Chess Program Review Archive

This tutoring software comes on CD, with a copy of Chessbase. For those of you who do not have Chessbase, the instruction is in the format of a training database. This database contains both hypertext documents, with links to games and multimedia sequences, and a collection of around 100 annotated games. The topic of instruction in the database is attacking play. Light prose is used through out to explain key concepts, and a short multimedia video featuring Danny King is used to introduce each attacking theme.

The ten hypertext documents themselves contain short multimedia and text introductions, followed by a test game. After the test game, there is a written review of the game in general terms, recalling key concepts. This is then followed by an annotated game overview that touches on some of the key variations in the game. A theme key is also included in the database; using it will bring up other annotated games in the database with the same theme.

Copy Protection: None

Strengths

1. Requires no HD space for installation, although you can put it on your HD if you so desire.
2. Requires no additional software to run - includes a copy of Chessbase Light.
3. Variations can be played out on the board.
4. You can use your own analysis engines with the program to explore alternative variations, or you can use the Fritz engine included with the web downloadable version of Chessbase Light.
5. There is strong instruction on important aspects of attacking play: thematic sacrifices, development with tempo, pressuring the opponents position, recognizing weaknesses in a position, etc.
6. Many alternate moves are examined for each position. Moves that are not as good as the one played have an explanation as to why they are not as good.
7. Partial credit is given for alternate good moves, and points are deducted  (!) for really bad ones.
8. Exercises are timed - so that it is more like a real game in this respect - it comes close to the flash card training I have seen.
9. A rate your play lookup table is included so that you can get a ballpark guesstimate of your playing strength.
10. English and German are supported.

Weaknesses

1. I didn't see anything about sacrifices on e6 - a common theme in some openings. This is probably a minor point, because it is kind of difficult to catalog all the important attacking themes.
2. There is nothing like the Learning Cycle^TM that Chess Mentor uses, i.e. the program does not automatically review the positions you had trouble with.
3. Multiple users are not supported. By this I mean that separate results are not kept for each user.
4. I would have liked to have seen a few more lessons on this CD.
5. There is a small bug in the software - key hyperlinks do not always reference the proper key (a key is a method for accessing games in the database that have similar themes). There is an easy work around for this problem, so I do not think it is critical.

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