Cheers!

(: ♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗ :)

Without a pause, I would say that the best program for those who have not played Chess against a computer much is Chessmaster (Computer) :

http://www.chessmaster.com/

It is easily the most user-friendly of the programs I have used, and its Chessplaying strength is at or near the Grandmaster level on a fast machine with plenty of memory. (I have heard a few complaints about the ease of installation with version 10, but I had no difficulty at all with versions 8 and 9).

Having said that, the program I play against most often is Shredder (Computer) , but it did take me some time to get the feel for how the interface works.

(: ♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗ :)

Shredder seems to be a computer just for playing...

I can't download Crafty...

I have Arasan right now, it is a good, free computer, but it doesn't seem to have an analysis function.

I have used Chessmaster in two other ways which involve elements of analysis. 1) I keep the "Thinking Lines" window open, with the "Chessmaster" box checked. I do this sole for the "score", the numeric rating of your situation after each move. Watching the engine evaluate your moves after you make them is not only fun, it is a good learning tool, I find; and 2) I will often have the engine play against itself or one of its virtual opponents from a given position. It will even do this from positions that are impossible to achieve from the conventional Chess setup, so it is quite versatile. (In this connection, please see my "Quaker Chess Challenge." If you scroll down, you'll see how Chessmaster dealt with this very strange curve ball I tossed its way: http://www.100bestwebsites.org/quak... )

Shredder (Computer) is every bit as capable of doing analysis as Fritz (Computer) is. As you may know, Shredder, Fritz, Junior (Computer) , and several other strong programs all run within the same interface, distributed by Chessbase:

http://www.chessbase.com/

The Chessbase interface can "plug in" any one of these engines (if you have it) and use it for analysis.

I think the reason that you see Fritz (Computer) used for analysis as often is you do is the "first to market" phenomenon: it was the first program for the personal computer that Grandmasters seemed to take very seriously.

Furthermore, the Chessbase interface and the Chessmaster interface can both import many other engines (many of them free) and run them for analysis or for playing. These engines are called "UCI Engines", and you might see my posting over on the Zsuzsa Polgar message board about these.

Hope this is helpful! Good luck!

(: ♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗ :)

http://chessbase.com/shop/index.asp...

(By the way, Crafty (Computer) is a free UCI engine, and it will run within the Chessbase interface or the Chessmaster interface.)

By the way, what I'm calling "the engine" is the part of the program that does the playing and analysis. The "box" in which the engine runs, the screen that appears on your computer monitor (the "interface"), is a distinct part of the package: the engine runs inside the box, but it is NOT the box! Many other aspects of the whole package you buy are contained within the box, such as databases of games and training tools. There are many tools in the toolbox!

The "engine" that runs within the Chessmaster interface even has a separate name. It is called "The King" (in English). You may see it compared in strength to the Shredder (Computer) engine at these two sites:

http://wbec-ridderkerk.nl/html/rati...

http://web.telia.com/~u85924109/ssd...

(: ♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗ :)
http://www.bbbbbb.org/
Bishop Berkeley's Phantasmagorical Chess Site

Sorry for my late response, <Greatful Fred>! Somehow your message slipped past my noticing.

Well, we do develop a wide range of nano-devices at my workplace, but I think the likelihood of such devices taking over the world (or even having the ability to conceive of such a notion) is essentially non-existent. It does make for good science fiction though!

After decades of working with computer systems of one type or another, I am utterly convinced of the extreme "differentness" of computer "thought" and human thought. While many make much of the "computer model" of human cogitation, the more they become acquainted with that model, the more I think they'll abandon it as a paradigm of human neural processes.

Having said all this, I have noticed that three tiny nano-rabbits have infiltrated my Chess website. They may be a bit hard to find (in the best "Where's Waldo" tradition), but if you view the site quietly and dispassionately, you may be able to see all three before they notice you and scurry away:

http://www.bbbbbb.org/

I was alarmed to see them at first, but since then I've become rather fond of them, and I've decided to keep them.

And I would encourage anyone: before you go setting mouse-traps or other such "anti-pest" devices in your homes, why not consider re-defining your "pest" as a low-maintenance pet? You never need to arrange for a sitter, the pet food costs are nill, no water bottle needs to be refilled, and you never have to make a trip to the vet. On balance, you may find it a better strategy.

A friend of mine had such an "LM pet" for years, and he grew quite fond of it. He never really determined what species of creature it was (since he never really saw it), but he could hear it scurrying around now and then, and he interpreted this as a sign of relative well-being (while it persisted). He even named his LM pet: "Herman the Vermin". (He also reserved the name "Antoinette the Verminette" in case he was wrong about the gender.)

Hope you are in good spirits!

(: ♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗ :)