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Archive-Name: games/chess/part3
Chess FAQ
rec.games.chess.misc FAQ part 3/4
Please obtain all URLs from the current hypertext version of the faq
available From: http://www.drpribut.com/sports/chess.html
Publicly available material
[18] Material Available via Anonymous FTP
[19] Chess-Playing Computers
[20] Chess-Playing Software
[21] Database Software
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[18] Material Available via Anonymous FTP
FTP is a way of copying files between networked computers. Information
on it is available via anonymous FTP from
"ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/news.answers/finding-sources"; rtfm.mit.edu in
the file /pub/usenet/news.answers/finding-sources.
If you do not know how to use anonymous FTP or do not have access to it,
you can retrieve the file by sending an e-mail message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with "send usenet/news.answers/finding-sources"
as the body of the message. (Send a message containing "help" for
general information on the server.) Or, see the posting titled "How to
find sources (READ THIS BEFORE POSTING)" in the news groups
comp.sources.wanted or news.answers. Information on what the various
compression extensions mean (like ".Z") and what utilities are available
to deal with them can be found in the comp.compression FAQ list (see the
posting in comp.compression or news.answers titled "comp.compression
Frequently Asked Questions," or from
"ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/compression-faq";
rtfm.mit.edu in the file /pub/usenet/news.answers/compression-faq.
Miscellaneous. A general repository for chess-related material is
somewhat associated with the Internet Chess Server (ICS). Currently, the
'ICS FTP host' is "ftp://ics.onenet.net/pub/chess"; ics.onenet.net or via
the web: "http://caissa.onenet.net/chess/"; Caissa.onenet.net Material is
in the pub/chess directory. New material may be placed in
pub/chess/uploads. Many freeware chess programs for different platforms,
including graphical ICS (see [17]) clients, are available (e.g., for
MS-DOS, MacOS, AmigaOS, NeXT, and UNIX vt100 or X Windows interfaces).
Scores of various matches and other groups of games as well.
While directories may change the following should give you an idea of
the probable directory structure and files available. An outline of some
of the recently available directories on ICS follows:
pub/chess: general chess directory
pub/chess/PGN: Portable Game Notation directory
pub/chess/PGN/Standard: ASCII version of the PGN Standard
pub/chess/PGN/Standard.TOC: Table of Contents for above
pub/chess/PGN/Events: directory of directories of events by year
pub/chess/PGN/Players: directory with many PGN games by player
pub/chess/Tests: directory with many chess program test positions
pub/chess/Tests/Manifest: description of EPD test files
pub/chess/TB: endgame tablebases
pub/chess/TB/README-TB: tablebase decyphering documentation
pub/chess/TB/tbt.c: ANSI C tablebase test harness
pub/chess/PGN/Tools: PGN tools and utilities directory
pub/chess/Unix/SAN.tar.gz: Standard Algebraic Notation source kit
Chaos. A chess tournament pairing program (Swiss pairing as well as
Round Robin), GNU General Public License, runs on the Commodore-Amiga,
available from AmiNet mirrors (e.g., wuarchive.wustl.edu), under
/pub/aminet/game/think. GNU chess. Gnuchess is a freely available
chess-playing software program. Gnuchess can be FTP'ed from:
* "ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu"; prep.ai.mit.edu
* "ftp://export.lcs.mit.edu"; export.lcs.mit.edu
* and probably other sites
It can be compiled for X Windows (with XBoard, below), SunView, curses,
IBM PC character set, or ASCII interfaces. Included in the package are
the utilities gnuan (analysis program), game (PostScript printout),
postprint (prints hashfile), checkgame (checks a game listing for
illegal moves), and checkbook (checks the opening book for illegal
moves). It has been posted to gnu.chess.
XBoard:
XBoard is an X11/R4-based user interface for GNU Chess or ICS. As an
interface to GNU Chess, XBoard lets you play a game against the machine,
set up arbitrary positions, force variations, or watch a game between
two machines. As an interface to the ICS, XBoard lets you play against
other ICS users or observe games they are playing. You can also use
XBoard as a chessboard to review or analyze games. It will read a game
file or allow you to play through a variation manually. This is useful
for keeping track of email postal games, browsing games off the net, or
reviewing GNU Chess and ICS games you have saved. Beginning with version
2.0, Tim Mann <[EMAIL PROTECTED] has taken over development of XBoard.
The program can be FTP'ed from the 'ICS FTP host.'
LaTex chess macros. Piet Tutelaers' ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) chess LaTex
package (version 1.2) may be FTP'ed from sol.cs.ruu.nl (131.211.80.5);
please restrict access to weekends or evenings. A server can answer
e-mail requests (put "send HELP" as the message to
("mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]"[EMAIL PROTECTED] ). Get
TEX/chess12.*. See [23].
Notation. Notation is a chess game score preprocessor written by Henry
Thomas("mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]"[EMAIL PROTECTED] ). It reads chess
games, either in full algebraic or shortened notation (i.e., Nf1-g3 or
f1g3 or Ng3) and is able to output the games and/or the board at any
move, in ASCII, PostScript, TeX, or nroff. It also can generate output
for the gnuan and XBoard programs. It is multi-lingual for piece
identification; understanding French, English, German, Spanish, Dutch,
Italian, Polish, etc. The program also handles variations and symbolized
comments. It works fine on UNIX (Sun SPARCstation and Sun-3). It uses
standard C, and function declarations are done in both K&R-C and ANSI-C.
It won't be difficult to compile for MS-DOS with MSC. Sources have been
posted to comp.sources.misc. You can also get them from Mr. Thomas by
e-mail.
They may be FTP'ed from
("ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume28/notation/*
.Z " wuarchive.wustl.edu )
(European users use garbo.uwasa.fi).
Chess notation tool kit. The Standard Algebraic Notation (SAN) Kit chess
programming C source tool kit is designed to help chess software efforts
by providing common routines for move notation I/O, move generation,
move execution, and various useful position manipulation services. There
are substantial additions to the previous version which include a
standard position notation scheme along with some benchmarking tests. A
main program is included which gives sample calls for the various
routines. Simple I/O functions are also provided. A clever programmer
needs only to add a search and an evaluation function to produce a
working chessplaying program. A programmer who already has the source to
a chessplaying program may improve it further by including tool kit
routines as needed for standardization. The author of this package is
Steven J. Edwards ("mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]"[EMAIL PROTECTED] ).
The SAN Kit may be retrieved from the
"ftp://ics.onenet.net/pub/chess/Unix/SAN.tar.gz"; ICS FTP host .
------------
Subject: [19] Chess-Playing Computers
There are numerous dedicated chess-playing computers available
commercially, as well as chess-playing software for various personal
computers. Prices vary from perhaps $10,000 for the most expensive
dedicated computer to perhaps $30 for the cheapest software (see [20]).
The differences are basically how strong the machine (or software)
plays, and the other features it has to offer (e.g., for dedicated
machines: size of board, wood/plastic, autosensory or "push the pieces,"
etc.).
When purchasing a chess computer or software, it is best to buy
something which plays at least 300 points above your rating. Here are
the estimated USCF ratings for some of the more popular dedicated chess
computers.
A computer may assist in your learning in many ways. One of the best
uses is to auto-analyze your own games. Find out where you have erred
and what better lines were available. You may also set up positions that
are of interest or play out lines against the computer. If you are
working on a specific opening, you may play a vairiety of continuations
against the computer. Both middle game and endgame practice are also
useful. Set up positions that are in the instructional books you are
reading. Playing against the computer is excellent practise. Most people
recommend setting up a board, rather than just keeping the position on
screen. Unless of course you are cramming for the ICS.
The level of play now attainable on your personal computer has reached
that of being able to win against master level and above players. Even
world champion super-GM Garry Kasparov has lost to more than one chess
software program which would be available to anyone. (Fritz and Genius
in speed play) Recently on ICC a GM lost 4 to 5 five minute blitz games
in a row to Chess Genius playing on a Pentium. He tried to win using
tactics rather than postional strategy. These were casual games, to be
sure, but, none the less, computer chess has come a long way since David
Levy, in 1968, made a bet that a computer could not, within 10 years win
a match against him. In 1975, David Levy was able to undertake, and come
out well ahead, in a simultaneous exhibition against 12 chess computers.
I don't think any GM would enjoy doing that now.
In several books David Levy and Raymond Keene detail their strategy to
win against computer opponents. They suggest avoiding tactics,
concentrating instead on postiional advantages and using long term
strategy to slowly build an advantage. Some of their suggestions
include: allowing your computer opponent to castle first, then castle on
the opposite wing and launch a pawn storm. Software programs typically
use a wide band width brute force search, combined with an in depth
search for tactically active lines.
Sources of information on computer chess may be found in: _The Computer
Chess Gazette_, Box 2841, Laguna Hills, CA 92654. 714-770-8532. Focuses
on computer chess. _Chess Skill in Man and Machine; Editor Peter Frey.
Springer-Verlag. 1983. _How to Beat your Chess Computer_. Ray Keene and
David Levy. Batsford Chess Library. 1991. Estimated Ratings Of Dedicated
Chess Computers
There are a number of non-commercial chess-playing machines, the
strongest and most famous of which is "Deep Blue." It's predecessor Deep
Thought was built and programmed by graduate students Feng-Hsiung Hsu,
Thomas Anantharaman, Murray Campbell, Peter Jansen, Mike Browne, and
Andreas Nowatzyk at Carnegie Mellon University, and who are now working
(some of them, anyway) for IBM. Deep Blue beat Kasparov in the second of
their 2 matches. It calculates approximately 200 million moves per
second.
Chess computers usually evaluate four types of chess values when
choosing their next move: material, position, Kingsafety and tempo.
The usual rules for material apply: a pawn is considered to be worth a
value of 1, knights and bishops are each valued at 3, a rook value is 5,
and the most valuable piece the Queen counts for 9. The King is far
beyond value, and cannot be lost during the game. His impending capture
via checkmate signifies a loss and is the end of the game.
Position is more complex. In pre-Nimzovitch time, it was thought that
control of the center was all that mattered. Most grandmaster games
before the 20th century began by moveing the Kings or Queens pawn to the
fourth rank. In this century "hypermodern" openings have been used which
delay the development of the center. The hope is that the opponent will
overextend himself.
Position in one sense signifies the number of squares controlled,
particularly on the opponents half of the board.
The defensive aspect of position is the safety of the King. You don't
want your king to fall victim to a simple attack.
Tempo is related to who gets to place is pieces well first.
Subject: [20] Chess-Playing Software
Since the question most often posed is "how strong is the software", we
will start with a quick look at the rankings.
SSDF Rating List
http://w1.859.telia.com/%7Eu85924109/ssdf/list.htm
October 2002
1 Deep Fritz 7.0 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2755 31 -29 614 71% 2603
2 Fritz 7.0 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2741 30 -29 574 64% 2636
3 Shredder 6.0 Paderb 256MB Athlon 1200 2734 25 -24 852 65% 2624
4 Chess Tiger 15.0 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2731 33 -31 517 67% 2609
5 Shredder 6.0 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2717 32 -31 505 64% 2618
6 Chess Tiger 14.0 CB 256MB Athlon 1200 2715 30 -30 557 61% 2636
7 Deep Fritz 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2711 31 -30 531 62% 2628
7 Gambit Tiger 2.0 256MB Athlon 1200 2711 29 -29 583 58% 2652
9 Junior 7.0 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2687 28 -28 623 57% 2637
10 Hiarcs 8.0 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2680 26 -26 738 55% 2642
11 Chess Tiger 15.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2679 50 -48 210 60% 2607
12 Rebel Century 4.0 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2675 29 -29 590 60% 2604
13 Shredder 5.32 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2662 27 -27 659 53% 2642
14 Gandalf 4.32h 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2651 34 -33 430 54% 2623
15 Deep Fritz 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2648 22 -22 1031 59% 2582
16 Deep Fritz 7.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2645 52 -51 184 54% 2616
17 Gambit Tiger 2.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2641 29 -28 634 66% 2526
18 Gandalf 5.0 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2640 49 -50 202 46% 2671
19 Gandalf 5.1 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2637 25 -25 758 55% 2603
20 Junior 7.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2633 24 -23 925 62% 2546
21 Fritz 7.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2631 38 -37 348 53% 2608
22 Chess Tiger 14.0 CB 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2629 26 -25 753 59% 2565
23 Gromit 3.11.9 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2622 57 -59 148 45% 2661
24 Fritz 6.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2620 21 -21 1154 60% 2550
25 Shredder 6.0 UCI 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2617 43 -43 264 52% 2607
26 Crafty 18.12/CB 256MB Athlon 1200 MHz 2612 27 -27 647 52% 2601
27 Shredder 5.32 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2606 28 -27 639 58% 2549
28 Junior 6.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2590 18 -17 1605 56% 2549
29 Hiarcs 8.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2587 37 -38 344 44% 2626
29 Shredder 5.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2587 20 -20 1217 55% 2551
31 Rebel Century 4.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2566 52 -53 178 46% 2592
32 Nimzo 8.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2554 22 -22 1011 49% 2559
33 Nimzo 7.32 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2552 21 -21 1130 53% 2531
34 Gandalf 5.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2535 73 -68 102 60% 2461
35 Gandalf 4.32f 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2532 28 -28 627 51% 2525
36 Hiarcs 7.32 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2529 20 -20 1260 45% 2564
37 Gandalf 4.32h 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2521 34 -34 418 52% 2506
38 SOS 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2518 18 -18 1514 44% 2562
38 Rebel Century 3.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2518 30 -30 546 49% 2523
40 Chessmaster 8000 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2515 44 -45 251 45% 2548
41 Goliath Light 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2510 22 -23 992 39% 2588
42 Crafty 17.07/CB 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2490 23 -23 912 47% 2514
43 MChess Pro 8.0 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2478 25 -26 753 40% 2549
44 Crafty 18.12/CB 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2476 32 -34 471 36% 2578
45 Genius 6.5 128MB K6-2 450 MHz 2474 29 -29 565 48% 2488
46 R30 v. 2.5 2274 41 -38 343 69% 2135
47 Meph Genius 68 030 33 MHz 2195 43 -42 267 55% 2157
48 Chess Tiger 14.9 Palm m515 16MB 42MHz 2101 69 -74 100 39% 2180
49 Atlanta SH7000 20 MHz 2089 29 -28 647 69% 1948
50 Sapphire II 2009 34 -32 464 63% 1919
Some Old, Some New, Nothing At All That Is Blue
* Rebel 10 http://www.rebel.nl/
* Rebel Decade 3 ~2200 Free on the net at: http://www.rebel.nl/
* Fritz, Junior, Nimzo, Shredder, et. al. http://www.chessbase.com/
Freeware and Shareware Available Online:
Ant http://www.cent.co.yu/chess/free.htm
Arasan http://www.pitt.edu/~schach/Archives/index2.html
Bionic http://www.impakt.be/bion ic/download/
Bowili http://www.gambitsoft.com/sharee.htm
Bug Chess http://www.gambitsoft.com/sharee.htm
Chenard http://www.intersrv.com/~dcross/chenard.html
Cilian http://www.cent.co.yu/chess/free.htm
Clueless http://www.pitt.edu/~schach/Archives/index2.html
Comet http://www.gambitsoft.com/sharee
Crafty ftp://ftp.cis.uab.edu/pub/hyatt/
The Crazy Bishop http://www- leibniz.imag.fr/~coulom/remi.htm
Dabbaba http://www.gambitsoft.com/sharee.htm
La Dame Blanche http://members.xoom. com/mphuget/ladame.htm
Diogenes ftp://gambitsoft.com/pub/shareware/diogenes
Eugen http://www.gambitsoft.com/sharee.htm
EXCHESS http://www.gambitsoft.com/sharee.htm
Faile http://www.cent.co.yu/chess/free.htm
Fortress http://www.cent.co.yu/chess/free.htm
KnightCap http://www.gambitsoft.com/sharee.htm
Gnu Chess ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/gnuchessPC-4.14.zip
Gromit http://home.t-online.de/home/hobblefrank
Huuhkaja http://www.gambitsoft.com/ sharee.htm
InmiChess http://members.magnet.at/werner.inmann/
Lambchop http://www.cent.co.yu/chess/
Owl Chess http://info.pitt.edu/~schach/Archives/index2.html
Phalanx Unix, Windows binary, Winboard, xboard, RoboFICS compatible.
Y Chess http://stud1.tu wien.ac.at/~e8925162/ychess.html
Siberian Chess http://www.gambitsoft.com/sharee.htm
SSE Chess II http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/slutzksn/chess.html
Green Light Chess http://www2.prestel.co.uk/diamond/personal.html
SSEChess http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/slutzksn/chess.html
Nero http://www.math.j yu.fi/~huikari/download.html
MS Chess http://www.microsof t.com/games/download.htm
Olipow http://www.phy.uni-bayreuth.de/~btp434/
Olithink http://www.phy.uni-bayreuth.de/~btp434/
Rabbit http://www.cent.co.yu/chess
Rebel Decade 3.0 The Best http://www.rebel.nl/
Rival http://www.gambitsoft.com/sharee.htm
Rookie http://www.cent.co.yu/chess/free.htm
Mirage http://www.gambitsoft.com/sharee.htm
Light Tiger http://www.gambitsoft.com/ sharee.htm
Yace http://home1.stofanet.dk/moq/
Z Chess http://www.worldnet.net/~fzibi/zchess.htm
Mac:
R Chess - MAC http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive.html
Chess ++ - MAC http://hypera rchive.lcs.mit.edu/HyperArchive.html
GNU Mac version ftp://caissa.onenet.net/pub/chess/Macintosh/
LINUX/UNIX:
Crafty with Xboard ftp://ftp.cis.uab.edu:/pub/hyatt
Phalanx with Xboard ftp://ftp.math.muni.cz/pub/math/people/Dobes/
KnightCap ftp://samba.anu.edu.au/pub/KnightCap/
GnuChess ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/
ZZZZZZ - Unix ftp://caissa.onenet.net/pub/chess/Unix/
Olithink - http://www.phy.uni-bayreuth.de/~btp434/
Gromit - http://home.t-online.de/home/hobblefrank
SSEchess: http://www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/slutzksn/chess.html
EXchess: http://www.astro.brandeis.edu/BRAG/people/dch/chess.html
ZZZZZZ - Unix ftp://caissa.onenet.net/pub/chess/Unix/zzzzzz- 3.4.tar.gz
Pocket Chess
Pocket Chess for Windows CE http://www.eskimo.com/~scottlu/
PocketGrandmaster For Pocket PC
http://www.pocketgrandmaster.com/english/
Chess Genius http://www.chessgenius.com/
Pocket Fritz http://www.chessmaster.com/
Palm OS
Chess Tiger (Palm) http://www.chesstiger.com/
Chess Genius http://www.chessgenius.com/
Chessmaster For Palm
http://www.gameloft.com/en/product_page.php?item=121
WinBoard (Viewer/Adjunct to Chess Engines)
Many of the freeware/shareware programs operate within the
Winboard/Xboard environment. This is a truely fun and useful tool to use
for those with at least mild geeky tendencies. A wealth of information,
documentation, and even source code for some of the programs is
available.
Winboard performs three major functions: 1) PGN reader, 2) Interface to
chess engines, 3) Interface to online Chess Sites such as FICS and ICC.
Winboard may be downloaded at Tim Mann's chess pages:
http://www.tim-mann.org/chess.html . You will also find a listing of 100
chess engines that work with xboard/winboard at:
http://www.tim-mann.org/engines.html
Details on Winboard/XBoard are on the Winboard/XBoard FAQ at:
http://www.tim-mann.org/xboard/FAQ.html#[A0] and additional information
at: http://www.chesskit.com/aarontay/Winboard/Winboard.html .
The "Winboard Engine Newsticker" has the latest news on engines that run
with winboard online at:
http://www.winboardengines.de/html/winboard-newsticker.htm
and.
Winboard compatible engines may run within Chessbase and Fritz 5.32 and
up using an adaptor found at:
http://www.chessbase.com/Products/engines/winboard/adapter.htm
WB Tourney Manager will allow you to set up a round robin tournament
on your win32 computer with winboard. The author is Jori Ostrovskij.
http://koti.mbnet.fi/~jorio/tourney/
A discussion forum on winboard is online at:
http://f11.parsimony.net/forum16635/
Subject: [21] Database Software
Chess databases store games and information about games, and can
manipulate and recall that information in a variety of ways. The "big
four" of chess databases are Chess Assistant, ChessBase, NICBase, and
Bookup.
You can purchase data disks for each of these databases. NICBase and
ChessBase are game-oriented, Chess Assistant is position or tree
oriented as is Bookup. While Bookup is primarily known for studying
openings it really is also useful for endings.
Chessbase 8.0 http://www.chessbase.com/ The ultimate in databases.
ChessBase 8 for Windows; http://www.chessbase.com/
Multiple games may be viewed simultaneously, each one may be
miniaturized so
that 6 or more games may be visible, each with independent controls.
The same
game may be viewed at different stages. It is easy to edit or add
alternate
lines and comments, annotations or "?", "!", etc to any game in your
database.
Just begin using your mouse to enter the moves or click on the
appropriate icon to add comments. You do not have to switch to any other
submenu area. This is an incredible convenience and an amazing time
saver. The game may then be saved either in the original database or an
alternate or "training" database. Several games may be combined. If you
are studying a particular opening and want to combine 4 or 5 games that
exemplify this opening, you may combine them together as alternate lines
of each other. Highlight the games, press the enter key and the games
will be combined together. ECO type viewing of the lines is available
one mouse click away. Searching and sorting on a variety of fields is
available. Classification by ECO is one Control-C away. Besides the
oridinary position search a feature called "find novelty" features a
modified position search which will find games that are similar to the
game that you are viewing or have just entered. It will search the
currently open database. The printing and publishing features are
exceptional, and like other truetype windows printing programs,
extremely easy to use.
An helpful feature is Alternate-F1, which turns on tool-tips and floats
a
bubble over the icons telling what each does as your mouse passes over
it. ChessBase magazine includes approximately 1,000 games every second
month, 25% - 50% annotated, along with a section on tactics, endgames,
dramatic master errors and an opening study. These may be added to your
database choices within CBW. $115.
The TASC System-TascBase Tasc has a fine looking and interesting program
available. The complete information may be seen at their web site along
with information on a variety of their products. The Tasc ChessSystem
Demos of Chessica, Tascbase, Tasc Chess Tutor - Clubmate Clubmate is
database software for Windows. ClubMate provides a huge range of
powerful features at a low price.Whether you want to record your own
triumphs and disasters, study openings, or collect thousands of games by
masters, ClubMate gives you ease of use, clear presentation. speed of
data retrieval, and excellent technical support. And if that's not
enough, ClubMate has a free upgrade policy. Clubmate was formerly
freeware, then shareware and now costs approximately $64. A functional
demo is available at their home page. Clubmate - Database Software
NICBase 3.0 (MS-DOS or Atari ST: $195 with 5,000 games; $595 with 50,000
games) & NICTools ($125) from Chess Combination, Inc. P.O. Box 2423
Noble Station, Bridgeport CT 06608-0423. Phone 203-367-1555 or
800-354-4083; fax 203-380-1703;
SmartChess, available from R&D (Chess)Publishing. 800-425-3555 2679
State
Highway 70, Manasquan, NJ 08736
Macintosh Software Contact: Paul Hodges
("mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]"[EMAIL PROTECTED] )
SmartChess Web: http://www.smartchess.com
Chess Assistant 6.1 http://www.chessassistant.com/
Bookup http://www.bookup.com/ Transpositional database and more for
training. Free limited version is available at the website.
While Bookup initially gained its reputation for opening study, it is
also useful for many more aspects of chess. FM Chuck Schulien has
written a Bookup book called "100 Essential Endings" which contains
7,000 positions. This follows his "King & Pawn" set of endgame studies.
The "Rubinstein Collection" is FM Chuck Schulien's more advanced
analysis of Akiba Rubinstein's instructive endings. Bookup may also be
used for middle game study. Entering positions from your favorite
middlegame or tactics book will be helpful. You can than set Bookup to
training and test your ability to handle these positions. Bookup can
also be integrated with several chess computer programs. These programs
all utilize the EPD format. More information on the expanding list of
chess computers can be obtained directly from Bookup. This is useful to
generate an analysis of the postions in your specific book.
[21.2] Freeware/Lowcost Database Software:
SCID freeware database http://scid.sourceforge.net/
If you have the patience to set everything up, this is a full sourcecode
available database with many features.
ChessBase Light http://www.chessbase.com/download/cblight/index.asp
Chessbase Light was designed to be a special limited version of
ChessBase 6.0
and is available for free download. It is limited to 8000 games per
database and supports the CBH format of ChessBase 6 and Fritz and the
PGN
format.
Within the 8000 games limit you may save, copy, convert, annotate,
print,
search, analyse, merge and classify games.
Help and tips are available at the chessbase website. While old, it
still
works just fine.
---- The FAQ is compiled and posted by Stephen Pribut
[EMAIL PROTECTED] .
Copyright (c), 1995-2003 Stephen M. Pribut.
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