Running Fritz 12 on a Mac via Crossover

Fritz 12 is a great chess product that unfortunately has no Mac version. I've installed it on a Bootcamp partition, and it works great. But I hate rebooting to Windows everytime I need it. Besides, all my files are in the OS X partition.

I also tried running Fritz 12 in a Parallels Desktop. It works fine as well, but then I have to boot Windows on top of OS X, which in the process they're sharing the same computer's resources, which proves to be an inefficient environment to run a resource hungry application like Fritz 12. I was only able to assign 3GB of RAM out of the total installed 8GB, and the application can only utilize 1 CPU out of the total 4.

So what about Codeweaver's Crossover? Well, this is how it looks like:

[caption id="attachment_855" align="alignnone" width="500"] Screenshot: Fritz 12 on a Mac via Crossover[/caption]

Notice how the black pieces have turned into. They must be the "zombies" in the chess world. There was nothing I can do to fix it. Really, when you start playing or analyzing games, you'll get confused about the black and the white pieces.

That alone is already a total turn off. But it does not stop there: you can't activate the application to get the latest software updates. I didn't try installing additional engines, because I find it unnecessary to move forward with the setup.

So until now, there's no ideal way to run a ChessBase application on a Mac. You can try one option but you have deal with the setbacks. A huge gap to fill in -- a great opportunity for competitors to expand their market on.

Calling Hiarcs, Shredder, anyone?

By the way, it appears Stockfish UI does not work anymore in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.

My setup: MacBook Pro 13-inch, Early 2011, running OS X Mountain Lion.

Running Fritz 12 on a Mac: VMWare vs. Boot Camp

Apple discussions:

If you are running software that are CPU intensive like some of our people are then boot camp is the way to go because you will have the native speed of the machine.

So, I guess I made the better decision with going with the Boot Camp way. Fritz 12 is definitely CPU-intensive, especially when utilizing all cores of your machine.

Chess on a Mac

Admittedly, Chessbase' Fritz 12 is the best program for the PC. The Fritz 12 (or even the Deep Fritz 12) engine may not be the strongest computer chess engine out there, but the Chessbase interface is able to deliver on its purpose. I use it widely when analyzing games and studying openings. I load my favorite engines like Rybka, Houdini, Stockfish, etc., to test some of the more stronger engines.

[caption id="attachment_16" align="alignnone" width="480" caption="Shredder Chess for Mac"][/caption]

 

But the problem is it's only available in PC. When oh when can they be able to make a program for the Mac? I'm a Mac convert now, and there really are a lot of Mac users who are anticipating this from Chessbase. Although I already paid for the licensed copy of Fritz 12 for Windows, I'll be willing to shell out another for the Mac -- for as long as it will natively run on the Intel Mac.