How to Auto Analyze a Chess Game in Fritz

 How to Auto Analyze a Chess Game in Fritz

Fritz Chess Program offers a powerful feature that allows you to automatically analyze a game and get comments from the engine without having to manually step through the moves. This feature can provide quick insights into your game, including identifying blunders, highlighting key moments, and suggesting better moves. In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps to auto-analyze a game in Fritz and configure the settings for a detailed review.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions:

Step 1: Open the Tools Menu

1. Launch Fritz: Open the Fritz Chess Program on your computer.

2. Load a Game:

   • Either load a game from a saved database or input a game manually. You can do this by selecting File → Open → Game to load a saved PGN, or you can manually play through a game on the board.

3. Access the Analysis Tools:

   • At the top of the screen, click on the Tools menu.
   • From the drop-down list, select Analysis. This will open a sub-menu with several analysis options.

Step 2: Choose Full Analysis

1. Select 'Full Analysis':
   • In the Analysis sub-menu, click on Full Analysis….
   • Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Y to open the analysis dialog directly.
   This opens up the settings window where you can customize how you want Fritz to analyze the game.

Step 3: Configure the Analysis Settings

Now that you have the analysis window open, you can customize the way Fritz analyzes your game. Here’s what each setting does:

1. Calculation Time per Move:

   • The first box allows you to set the time Fritz spends analyzing each move. The default is 5 minutes per move, but you can change this to any value based on how detailed you want the analysis to be.
   • For quick analysis: Set it to 1-2 minutes per move.
   • For in-depth analysis: Leave it at 5 minutes or even increase it to 10-15 minutes per move for more thorough evaluation.

2. Threshold Setting:

   • The threshold determines what Fritz considers a blunder. This is measured in centipawns (hundredths of a pawn), where a blunder can be defined as losing a certain amount of material.
   • The default setting is 30 centipawns (0.3 of a pawn), which catches small mistakes. You can increase this value to 300 if you want Fritz to only report major blunders, which is the equivalent of losing around 3 pawns' worth of material.
   • For detailed reports on small mistakes: Leave it at 30.
   • For focusing only on major blunders: Increase it to around 100-300.

3. Move Number for Analysis:

   • Fritz analyzes games backward by default, starting with the last move. The Move Number field allows you to specify which move you want Fritz to start analyzing from.
   • Normally, Fritz will automatically set this to the last move of the game, but you can change it if you only want to analyze a portion of the game.

4. Output Options:

   • Graphical: Fritz will show a graphical analysis (default setting) that includes arrows and symbols on the board to help visualize key moves.
   • Verbose: Fritz will provide detailed commentary on the moves, explaining its findings in depth. This can include opening theory, move evaluations, and tactical insights.
   • You can select or deselect these options based on your preference.

5. Which Side to Analyze:

   • In the right-hand column, you can choose whether to analyze both sides or just one side of the game. The default is to analyze both white and black moves, but you can focus on just one player if needed.

6. Additional Settings:

   • Opening Reference: You can choose whether Fritz includes comments about opening theory, which can be useful if you want to know if you or your opponent deviated from standard opening lines.
   • Reference Database: If you have a reference database installed, you can allow Fritz to compare the game to a larger collection of games to spot trends and common moves.

Step 4: Start the Analysis

1. Click 'OK':

   • Once you have configured the settings to your liking, click OK to start the full analysis.

2. Analysis Progress:

   • Fritz will now begin analyzing the game. Depending on the time you set per move and the length of the game, this process can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours.
   • During analysis, Fritz will display its progress in the move-order window, marking errors, blunders, and tactical opportunities with symbols like “?” for mistakes or “!” for strong moves.

3. Review the Results:

   • Once the analysis is complete, you can review the game in the move-order window. Each move will have comments and suggestions added based on Fritz’s analysis. Blunders, inaccuracies, and better alternatives will be clearly marked, allowing you to study and improve your game.

Step 5: Save the Analyzed Game

1. Save the Analyzed Game:
   • If you want to keep the annotated game for future reference, click File → Save As and save the game in your preferred format (PGN, CBH, etc.).
   • You can later reopen the game with all the analysis preserved for further study.

Tips & Warnings

• Fine-tune Time for Depth: Longer analysis time per move results in more accurate evaluations, but if you're in a rush, setting a shorter time (like 30 seconds per move) can still provide useful insights, especially in simpler positions.
• Check Blunder Threshold: Adjust the blunder threshold based on how strict or lenient you want Fritz to be. A lower threshold will capture small inaccuracies, while a higher threshold will focus on bigger mistakes.
• Avoid Overloading Fritz: Be cautious about overloading Fritz with too many variations, especially if you have a lower-end computer. Reducing the depth of analysis per move may help keep the program running smoothly.

By following these steps, you can have Fritz automatically analyze your chess games and provide detailed feedback on how to improve your play