Software detailing WHY a move is better

Hi there!

I've already gone through the forum and know about the usual gang of softwares: Fritz, Chessbase, Hiarcs, CM etc

What I was looking for is, perhaps, niche: I was looking for a software, preferably Mac (Intel), that explains, as a human coach would, the blunders made and the better variations available. I understand that engines tell you that a move is better but they do not tell me WHY it is better.

Has such a software been made? Thanks for your input! :-)

I don't know about software, but Chess Mentor here is pretty good - you get it as part of diamond membership and it is very helpful.

Thank you but Chess mentor is still only a series of lessons

Not only has such a software not been made, it cannot be made with current engines.  Heuristics were long ago abandoned for brute force type searches.  The computers don't know "why" they choose moves either, so it's rather impossible to write software explaining these moves as a human would explain them.

This is why human coaches are better heh (and why programs range from unhelpful to detrimental to new players).  Chess mentor is as close as it gets because a human master wrote explanations for why all legal moves are wrong or right for every step of each lesson.

Anyway if you don't/can't get a coach you can always post your games in the analysis section of this site (for free of course) and get human answers for why certain moves are good or not.  (You can even ask specifically why ____ was better on move #____).

The forum or online videos are the best ''software.''

ok thanks for the input guys!

I gather you've used Chess Mentor for several hours or more and know a lot about it? I've taken 118 lessons in it so far (a tiny fraction of what's available) and have done many of them twice in order to reinforce important points I missed the first time. But then again I'm only rated 2151 (online chess) so what do I know?

For starters cut back on blitz games if you want to improve and try playing a few online games to get experience in analyzing more deeply than is possible OTB  

How else do you think most people learn other than by taking lessons? You're living in some sort of dreamworld if you expect engines no matter how powerful to actually be anywhere near as good much less better than reading a good chess book, going thru the chess mentor and tactics trainer and playing of course as well as getting tips and advice from stronger players if possible - I don't think you need to pay a coach unless you're really rolling in dough.

There's also thousands of good articles here written by masters if you start looking at what's available you shouldn't have any trouble finding plenty of articles on whatever you're interested in - any phase of the game among other topics. There's also thousands of blogs here as well and some of them are worth reading 

I hope I haven't rained on your parade too hard and you'll consider reading a chess book along with a few articles and blogs now and then instead of solely relying on software to learn from. 

GOOD LUCK!

http://www.chess.com/blog/RoboRoy

Its not quite fair to say that computers don't know why one move is better than another, although their evaluation function is simply a number, that number represents a material or positional imbalance in favour of one side or the other. For example a pawn move that creates an expoitable outpost for an opponent might show up as -0.5 in the game analysis and there might be an informator 'better is' symbol next to an alternative move in the notes that avoids creating that hole.

Of course, you still have to interpret those things yourself but thats part of getting better at the game.

I am replying to an old thread I know, but it seems most of the persons who have posted here have very limited to no idea how a chess engine works: i.e. the algorithm(s) behind it and the search/evaluation functions. Knowing those (you need to be a little bit savvy in programming to read the source code of a chess engine) can help a lot. But you are going to get very raw data that you will need to put together yourself, you're not going to get spoon-fed solutions, no.

This.

Unfortunately, NOBODY seems to read the User's Manual.