I use Scid Vs. Mac, so there may be some differences. The tree masks are useful for when you are analysing and examining games. You can make a comment and/or NAG code to a specific position and SCID will keep track of it across games. Scid will be able to deliver that comment in any game with that position. You can automatically have a single game or batch of games annotated with your comments at each position. It is especially powerful because the comments are linked to the specific positions, so transpositions and alternate move orders will be handled without fuss.
Tree masks are good for study, but not much use for practice. For that feature in Scid Vs. Mac you can open the tree window for any database and turn on training mode. In training mode, you make your moves and the computer will choose only from moves that are represented in the database. If you make a move that represents a novelty among your collection, the computer will stop moving. So you can create database of games that represent your repetiore and then train against them.
In Scid Vs. Mac there is also the option when playing games against an engine, to specify the opening that you want the engine to play. It's probably the simplest option but gives you the least control. You can use the book tuning feature to adjust the frequency of the lines played by your engine.
Hi everyone,
Quick question, does anyone know how to get the best out of SCID using tree masks for training? I'm trying to get a couple of new opening repetiores underway, but I can't get CPT to work on Linux so I thought I'd try and use SCID, but the learning curve is tough.
If there are any articles or videos that people can recommend, I'll be more than grateful to have them.
Cheers!