Both buttons are located in the ribbon tab Training, right next to the existing Assisted Calculation. They are available during an Easy Game (the Playing a game tile on the starting screen).
The calculation mode
Both trainings build on the existing Assisted Calculation mechanism: You enter moves on the board and they are shown in the notation as usual but not executed on the board. In the notation pane you can click on existing moves to add alternative continuations as side lines. You can promote, delete or cut lines. Right-click on the board briefly reveals the current position.
While you calculate, an engine briefly analyses every move you enter. Your moves are evaluated continuously and the result is shown in a separate status window: Moves entered, Best moves, Correct evaluations, Correct, Imprecise, Blunder, Big blunder, Trivial blunders, Punished blunders.
Point system
The reference is the evaluation drop compared to the engine’s optimal move (measured in pawn units):
| Category | Criterion | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Best move | Engine’s clearly best move, no recapture, no „free material“ grab | +3 |
| Correct | Evaluation drop < 0.40 | +2 |
| Imprecise | Drop 0.40 – 0.80 | +1 |
| Blunder | Drop 0.80 – 1.50 | −2 on the next move (unless the opponent fails to punish) |
| Big blunder | Drop ≥ 1.50 | −3 on the next move (unless the opponent fails to punish) |
| Punished blunder | After your own blunder you play the opponent’s best refutation | +2 |
| Correct evaluation | Symbol annotation („!“, „±“, „=“ etc.) matches the engine’s evaluation of the resulting position | +2 per annotation (only in lines without a trivial material blunder) |
Rated Calculation
With Rated Calculation you calculate from the current position of the running Easy Game. When closing you have two options:
- Close: the calculation is discarded and the game resumes.
- Close and Keep: the calculated moves are preserved as a side line in the game. Good moves, inaccuracies, blunders and big blunders are automatically marked with
!,?!,?and??respectively.
The points you score contribute to your trophies.
Tactical calculation
Tactical calculation supplies you with fresh tactical puzzles every day. The first time you start it on a given day, a PGN is downloaded from the ChessBase training server and stored under <ChessBase data folder>\Training\PGN\recent_<YYYY-MM-DD>.pgn. A puzzle that has not yet been solved is then picked at random.
- The opponent’s setup move is executed automatically – you start straight away with your own calculation.
- The original solution is not shown. You have to work out the correct line yourself.
- Already solved puzzles are recorded locally and not repeated. When all puzzles of the day are solved, the cycle starts over.
- Without an Internet connection Fritz falls back to the most recently downloaded PGN file.
- Unlike Rated Calculation, your solution is automatically kept when you close, so that you can review it later.
Notes
- While the calculation training is active, coach helpers (assisted analysis, Heumas, move preview, single-click entry) are temporarily disabled and are restored automatically when you finish.
- Both functions are not available in the Simplified version of the program.