COW versus CPT

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Kingpatzer

Which do you use Chess Opening Wizard (formerlly Bookup) or CPT? 

I've been trying to use CPT but I can't figure out how to get EPD evaluation scores into the stupid thing in an automated way. That functionality is built in inside COW (at least the 'pro' version). 

CPT looks better, but seems like much of the functionality is very 'beta.' COW seems like it's built on older UI components, but seems more solid. 

For users of CPT, how do you get your positional evaluations into the system? Are there other problems a new user should be aware of? 

For users of COW, do you ever regret spending the money on the tool? What functions don't work as well as advertised?

And please - no comments on how someone of my rating level is wasting time studying the opening. I believe in holistic study of the game, as does my coach, and opening study is part of that. Thanks.

Martin_Stahl

I can't answer any of your questions but I wonder what version of CPT you are using?

Kingpatzer

The latest 4.x pre-release. While it allows for exporting EPD files, batch processing them outside of CPT, and then importing the EPD file with centi-pawn evaluations, no one can tell me how to actually batch process the EPD files so that they can be imported. I've tried figuring out how to do it in Arena using stockfish nad houdini, and I can't find a way to do it. 

Martin_Stahl

I only used the 3.x version but plan on getting the newer version soon. Didn't get really deep with the software, though I did some opening stuff and then started building some tactics training with it instead.

Hopefully someone more familiar with the application will reply soon.

Kingpatzer

Thanks Martin. Yeah, I'm really hoping I can get some users of Bookup/COW to comment as well. I bought a license for the "pro" version many years ago, and can get a fairly inexpensive upgrade to the latest version.

It seems that the engine integration for positional evaluations is cleaner in COW than in CPT, but without having the program in front of me I can't really compare them.