Fritz (chess) - History

History

Morsch and his friend Ed Schröder produced a chess program in the early 1980s. In the early 1990s, the German company ChessBase asked Morsch to write the Fritz chess programs (called Knightstalker in the USA). In 1995, Fritz 3 won the World Computer Chess Championship in Hong Kong, surprisingly beating a prototype version of Deep Blue.

In 2002, Deep Fritz drew the Brains in Bahrain match against the classical World Chess Champion Vladimir Kramnik 4–4.

In November 2003, X3D Fritz, a version of Deep Fritz with a 3D interface, drew a four-game match against Garry Kasparov.

On June 23, 2005, in the ABC Times Square studios, the AI Accoona Toolbar, driven by a Fritz 9 prototype, drew against the then FIDE World Champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov.

From 25 November to 5 December 2006 Deep Fritz played a six-game match against Kramnik in Bonn. Fritz was able to win 4–2. In this match, Kramnik blundered away game 2, allowing a mate in one.

On the September 2010 SSDF rating list, Deep Fritz 12 placed sixth with a rating of 3110, 135 points higher than Deep Junior 10.1, and 103 points lower than No. 1 ranked Deep Rybka 3 x64. Deep Fritz 11 is eighth on the same list, with a rating of 3073.

On the December 2010 edition of the CCRL rating list, Deep Fritz 12 placed sixth with an Elo rating of 3088, 29 points higher than Deep Junior 11.1a x64, and 174 points lower than No. 1 ranked Deep Rybka 4 x64. Deep Fritz 11 is also sixth on the same list, with a rating of 3097