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In Fritz, I am interested to know the differences between the Full Analysis and Blunder Check.

The differences at the first look seem superficial. For example, I wouldn't mind if there is no natural language used in the analysis which comes with full analysis. Blunder check seems to give good number of variations. So it seems better.

Is natural language the only aspect missing in Blunder Check analysis compared to full analysis? I am trying to figure out what 'full' means here.

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1  
I'm not sure about Fritz specifically, but a blunder is typically a situation where you're almost immediately losing material, tempo, or even the game. As such, the engine wouldn't need to go very deep to verify the position; it could simply check everything to a depth of 3 or 4 moves, and leave it at that. A full analysis needs to go a lot deeper (and thus take a lot longer), for it to be confident of the results. – Daniel B Nov 19 '12 at 13:16
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an important difference is that the blunder alert will not be triggered when you miss positive moves (e.g mate in one), it will only warn you from moves that severely affect you negatively. – ajax333221 Nov 20 '12 at 1:21
@ajax333221 your comment is probably a pretty good answer if you embellish it a bit... I honestly don't remember the difference, it's been a long time since I've used either function... – Andrew♦ Nov 21 '12 at 14:48
@DanielB ajax333221 Thanks for the insights. I find full analysis frustratingly slow compared to blunder check. Since I am an amateur, I thought blunder check would be good enough. I am not really sure if blunder check doesn't help you find good moves as ajax333221 says. – ragu.pattabi Nov 23 '12 at 17:59
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@ragu.pattabi I definitely think full analysis is what you need. I'm not familiar with Fritz, but it seems that you can configure how long it should take for the analysis (e.g. consider the advice on this ehow article). The game's manual will probably have more info, too. The longer you give it, the more accurate it becomes. If you just want a quick analysis, and don't worry too much about accuracy, a handful of seconds per move should be enough. – Daniel B Nov 24 '12 at 7:37
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2 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

The following can be found on USCFSales Steve's ChessBase Tips:

“Full analysis” mode is likely the better choice for less experienced chess players, due to the relative brevity of the alternative variations it provides, the short verbal commentary, and the fact that variations are evaluated symbolically rather than with numerical values.

Blundercheck gives much more "hard" information than does "full analysis".

The core purpose in both forms of analysis remains the same: to show where each of the players went wrong and what they should have played instead. “Full analysis” mode provides the information in a much simpler form.

“Blundercheck” mode will only show improvements, not “what if…?” moves which are actually worse.

You can find much more information on the website provided above. The author, Steve Lopez, has been the authority on ChessBase/Fritz software for nearly two decades.

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So, there is no difference in the evaluation and the aspects evaluated. If at all there is a difference, it is only in the presentation. Is my interpretation correct? – ragu.pattabi Nov 30 '12 at 15:43
up vote 3 down vote

The "blunder check" option is for glaring errors. The level of these glaring errors can be controlled by the "threshold" value that you can define.

The value is defined in terms of Pawn weights. A high value (say 200) will result in annotation of moves that are bad enough for +-2 change in evaluation.

Full analysis on the other hand is far more detailed and can create references to the DB games and also add visual queues to the commentary it generates.

So while blunder check is a quick way to see where the game was lost or won, the full analysis helps in a more detailed study of how the game developed.

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