Chess Program Review Archive

CA Openings is a new program from the makers of Chess Assistant. You can think of this new software as a kind of electronic opening reference. There are a couple of components to this software. The first component is the program itself, which is a version of Chess Assistant with a reduced feature set. The second component is a set of database files. One database contains suggested variations and lines to follow for a wide variety of openings, while another database contains 255 illustrative games that are typical for a wide variety of openings. A third chess tree file is also included - it gives information on how often each opening occurs, along with success statistics for each variation. While following a variation in the encyclopedia section of the DB, you can right click, and bring up a set of illustrative games for that and similar openings. You can also get success statistics for any position you desire. Furthermore, you can search for a particular position within either database, analyze variations using the built-in DRAGON chess engine, comment games, and print ECO tables and games.

I think that this program is primarily useful for those that do not yet have an electronic opening reference, especially for those already using Chess Assistant.

Copy Protection: CD based. You must have the original CD to install the program. The program must be reinstalled if your computer's configuration changes appreciably. Otherwise, the CD is not needed. This is the same copy protection for all CD software from the CA people - it is probably the best scheme that I have seen.

Advantages

1. Opening lookup is very fast.

2. The program is organized by descriptive name, and not by ECO code, thus making it easier to use than the FideChess Encyclopedia.

3. It's a good opening reference if you don't already have one.

4. It is superior to a book in many respects, due to the ease with which you can search for and print positions and variations.

5. You can use the supplied databases with Chess Assistant, which really increases the utility of this software.

6. It is useful for picking up/learning a new opening because of the presence of both the ECO-like reference and the illustrative games.

7. Many of the features of Chess Assistant are supported (see the review of CA for windows).

Disadvantages

1. One of the main features that is missing is the ability to create a new game. However, you can modify existing games, and save those changes.

2. Number of lines/analysis is limited for many openings. When compared to the FideChess Encyclopedia, there are not nearly as many lines. I cannot compare the quality of the analysis, because I feel that would be beyond my abilities.

3. Finding corresponding games is very coarse, many games are presented, and only a few may be related to the position you are interested in. There is a work-around for this, you can search on position instead.

4. The included commented game collection is somewhat limited. I suspect this because the number of games in any database that you can open with this program is probably limited to 255 (like CA lite).

5. There is no ability to open other databases. I suspect there is a work-around for this (i.e. editing the .ini file of the program, but I have not tried it).

6. There is no ability to create a new game.

7. Not all illustrative games mentioned in the encyclopedia section are present in the illustrative games database.

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