PCT 2007 Update (Updated)

Some additional information:

• Version 3.01 is available for download from the site; however, the "Search for Updates" menu choice doesn't update the software, as of this writing. Downloading 3.01 from www.personalchesstrainer.com and installing worked fine -- I installed over the 3.00 installation, and my history and preferences were saved (though a backup never hurts!) I didn't need to re-activate.
  
  There's no changelog, but the one change I've noticed (and appreciated): the playing board, which was slightly too small on my 1280x1024 monitor, is now much larger at that resolution.


• The activations are limited to 2 computers (the license agreement also specifies 2 computers.) I tried to activate the software on a 3rd computer (desktop, laptop, work!) and activation failed.


• I've been unable to get a response using the Support form on the website. I sent the same question twice, two weeks apart, but did not receive an answer. Though I checked my spam folder, it's possible I missed the reply; I'll try again. Has anyone used the support form and received an answer? Maybe I'll try using the contact form, instead.

By the way, the support question I asked was "I've already activated the software on 2 computers; I wish to deactivate the software on one of the computers, and activate it on a new computer: how do I do this?" I'll let you know if I get a response -- I'll have to go through this all over again when I upgrade my computer. Thank you, Microsoft, for putting the idea of activation in these developers' heads.

Update: Instead of using the support form on the website, I emailed support@personalchesstrainer.com directly. I received a reply almost immediately: to deactivate a computer, go to Help/Check Code; email the code to support; they'll email back, authorizing you to install the software on a new computer.

Personal Chess Trainer website

Don't Panic

Two lessons that I thought I knew, but didn't:
1. When an opponent makes an unexpected move, don't panic
2. Analyze until quiescence

In the positions below, I'm Black. In the first diagram, it's White to move. I'm in a little time trouble, but I think the game is basically even. I expect White to move b5, but he surprises me with Nxd5.

White to Move

r3r1k1/pp4pp/2p2pb1/3p4/1PnP2P1/2N1P3/P4PBP/R4RK1 w - - 0 22

After Nxd5

r3r1k1/pp4pp/2p2pb1/3N4/1PnP2P1/4P3/P4PBP/R4RK1 b - - 0 22

I've been working on my thought process, but the surprise made it go to pieces. My post-surprise thought process went like this:
Step 1. Panic
Step 2. "I always miss moves like that -- I always edit out captures of protected pawns"
Step 3. "If I take with the pawn, he takes with the bishop, forking my king and knight -- leaving him a couple of pawns up. Plus he's threatening to fork my rooks."

I didn't see any counter-attack, so I moved a rook, played on a pawn down, and eventually lost the endgame. Of course, if I'd calmly looked until the position was quiet, I'd have seen that I should take the knight with the pawn; if he recaptures with the bishop, blocking the check with my bishop also protects the knight, leaving me ahead a piece for two pawns.

You know, I didn't feel that bad after this loss, because it was such a good lesson for me. That's why it was important for me to start playing; you don't really learn until you learn it in a game. Actually, you don't really learn until you learn it in a loss.

Stupid Software Tricks: The Convekta Users.dat File

Convekta programs -- CT-Art, Chess Tactics for Beginners, Chess Tactics for Intermediate Players, etc. -- do not provide an interface to back up and restore your progress, statistics, and missed problems as you work through a problem set. With a little effort, however, you can back up the user data yourself.

This will be old news to many -- I see that phorku mentioned it in a comment to one of Blue Devil Knight's posts -- but if you don't poke around in your software, you may not be aware of this trick.

Why would you want to back up your progress? I can think of several reasons:
- You can review missed problems without changing statistics or losing a record of the problems you missed
- You can work on your tactics on multiple computers -- your desktop and laptop, or your home and work computers
- You can move to a new computer without losing your progress
- Hard drives crash!

It's pretty simple in practice. All progress for all users of a particular program is stored in the "Users.dat" file, which is found in the program directory of each Convekta program. To save your progress, just make a copy of the Users.dat file; to restore saved progress, replace the current Users.dat with a copy of your saved Users.dat. It goes without saying: be careful when you replace this file! I usually keep the last few backups, just to be safe; and rather than overwriting the current Users.dat file, I rename it, so that I still have it if I make a mistake.

For example, here's the process I use when I review my missed problems after finishing a circle:
- I make a backup copy of the Users.dat file. I try to name the backup something useful, e.g. "Circle 20.02 Users.dat."
- I review the missed problems.
- Before I start the next circle, or before I do another review of the missed problems, I restore the backup copy: I replace Users.dat with a copy of the backup Users.dat.

Back On Track

After I finished Chess Tactics for Beginners, I spent a couple of weeks trying to decide which tactics problem set to tackle next. I tried Personal Chess Trainer, Chess Tactics for Intermediate Players, Chess Combinations Encyclopedia, and CT-Art.

They were all good; I don't think any of them would have been the wrong choice. In the end, I chose CT-Art. I'm used to the interface, and the problems seem to start at the right level of difficulty -- the level 10 problems are easier than the hardest problems in Chess Tactics for Beginners.

CT-Art Circles
Circle	Score
10.01	95
10.02	97
10.03	97
10.04	100

PCT 2007 Released

The new version of Personal Chess Trainer is out. I already have PCT 2.0; because I have more money than sense, I went ahead and purchased the upgrade.

The big changes

- New Openings section
- New Commented Endgames section
- Integrated chess engine (Crafty) to play through problems, or to play a game against
- Updated interface
- Small database of games (not commented)

The price is $49.90 US; $19.90 upgrade from PCT 2.0 ($9.90 if you purchased PCT 2.0 in 2007). It's possible that if you wait, the price will be discounted; PCT 2.0 used a permanent sale as a marketing gimmick.

First impressions

The tactics, strategy, and endgame modules still form the core of the program, and they seem very similar to what was in PCT 2.0. The number of problems in all three modules is identical in PCT 2.0 and PCT 2007; the first few tactics problems themselves seem identical in the two versions, but I've noticed changes to the strategy problems.

The integrated engine is nice to have when you don't understand a solution.

In the openings module, you pick the opening, the variation, and the color; then the opening is treated as if it were a tactics problem -- you make the moves for one side. Comments about the position are displayed after some of the moves. The feature works well, but I don't know how much I'll use it -- when I get serious about opening study, I'll probably use Bookup or Chess Position Trainer.

The commented endgames module contains endgame problems with explanatory text added for key moves. The coverage is broad: there are 178 problems, covering basic mates, pawn endings, minor pieces, rooks, and piece vs. piece endings. I haven't used it enough to comment on the quality of the instruction; it may serve as a substitute for a first book on endgames.

Some issues

- Portuguese pokes through at several points
- Some button text is misaligned
- This version requires Microsoft-style "activation" after you've registered; if you haven't activated your registered copy within 7 days, it will revert to the trial version. I was able to activate the software on both my laptop and my desktop; still, if this company goes out of business, I probably won't be able to move the software to a new computer.
- The new interface assumes that it will be run maximized; I found no way to resize the board, and the board size doesn't change with the window size. I can't make the board as large as it was in PCT 2.0 on my 1280x1024 monitor.

The first two issues should be simple to fix. The last two issues are probably considered features.

In conclusion

It's too soon for a verdict. My feeling so far is that it's a nice upgrade; it looks good, and I like having an integrated engine. I'm not sure how much actual chess benefit you'll get over PCT 2.0, unless you'll make use of the commented endgames module.

If you're interested, I recommend that you ignore my blather, download the trial version and give it a try.

http://www.personalchesstrainer.com/ (the web site's been updated, too)

Assistant Board:


Openings:


Commented Endgames:

Convekta's Chess Combinations Encyclopedia

You may not have noticed Convekta's Chess Combinations Encyclopedia; it seems to have flown in under the radar.

Did you know that Chess Combinations Encyclopedia (CCE, from now on) is exactly the same problem set as Renko's Intensive Course Tactics (ICT)? I didn't, until I bought CCE and started doing the problems. Strangely familiar problems. Eventually I realized where I'd seen them before.

When I checked, sure enough -- the problems and organization are identical. CCE does split the problems into "study" and "practice" -- "study" problems are ICT positions without a training question. One minor difference: the problems are timed in ICT, not timed in CCE.

I think this is a good thing. This is a nice large set of over 4,000 intermediate tactics problems, and Convekta's interface is better for doing tactics problem sets. ICT splits the problems into 35 separate ChessBase databases; because the ChessBase interface used for doing ICT doesn't do a good job of tracking progress, it's up to you to keep track of where you were, what you were doing, and what you had already done.

By contrast, CCE uses the familiar Convekta interface, and so does a good job of tracking progress, missed problems, and statistics.

If you were thinking of using ICT, you should consider buying CCE instead. If you're already using CT-Art or Chess Tactics for Intermediate Players, the material probably covers much the same ground.

Personally, I'm trying to choose my next tactics problem set. It's a good excuse to indulge my chess software habit...but that's a post for another time.

Review of ICT by Bob Pawlak

Review of CCE by Bob Pawlak

Study:



Practice:

Stupid Software Tricks: Updated piece sets for Convekta

I've more-or-less settled on Convekta software for training, despite the fact that I dislike their chess piece graphics. The "standard" pieces are downright ugly; the "modern" pieces are better, although I find the 3D-style a little unclear.

One of the things that I prefer about Personal Chess Trainer (PCT) is the piece graphics: the Merida font is very clear, and pleasing to the eye.

Therefore, I decided to update the chess piece graphics in Chess Tactics for Beginners, CT-ART, and Chess Tactics for Intermediate Players with the Merida chess pieces. A little digging showed that the pieces are stored as bitmap resources in the executables, one bitmap per board size; using a resource editor, it is possible to update these bitmaps. I wrote a small C# program to draw the updated pieces on the bitmaps, and used the resource editor to update the executable. I just updated the standard pieces, and left the modern pieces unchanged. The results are below.

If you want to try this yourself, download the open source XN resource editor, and the updated piece bitmaps ConvektaPieces.zip.

Back up the Convekta executable before you do anything! I opened the updated bitmaps in an image editing program, and used copy-and-paste to replace the bitmaps in the resource editor. Email me if you need help with this -- my email is on the sidebar.

The standard pieces -- feh:

The modern pieces -- better...:


The updated standard pieces: