Fritz 10 problem, running out of time and weak Fritz 10

Date: 08 Oct 2007 17:37:44
From: KPR
Subject: Fritz 10 problem, running out of time and weak Fritz 10

First, my new Fritz 10 runs out of time (below is a 2 minute game), and
second it lost to Fritz 5.32 even without that. One of the elements of Fritz
10 running out of time is that when it has e.g. 30 or 10 seconds left it can
once or twice use too much time (e.g. maybe up to 10 seconds with 30 seconds
left and 5 seconds with 10 seconds left), like it would be stuck. I have
used Fritz 6, 7 and 8 in the past and had no problems, like I don't have
with Fritz 5.32 here.

Any ideas, too slow a computer for Fritz 10 (I have a Pentium(R) 4 CPU
2.40GHz that should be good) Maybe
I should get Fritz 9? For proper enjoyment with Fritz 10 2.2 GHZ and 256 MB
of RAM is asked, though it works with 0.3 Ghz (AMD) and 64 MB of RAM. I have
XP, 128 MB graphics card (everything should be complete there and I don't
think it's an issue). I don't know my RAM (couldn't find where it reads) but
I figure it might be 128 MB, that could explane something of the stuck stuff
but when just playing, I don't think so. Hashtable size it uses is 79 MB and
I figure it picks it by itself what it needs, that having been my past
experience.

(1) Fritz 10 - Fritz 5.32 [D05]

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz 2411 MHzW=11.1 ply; 584kN/sB=9.1 ply;
1,232kN/s

1.Nf3 Both last book move 0.16/12 4 1...Nf6 0.00/11 2 2.d4 0.09/12 4 d5
(e6) -0.03/11 6 3.e3 (Bf4) 0.14/11 2 3...e6 0.06/10 3 4.Bd3 (c4) 0.09/11 2
4...c5 (Bd6) -0.06/10 3 5.0-0 (c3) 0.29/10 2 5...Nbd7 (c4) -0.13/10 2 6.b3
0.23/10 3 Bd6 -0.03/9 2 7.Bb2 (Ba3) 0.20/9 2 7...0-0 -0.06/9 2 8.c4 (Na3)
0.14/10 2 8...cxd4 (Re8) 0.06/9 2 9.exd4 0.36/11 3 dxc4 (Nh5) 0.00/10 2
10.bxc4 0.41/12 3 b6 (a6) 0.12/11 7 11.Ne5 (Nc3) 0.57/12 3 11...Bb7 0.03/10
2 12.f4 0.54/12 4 Rc8 (a6) 0.12/9 4 13.Qe1 (Qe2) 0.70/10 2 13...Nb8 (a6)
0.03/8 3 14.Nd2 0.64/10 4 Nc6 (a6) -0.06/9 3 15.Qe3 (Ne4) 0.78/10 3 15...Qc7
(Ne7) 0.03/8 2 16.Rad1 0.68/9 7 Rfd8 (a6) 0.06/9 3 17.Ndf3 (Rfe1) 0.82/9 1
17...Nb4 (b5) 0.06/7 1 18.Bb1 0.98/10 2 Ba6 (Rf8) 0.09/7 1 19.Rc1 (Ng5)
1.19/10 2 19...Re8 (h6) 0.22/8 5 20.Ng5 1.82/9 1 Re7 0.31/8 2 21.a3 1.85/10
1 Nc6 0.47/8 2 22.Bd3 (c5) 2.01/9 0 22...h6 (Nb8) 0.37/6 1 23.Ne4 1.92/9 0
Nxe4 0.28/9 2 24.Qxe4 1.85/10 0 f5 0.56/9 2 25.Qe3 1.78/10 6 Bxe5 0.53/9 3
26.fxe5 1.65/8 0 Qd8 (Na5) 0.37/9 2 27.Bc3 (d5) 1.63/8 1

Fritz 10 is constantly thinking it does great, but Fritz 5.32 knows better
and soon has a winning advantage though Fritz 10 is still doing just fine in
time compared to Fritz 5.32. So, it's not only a problem that it will run
out of time but it plays weaker too.

27...Nxd4 -0.44/9 1 28.Bb4 (Bxd4) -0.14/9 1 28...Rd7 -0.97/10 2
29.Bd6 -0.32/10 1 Nc6 (Rxd6) -1.00/8 0 30.Rfd1 (Rc3) 0.00/9 1 30...Na5
(Qg5) -1.16/8 0 31.Qf4 (c5) -0.82/9 1 31...Qg5 (Nb7) -1.56/9 1
32.Qxg5 -0.87/11 5 hxg5 -1.50/6 0 33.c5 (Rc3) -1.13/12 2 33...Bxd3 -1.75/8 0
34.Rxd3 -1.13/12 0 bxc5 -1.50/9 0 35.Rdc3 -1.39/12 1 c4 -1.44/10 1
36.Bb4 -1.49/12 2 Rd5 -1.47/9 0 37.Bxa5 -1.59/12 0 Rxa5 -1.34/8 0
38.Rxc4 -1.68/13 0 Rxc4 -1.63/10 0 39.Rxc4 -1.68/12 0 Rxe5 -1.56/9 0
40.Rc8+ -1.69/12 0 Kh7 -1.75/10 0 41.Rc6 (Kf2) -1.71/12 1 41...a5
(Ra5) -1.84/10 0 42.Kf2 -1.89/11 0 Kg6 -1.97/9 0 43.Rd6 (h3) -2.04/10 0
43...Kf6 -2.03/9 0 44.h3 (Ra6) -2.25/10 0 44...Rc5 (Re4) -2.09/9 0
45.Ra6 -2.09/11 0 f4 -2.09/8 0 46.a4 (Ke1) -2.11/12 0 46...Kf5 -2.09/9 0
47.Kf3 -2.03/12 0 g6 -1.94/9 0 48.Ra8 -2.26/12 0 e5 -1.84/8 0
49.Rf8+ -2.12/12 1 Ke6 -1.75/4 0 50.Re8+ -2.50/12 1 Kf7 (Kd5) -1.63/10 0
51.Ra8 -1.50/12 0 Kf6 -1.63/8 0 52.Rf8+ (Kg4) -1.49/12 0 52...Ke7 -1.63/10 0
53.Ra8 -1.52/12 5 Kd6 (g4+) -1.75/8 0 54.Rd8+ -1.44/11 0 Kc7 -1.50/10 0
55.Ra8 (Re8) -1.52/11 0 55...Kb7 (g4+) -1.69/8 0 56.Re8 (Rg8) -1.42/10 0
56...Kc6 (Rc3+) -1.69/9 0 57.Ke4 -1.23/10 0 Rc4+ (Kd6) -1.72/8 0
58.Kxe5 -1.08/10 0 Kd7 (Rxa4) -0.81/8 0 59.Ra8 (Rg8) -0.76/9 0
59...Rxa4 -0.84/9 0 60.Kf6 -0.72/10 0 Ra2 -0.91/7 0 61.Kxg5 -0.75/10 0
Kc6 -0.69/7 0 62.Kxf4 (Kxg6) -0.47/10 0 62...Kb7 -0.75/7 0 63.Rg8 -0.36/11 0
Rf2+ (Rxg2) -0.84/8 0 64.Ke4 (Kg4) -0.42/10 0 64...Rxg2 -0.91/8 0
65.Kf3 -0.37/10 0 Rg1 (Rc2) -0.88/8 0 66.h4 -0.48/9 5 Rf1+ Time -0.91/6 0
0-1

Fritz 10 did improve at the end as can be seen, getting from -2 to -1, but
it should not be in those troubles at all.

I have never before seen Fritz run out of time like this, and there seems to
be some stuck in it though it can move like instantly too and it plays
weaker too than it should.

Date: 11 Oct 2007 14:14:12
From: help bot
Subject: Re: Fritz 10 problem, running out of time and weak Fritz 10

On Oct 8, 11:32 am, David Richerby <[email protected] >
wrote:

> KPR <[email protected]> wrote:
> > First, my new Fritz 10 runs out of time (below is a 2 minute game),
> > and second it lost to Fritz 5.32 even without that.
>
> Did you have `pondering' switched on? (I think Fritz might call this
> `permanent brain'.) If so, both copies of Fritz would have been
> fighting for the CPU and maybe Fritz 5.32 was winning the fight.

Thanks! I was wondering what "ponder" referred to
in my GUI, Arena. When I clicked it, nothing seemed
to happen, and now I know why; it's because I don't
play around with the menus while the program is
analyzing. The term "ponder" seemed to refer to
something like "analyze really deep" or even
"correspondence analysis" to me.

Now I still have another problem: when I click the
menu "Help" in Arena, it pops up a box saying "we
are so sorry, but you downloaded the smaller file
which has no 'help' file, stupid bot."

-- help bot

Date: 08 Oct 2007 17:32:05
From: David Richerby
Subject: Re: Fritz 10 problem, running out of time and weak Fritz 10

KPR <[email protected] > wrote:
> First, my new Fritz 10 runs out of time (below is a 2 minute game),
> and second it lost to Fritz 5.32 even without that.

Did you have `pondering' switched on? (I think Fritz might call this
`permanent brain'.) If so, both copies of Fritz would have been
fighting for the CPU and maybe Fritz 5.32 was winning the fight.

Dave.

--
David Richerby Sumerian Lotion (TM): it's like a
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ soothing hand lotion that's really
old!

Date: 08 Oct 2007 19:15:40
From: KPR
Subject: Re: Fritz 10 problem, running out of time and weak Fritz 10

The problem is in the Playchess.com server (at least with Fritz 10) as after
a couple of restarts things work just fine in my home, but getting back to
Playchess.com it again ran out of time and I figure it also played weaker. I
have all the upgrades and the settings all look fine but there must be a
problem somewhere.

It seems they (the engines) all use no increments at Playchess.com these
days, maybe because of that problem. But the no-increament is not the main
problem here.