How to Choose Tablebases in a Fritz Chess Program

Depending on what package your Fritz program came with, there may be several endgame tablebases available. For instance, some use the Namilov-style bases, while Shredder and other engines come with their own bases, written specifically to work best with that package.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. From the top menu on the screen, go to "Tools > Options ," then click the "Tablebases" tab inside the box that opens up.

2. Browse your computer files for the tablebases you wish to use and double-click them with the right button on the mouse. This will preload the base or bases you choose into the Fritz chess-playing program.

3. Choose a number in the "Cache" section of the tablebases box. This number is the amount of megabytes the engine is allowed to set aside specifically for the bases. The bigger the number, the more positions will be stored, but the slower the computer will run.

4. Click "OK" when all the bases you wish the program to use are highlighted in the boxes. The program will load them into memory, to be used the next time the engine plays a game.

Tips & Warnings

• The endgame cache should be proportional to the hashtables of the engine, and use about 1/8 to 1/4 of that total number for optimum efficiency. For instance, 8 megabytes of tablebase cache works well with a 64-megabyte hashtable, and so on.