Pocket Fritz
Encyclopedia
Pocket Fritz, which is currently at version 4, is a chess
playing program for Pocket PC
personal digital assistant
s (PDAs). Pocket Fritz 4 uses HIARCS
as the chess engine. Pocket Fritz 2 used a port of the Shredder
chess engine.
Since the popularity of the PDA came about in the 1990s, some chess programs have been written for the portable market. This has also been in response to the increased popularity of chess in recent years.
In common with a lot of software for PDAs, there are a number of chess programs of very mediocre quality. In a very thorough and comprehensive review of 63 chess programs for PDAs by Dr. Axel Schumacher, he found some did not even know the rules of chess, with at least one moving the king, then castling. Pocket Fritz 2 was rated third in that review, behind Pocket Grandmaster (commercial) and CE Board (free, but not open source
). HIARCS
v9.5 for Palm was rated number 5 in that review, although that was the first program on a PDA to beat a grandmaster, when on January 22, 2005 it beat GM Jan Gustafsson
twice, and drew twice in a four-game match. However, pure playing strength is not the only indicator of the quality of a chess program. The quality of the graphical interface is important, with many programs being very poor indeed. Pocket Fritz 2 claims to have an estimated blitz performance rating of 2450 Elo points.
The strength of chess programs on PDA will unlikely be as strong as on larger computers, due to the slower processors and more limited memory. The only way in which the strength of chess programs would be as strong as that on larger computers is if the game of chess were to be solved to all valid permutations. Under these conditions, ceteris paribus, all programs would perform perfectly on all machines.
The web page for Pocket Fritz 2 states that the program can connect to the Chessbase server and allow you to search for the current board position in more than 2 million games on the server. This is no longer true, as that functionality was broken in early 2006 by changes on the Chessbase server. According to Chessbase a high priority to fix, as was detailed in an email to Dr. David Kirkby part of which is shown on one of the chess newsgroups.
on August 4-14, 2009. The 2009 Copa Mercosur tournament was a category 6 tournament. The Pocket Fritz 4 achieved a performance rating 2898. It uses chess engine HIARCS
13. The Pocket Fritz 4 was running on the mobile phone HTC Touch HD
. Pocket Fritz 4 searches less than 20,000 positions per second.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
playing program for Pocket PC
Pocket PC
A Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...
personal digital assistant
Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
s (PDAs). Pocket Fritz 4 uses HIARCS
HIARCS
HIARCS is a commercial computer chess program developed by Mark Uniacke. Its name is an acronym stands for higher intelligence auto response chess system.-Overview:...
as the chess engine. Pocket Fritz 2 used a port of the Shredder
Shredder (chess)
Shredder is a commercial chess program developed in Germany by Stefan Meyer-Kahlen in 1993. Shredder won the World Microcomputer Chess Championship in 1996 and 2000, the World Computer Chess Championship in 1999 and 2003, the World Computer Speed Chess Championship in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and...
chess engine.
Since the popularity of the PDA came about in the 1990s, some chess programs have been written for the portable market. This has also been in response to the increased popularity of chess in recent years.
In common with a lot of software for PDAs, there are a number of chess programs of very mediocre quality. In a very thorough and comprehensive review of 63 chess programs for PDAs by Dr. Axel Schumacher, he found some did not even know the rules of chess, with at least one moving the king, then castling. Pocket Fritz 2 was rated third in that review, behind Pocket Grandmaster (commercial) and CE Board (free, but not open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
). HIARCS
HIARCS
HIARCS is a commercial computer chess program developed by Mark Uniacke. Its name is an acronym stands for higher intelligence auto response chess system.-Overview:...
v9.5 for Palm was rated number 5 in that review, although that was the first program on a PDA to beat a grandmaster, when on January 22, 2005 it beat GM Jan Gustafsson
Jan Gustafsson
Jan Gustafsson is a German grandmaster of chess.He started playing in the chess club Hamburg SK, where he still continues to be a member. As a young chess player he soon became successful, and won the German team championship in the age group U13 in 1992...
twice, and drew twice in a four-game match. However, pure playing strength is not the only indicator of the quality of a chess program. The quality of the graphical interface is important, with many programs being very poor indeed. Pocket Fritz 2 claims to have an estimated blitz performance rating of 2450 Elo points.
The strength of chess programs on PDA will unlikely be as strong as on larger computers, due to the slower processors and more limited memory. The only way in which the strength of chess programs would be as strong as that on larger computers is if the game of chess were to be solved to all valid permutations. Under these conditions, ceteris paribus, all programs would perform perfectly on all machines.
The web page for Pocket Fritz 2 states that the program can connect to the Chessbase server and allow you to search for the current board position in more than 2 million games on the server. This is no longer true, as that functionality was broken in early 2006 by changes on the Chessbase server. According to Chessbase a high priority to fix, as was detailed in an email to Dr. David Kirkby part of which is shown on one of the chess newsgroups.
Pocket Fritz 4 (2009)
The Pocket Fritz 4 won the Copa Mercosur tournament in Buenos Aires, Argentina with nine wins and one drawDraw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
on August 4-14, 2009. The 2009 Copa Mercosur tournament was a category 6 tournament. The Pocket Fritz 4 achieved a performance rating 2898. It uses chess engine HIARCS
HIARCS
HIARCS is a commercial computer chess program developed by Mark Uniacke. Its name is an acronym stands for higher intelligence auto response chess system.-Overview:...
13. The Pocket Fritz 4 was running on the mobile phone HTC Touch HD
HTC Touch HD
The HTC Touch HD, also known as the HTC T828X or its codename the HTC Blackstone, is a Windows Mobile 6.1 -powered luxury Pocket PC designed and manufactured by HTC...
. Pocket Fritz 4 searches less than 20,000 positions per second.