Discover openings – interactive, intuitive, and inspiring with the unbeatable training duo!
With Fritz 20, the Opening Encyclopedia becomes your personal training ground. You can load any repertoire suggestion directly as an opening book and test it immediately—playing against Fritz, at your own pace, and using different playing styles. Whether you’re exploring classic lines or modern trends, you’ll experience opening theory in a practical and engaging way.
Use the “Play Against Database Book” feature. Your own analyses, articles, and databases all become playable foundations for your next tournament games.
Just a few clicks and you’re ready to go. Start Fritz 20 and find out which openings suit you and how to use them effectively against different types of opponents.
Opening training step by step
After launching Fritz 20, click on “Database”.
Then select “Opening Encyclopaedia 2025.cbh” in the quick database selection and click “OK.” (If the path doesn’t open automatically, locate it manually in File Explorer, as shown in the screenshot above: //ChessBase > Bases > Encyclopaedia_2025)
This window will open. If it displays different information, click on “Text” in the top left corner, then select “Ideas for Your Repertoire.”
For our example, we have selected the Moscow Variation. There are currently many new products at ChessBase that deal with this topic – these can, of course, also be combined with Fritz 20 using the method described here.
This DVD will show you dangerous new sidelines that are ideal for combatting the Sicilian after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+, with your author giving you the positional ideas behind less well-trodden Sicilian paths that avoid the main and winding main lines.
These DVDs will show you dangerous new sidelines that are ideal for combatting the Sicilian after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6/d6 3.Bb5(+), with your author giving you the positional ideas behind less well-trodden Sicilian paths that avoid the main and winding main
For the further explanation, we have chosen the topic “A Moscow Maroczy” by Alexey Kuzmin from 2022, taken from the Opening Encyclopedia.
So first, click on “Semi-Open Games,” then “Sicilian,” and then on “Moscow Variation,” and finally on the specified variation:
If you now click on “All games of this article” in the screenshot above, the screen shown below will open. There, you can select the listed games and then – as shown – click on “Play against with Black”:
You will be taken to the following view. There, you can simply click on “New Game – White” or “New Game – Black” at the top to train against Fritz 20 from your chosen perspective. If you don’t always want to start from the first move, you can – as shown below – right-click on the move that leads to your desired position and then replay from there:
Click on the two buttons shown below to train against one of the sparring partners from the Fritz 20 repertoire. If you want to practice attacking, play against the Mouse; if you want to be prepared for tricks, then play against the Fox, and so on:
If you click on Paul Morphy’s image in the bottom right corner, you’ll see the legendary chess characters shown below become available. As Black, it might be a good idea to take on the Sicilian expert Fischer. If you want to train the Caro-Kann with White, you should challenge Karpov…
By the way, you can use many other sections of the Opening Encyclopedia in the same way — for example, you can load the variations from the chapters “Current Opening Trends,” “Opening Videos,” and “Opening Tutorials” into Fritz 20 for your training purposes.
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally.
FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
Conclusion
It’s hard to imagine a more enjoyable way to learn openings: with just a few clicks, you have access to top-quality, well-organized, and annotated grandmaster knowledge on your chosen opening variation. And with just a few more clicks, you can test it against Fritz 20. The fact that you can also train against different player types – who, thanks to AI, even provide fitting (or sometimes deliberately ill-fitting) commentary – makes the learning experience even more engaging. The monotonous grind of memorizing variations quickly becomes a thing of the past when you train with a duo like the Opening Encyclopedia and Fritz 20!
