video tapes allowed me to rack up a rather impressive record with that opening. Also while not as entertaining as Hodgson, James Plaskett was helpful with his excellent treatment of the Torre Attack. Some dvds are horrible, I will not name them, but the instructors are clearly not suited to the task. Oh and one more thing, I don't use a Mac but Hiarcs is available for that platform.
I concur with Irv on the state of information overdosed chess players induced on themselves nowadays. Case in point, many years ago when I was a teenager my rating was 2000+, and I had in my possession no more than 10-15 chess books. The standard classics (Fisher's 60 games, Capablanca by Chernev, Alekhine's game collection, Paul Morphy, etc.) should be sufficient to get anyone with a lot of playing/studying time to at least expert level. And I had never properly learn any openings. All opening lines I knew and played were learned from game collections.
On endings, again I concur with Irv and Dondo on the importance of learning the endgame and its effect on calculation/visuallisation skills. I returned to chess after a very long absence, nowadays I mostly learn/play endgames. Beside building up fundamental chess skills, many endgames are just pure beauty (much like the joy I derived when I was learning mathematical proofs in Modern math during college). I'd input a position from Smylov/Levenfish Rood Endgame and play against the computer, then I read the solution/explaination from the book. Thus my brain is in active learning/calculating mode and not just passively receiving the information.
Irv,
First, congratulations on your rapid improvement to the master ranks. It seems to me that one key ingredient of your plan - frequent OTB play against very strong players - is not available to most of us, at least non-New Yorker Americans. I haven't found online play to offer the same educational experience as OTB games. Thoughts?
@irv: Thanks, that was a great answer. Sounds like so many new year resolutions to me. I won't be able to do it at 1 hour/per day, 1 tournament. But slow and steady study, and regular tournament play, will help me understand chess, might get me somewhere.
@Mig: Training DVDs & similar are far from what I would like to use. I don't want to watch someone else do the analysis. I want to be taught how to analyze myself. Analyze a position, analyze an opening line, analyze an endgame. The computer could be used to do it in a systematic, organized way. So I can build up on past analysises... analyses?... analysizes? I want it to be a coach, and my personal assistant, not a presenter.
Maybe Irv's real lesson is the value of immersion in a high-class chess environment. Look at the time he dedicated at 21, a typical college age: 4-5 hours per week studying books, 10 hours a week playing speed chess against strong opponents, a 4-game tournament once a month (maybe another 4 hours a week on average). That adds up to about 18 hours a week for two years! In terms of a 40 hour work-week, it's like devoting half of your working hours to chess - we're talking real immersion here. Compare to the work-load of college students, who might take 4 or 5 different courses at once, who take the summer off, etc. Irv really put in the time and paid his dues for that 2-year road to master-level.
@Andrew
I don't get the impression Irv put in much time at all. The impression is of someone with unusual talent simply enjoying himself, not forcing it at all.
Also, the training program for a prodigy aiming high (let's say FM, maybe GM) differs from the sub-2200 tournament player. The prodigy needs a rigorous program, everyone else can do whatever.
just in case there are Mac users who are looking for chess software: using sigma chess as a GUI with a strong engine like fruit works well and is free.
A few quick replies:
@Ashish:
I don't have any ideas for more OTB playing opportunities. Sadly, it seems the internet has killed the local chessclubs in the USA - the biggest one, the Manhattan Chess Club is a real loss.
The good news is that if you truly play for the love of the game, online play combined with whatever OTB play you can get can be equally enjoyable. The trick is to forget about ratings and just play a bit whenever you get a chance.
@Playjunior
Analyzing games with chess engines really takes the "magic" out of the game. I feel computers and computer analysis have killed joy of the game for amateurs like us.
The the pain of serious analysis should be left to the pros :-)
@Andrew
It may seem like I spent a lot of time on the game - but it was far more relaxed than it looks. I was very young, not married and doing all the things that college-age kids do. My 10 hours of weekly speed chess took place on weekends: about 4 hours on Friday nights (three of which were alamost always spent participating in the Manhattan/Marshall Chessclub Blitz tournaments) and the other 6 hours on Saturdays.
The monthly tournaments that I played were either 4 round weekend swisses or 4-round Thursday Quads at the Manhattan or Marshall Clubs (once a month only).
Basically, I was doing very little or no chess on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdays and Sundays (with exception of the once-a-month Thursday or Weekend Swiss).
I always felt that the best way to improve is to play the game with joy and without chasing a rating point.
Hi Mig,
I think you are approaching the question of good apps for phones the wrong way round. Instead of asking when the first killer app will come for the G1, or is there anything good yet on the iPhone (there isn't), you should ask ...
What phone should I choose to best support my chess?
Although by heart says buy a G1, and asthetically I want an iPhone, I bought a windows mobile because they are currently best for chess.
Windows mobile runs Pocket Fritz 3, which is just streets ahead of anything else at 2250 (limited processors on these small things). Also, they can run java so the java Mobi app (free download) is just fine for playing on ICC. And Mobi also works fine for observing ganes, and windows mobile even relays your broadcasts fine!
Mobi will probably run on a G1 (although I haven't investigated), but you can't run java on an iPhone yet. And G1 won't run Pocket Fritz 3.
I've got a HTC Touch running windows mobile 6, and it works well. It is even small enough to sit on a chess book and let me play through games.
On this occasion: Yesterday, the final version 2.0 of the free chess interface ARENA has been released:
http://www.playwitharena.com/directory/download.htm
Very useful for all computer chess fans.
There is at least one redeeming function for database software.
It makes it easier to review one's own games, to look for patterns in one's own play. Certainly this can be done by OTB re-creation as well, but I find doing it by database is more efficient.
(Plus the fun capability of having an engine or engines review the play. No substitute for OTB play or using one's brain during post-analysis. But it can helpful.)
I smell a rat in the poll. I'll eat my shorts if 187 women voted in this poll!!
Rockrobinoff made a good point on chess books perhaps being used for entertainment rather than improvement in play. Some people do use DVDs, books for their entertainment value and for the bits of interesting chess ideas they can pick up. I don't mind getting better at chess, but what I really enjoy is learning something new.
To me, it is akin to reading history. I won't ever be a historian, but I enjoy reading about certain eras. I don't make an effort to remember most of it, but once in a while there is some little interesting gem of an idea that strikes my fancy and I will commit it to memory. It doesn't matter if I'll never be able to use that information in any other way, it just matters that I had that thrill of discovery of something new.
That is all I ask of chess books and DVDs too: give me that thrill of learning and that entertainment, engage my mind and let me forget about other things for a while. Sure, if you want to improve, you probably need only a few books and lots of discipline. But if you want entertainment there are many good chess books you can buy.
@Noyb, yes... The voters don't need to enter these infos specifically for the poll. It is not clear how it assignes votes to the sexes and age groups if that info is missing (the infos probably exist for users who are registered there).
I just cannot believe that 42% of this blog's regular readers (!) are not interested in chess software. I mean, we are chess players, we are sitting in front of a computer, and there is plenty of chess software including freeware, databases, chess servers... Why would 42% not be interested?
Meanwhile, the results indicate that almost twice as many woman have voted, than men?! :-)
It's not realistic! If you
a) are a chess player, and
b) have a computer, then
c) you of course have and use chess software, for many purposes.
So, I can only assume that the poll includes (many!) votes by registered users of the Toluna poll website - for them, the site may know sex & age - which means that many people voted who are not necessarily chess fans or chess players at all, and most probably neither regular readers of this blog.
In other words, Mig, I am afraid this poll don't provide representative information about any group of chess players, but mainly about Toluna poll fans. :-)
An idea: repeat the poll, but include the choice: "No, I am not a chess fan / I don't play chess regularly." I assume that most of the uninterested votes fall into that group.
Happy new year!
For many of us, chess is as much about the human interaction as it is about the movement of pieces. Chess software doesn't provide much human interaction.
** CHESS DVD **
Chess DVD's about an opening (such as Ruy Lopez) could be and should be the best way for a class B/C player to learn the opening. But unfortunately they are not designed properly.
They need to hire a human experimental psychologist from the local college's Psych Dept to explain how to present the material in a way that it will be most easily remembered.
Think cadence. Thing advertising jingle (well in that direction), reviewers must stop praising the "entertaining" side stories told during these videos.
** MONTY PYTHON **
Deliver the material so that repeated watchings lead to recall of the verbal content the way repeated watchings of Monty Python & Holy Grail lead to spontaneously understood tweets of
"I'm not dead yet!"
or
"Not another shrubbery!"
or
"Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who, this is supposed to be a festive occasion!"
or
"Let me go back and face the peril! No, it's too perilous!".
Verbal content must be from a script, tight with no excess words, delivered with a spritely cadence and an actor's itonational range.
These advanced chess engine software packages are able to destroy world class grandmasters.
But they still cannot auto-generate a decent *REPORT* of a game given to them from a .PGN or a .CBH.
I want a printable or postable-to-web-page report that is not the eyesore of what they pretend is a report today.
I want choices for controlling the details of my report.
Each turn for White to move, I might want the report to list every legal White move that is within +0.2 evaluation points of whatever move the engine thinks is best.
Or I might want the report to annotate only those moves where there was only one clearly best move.
And I might want the report to list what would have been Black's best move in every position where it was White to move. The list goes on.
How about this for a selection:
I have all the Fritz versions and top line engines. I have the Databses, TB, and studies. But seldeom look at them or even play them.
Chess just doesn't seem real if you can't pick up the pieces.
I mostly use my Fritz software to kibitz Internet games and major events.