When in ChessBase or Fritz you start a chess engine in order to analyse, the active engine also shows the number of nodes calculated. A mouse click on kN/s enables you switch between the customary total enumeration of all the nodes which have been calculated so far and the number of nodes being calculated per second.

 

When comparing various engines you will note that the performance of individual engines varies greatly with respect to the number of nodes evaluated. First and foremost, this display should be looked upon as useful supplementary information. In no way does this information – nor the depth of calculation displayed – tell you anything about the practical playing strength of an engine!

 

A very useful tool in the engine window is the “rolling mode” with which the display of information relative to the calculation can be altered. The settings can be chosen in the analysis window with a right click.

 

Copy to notation” leaves you with the choice as to whether only the presently best variation should be shown or all main variations one below the other.

“Extra search info” displays extra information concerning evaluation, search depth, thinking time used and number of nodes.

 

The effect of “Scroll New Moves Only” is that a new move will be displayed in the list only if the evaluation of the best move up till then needs to change. In this mode it will be crystal clear for you to understand which moves the engine has been “considering” during its search.

In analysis mode a right click in the engine window allows the option “Lock Engine”. Whilst the engine is continuing to calculate further on the position at that point, you can continue to play through more moves on the board or add comments. A right click takes you immediately back to the position on which it was locked. In analysis mode the option is there to directly start the selection dialog for chess engines with a click on the engine name. Locking can also be initiated with a mouse click on the small lock symbol above the node counter.

 

After you have chosen an alternative engine the latter immediately starts analysing the present position. This method allows you to switch instantly between the various engines. A very useful option in analysis mode can also be started via a right click in the engine window. By means of "Next Best" you start calculation by the engine present afresh and you ignore in the analysis the move which had been investigated up till then.