Pretty sure chessmaster can do it but I haven't used it in a while
Chess opening software?
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Most chess programs let you start from whatever position you want. You could set up the position so that the board looks like it does when it's white's, say, third move in the Caro-Kann, and then start play from there.
I have Chessmaster, but the problem is it doesn't play you in the opening function. You just make the moves, but then it stops. And if I want to try a different variation, I have to go back and select it.
And if I set up the position, then Chessmaster no longer plays out of its book openings. It analyzes every move from that point on without looking at the book.
If I play Chessmaster from the beginning, it uses its book, but I can't guarantee what opening it will play. It's random.
I would really like a tool to always play an opening I select, and then have it randomly select different lines of that opening from its book openings. It seems like that should be easy, but I don't know of any software that does it.
The UCI version of Shredder GUI will let you start a game from any position. In programs like Arena, Winboard or Fritz, you may have to create an opening book (*.abk, *.bin or *.ctg) with a single line, and then load it. I don't know enough about Chessmaster, but I suspect that they would have some way of creating and loading opening books as well.
Yeah. I can't get it to work by setting up the position. I did however find some downloads for Chessmaster, including specific opening books, instead of entire opening books. I downloaded and installed them, then selected a personality and assigned that one particular opening book (like Caro-Kann). That will get me close enough to what I'm looking for. Thanks.
Oops. Spoke too soon. While it appears that should work, even when I select a specific opening book, Chessmaster still plays a random book opening different than the one I selected. I'll probably head over to the Chessmaster forums to see if they have any ideas. If anybody else knows how to do this with Chessmaster, let me know. Thanks.
Try chesspositiontrainer.com it is great
Thanks guys. I'll give those a look too.
FYI, I got the opening books working in Chessmaster. In case somebody else wants to do it, after you unzip the specific opening books into your opening books directory, it creates an unnecessary subdirectory containing the specific opening books. Although you can select these new openings and assign them to a personality within Chessmaster, it doesn't recognize them. You have to manually move all of the opening books up one directory into the Opening Books directory. For some reason they stuck them in this unnecessary subdirectory in the zip file, so when you unzip the file into the Opening Books directory, they are in the wrong place.
nbafan wrote:
Try chesspositiontrainer.com it is great
Indeed, this is probably your best bet if you want to practice memorizing openings in detail and depth. Just input the lines you want to have in your repertoire, then go to training mode and you are good to go.
I didn't read all of the comments, but you can go to training mode on chessmaster and change sides every move to play the move you want, and then start from that position.
Is there any software that let's you practice a certain opening, where the computer will always play an opening that you choose? In particular, let's say I want to practice the Caro-Kann. I would like the computer to make the first 2 or 3 moves or whatever I choose in that line, to be the same each time. Then after that point, I would like the computer to vary the lines. And maybe just play the first 10 or 12 moves, again of my choosing. And if I make a mistake, it could analyze and say why that's wrong (e.g. when you made this move, then your opponent can do this and win a pawn, or whatever).
I am a beginner, and for me, the best way to learn is to make mistakes, but also have a way for somebody to tell me why it is a mistake. I don't want to just read in a book that this is the line, and that's just the way it is. I need to play it out and make the mistake. And doing the same opening over and over again helps cement it in my brain, along with the mistakes I made getting there. Does this make sense? Is there any software that you can set up to do something like this?