Fritz 21 Handbook

Style variants

Fritz 21 includes 12 visual themes that change the colour scheme of the program interface and the chess board.

How to switch themes

There are two ways to change the theme:

  • Style menu — top right of the menu bar, next to the help (?) icon. Click to open a menu with the 12 themes.
  • Options dialog — Menu File - Options - Design. Pick a theme from the radio buttons in the "Style" group.

Available themes

Colour swatches: UI background · accent · light square · dark square.

Light themes

  • Classic — the traditional brown/sand colour scheme.
  • Black and White — monochrome with strong contrast.
  • ChessBase — light grey-blue with ChessBase signature accents.
  • Ice — soft cream/yellow tones.
  • Steel — warm beige/brown.
  • Sage — muted green-grey.

Dark (Night) themes

  • Night — neutral dark base.
  • ChessBase Night — dark with blue accents.
  • Petrol Night — dark with petrol-yellow accents.
  • Neon Night — dark with magenta/neon accents.
  • Cold Night — dark with orange-brown accents.
  • Sports Night — dark red base with green accents.

Each theme adjusts the ribbon, window backgrounds, accent colours, board background and the colours of light and dark squares.

The chosen theme is remembered between sessions.

Note: If Windows is in high-contrast mode, the program adjusts the rendering of the chess board, the notation window, list views and the engine output accordingly. On first launch the program picks a light or dark theme based on the Windows dark-mode setting; you can change it any time.