PART 1 • Introduction
new player) or help an intermediate player improve. Even when a player
makes a good software choice, oftentimes they have no idea how to actually use these digital tools to help them improve.
That's why I decided to write this book.
I've been supporting and writing about chess software for many years
(more than I care to count!) and, in my opinion, Chess King is the ideal
training software for the beginning and intermediate chess player, while
at the same time offering useful tools for advanced players as well. In
short, Chess King is the closest thing you'll find to a “universal” chess
software program.
In Chess King's Training mode, you'll find chess puzzles to solve and
chess “quests” to undertake, all of which will sharpen your chess skills.
You can use Chess King as your sparring partner, and you'll be able to
adjust how difficult your digital opponent will be.
Chess King offers a variety of analysis tools as well: you'll be able to add
variations and notes (both verbal and visual) to games, plus have the
Houdini chess engine analyze games for you, showing not just mistakes
which were made but offering suggestions on how the play could have
been improved. There are even tools included which make publishing
games easy – you can add replayable games to your blog, for instance,
or offer games as separate downloadable files.
Chess King also comes with a massive database of games from throughout chess history, as well as the tools you'll need to search that database
and use the information it contains. You can replay games right on your
computer screen (no setting up anew after each game!); you can even
merge a particular player's games into a “chess tree” which contains
a statistical analysis of each position, showing you at a glance which
moves worked and which did poorly.
This book is divided into two parts. Part One presents a general history
of computer chess, explains how a chess computer “thinks”, and offers
some general guidelines on how you can use chess computer software
to improve your own chess play. In Part Two we'll look as some specifics:
how the remarkable Chess King program can be your teacher, friend, and
guide to chess success!
Steve Lopez
In the Skull Cave
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chessking.com