A new forum has been just launched. The forum has two goals:

• giving quick access to tips for new CPT users, advanced topics and a FAQ
• providing a place for CPT users to help each other and sharing best practice

The forum does not replace the support system, which will remain the best way to get help if you encounter an issue.  The forum can be reached from the top navigation.

Go to the forum now

For a few days only SAVE 15% on CPT. No excuse for not knowing your openings anymore! Train like a pro and use the promo code "chessegg" by 04/21/14.
Buy Chess Position Trainer 5 Pro License

I'm very pleased to announce that the CPT 5 manual is finally available for download. It is a much extended version of the CPT 4 manual. In total it contains 104 pages full of information. Nowadays, quite a few manuals just describe the function and buttons of the program. The CPT 5 manual is a true labour of love and in some regards done in the good old fashioned way. Beside describing all features in detail it goes beyond this. A Common Task and FAQ section covers typical scenarios and questions, which reflect my knowledge and experience of 10 year CPT user support.

Right now I'm evaluating different options for integrating a forum again. This has been a quite popular request in the past. The idea is to provide CPT users a place to help each other and share best practice.

Is there any (chess) forum out there, which you really like (feel free to post a link)? Why?

Any forum technology, which you really like?

What would you like to see in a forum on this site? Categories? Just topics related to CPT or maybe some "other" chess topics as well?

The forum is not supposed to substitute the support system. This will remain for me the most efficient way to keep track of issues and feature requests.

This update brings back the recall mode from CPT 4 and some improvements as well as bug fixes. It is recommended to update to this new version.

CPT 5 uses the concept of topics to provide a very flexible solution for creating, managing and training all type of not linked positions like tactic or end game positions, chess puzzles and key positions of an opening. The concept of topics can be even used to manage model games for an opening or ideas for the middle game.

Some users asked me how to recall scheduled positions as they have to select each opening manually now. In CPT 4 the program would not allow you to select any specific opening. You could also not play complete lines in recall mode and other options were disabled. On the other hand you just selected "recall" and the program would ensure you recall all schedulede positions.

I’m very happy to finally announce that Chess Position Trainer 5 has been released and is ready for download.

List of new features, improvements and bug fixes

I will update the web-site soon. The manual has been not updated yet. In the meantime, please check the comprehensive tooltips in the program as they have been updated / added already.

I also recommend to check the ExampleDatabase in the application folder (if no CPT version was installed in the past it will be automatically loaded otherwise you have to load it manually) as it comes with >500 tactic positions and an example how to organization a repertoire.

Download Chess Position Trainer 5.03 (UPDATED)

Bug reports and suggestions are both very welcome! However, please use the support page for creating a ticket. It makes it much easier for me to follow-up and keeping an overview. Thanks!

UPDATE 3:

CPT 5.03 fixes the GoTo position of type X (leaf node, >1 candidate moves etc.). Some more minor fixes.

UPDATE 2:

CPT 5.02 fixes all issues reported here or through submitted tickets. In particular training of topics/tabiyas should work now.

UPDATE:

Unlike CPT 4, if CPT 5 checks for a newer version it will claim there is one. It is not (I don't want to inform all CPT 4 users yet). Once the last ToDo's are done I will update the version checker.

All CPT 4 Pro License owners will receive an email with additional and a special offer (depending on the original purchase order).

CPT 5 is a free upgrade for all CPT 4 Pro license owners. The program will show your name as normal, but with a note "expired". Don't worry. That just means future updates won't run with your license, but the current version does and all updates I will bring out till the typical erros of a new release are fixed.

Yours,
Stefan

Looking for a gift for a friend or yourself? Due to a customer request I've just added a new option to purchase a CPT Pro license as a gift. You receive the license code (with the name of the gift recipient) and a CPT gift template, which you can easily edit to your needs and print-out. The template is available in English and German, but the text can be completely changed.

Purchase Chess Position Trainer Gift Certificate

I always practiced an open information policy and today I want to inform you in advance about the upcoming changes regarding pricing and the new subscription system.

Do you have an opening with thousand of (complex) positions? Wouldn't it be great to know that your opening contains no blunders / missing critical candidate moves for your side or your opponent? CPT 4.2 will offer a new function to give you exactly this power and more.

There are some big news like the new repertoire element "topic" to train tabiyas, automatically re-ordering your candidate moves, auto-analysis of your complete opening by an UCI engine or support for rich position comments.

Since the release of CPT 4 this has been the most requested feature. Actually, CPT 3 already supported tabiyas to manage and train tactical or end game positions. The main reason I removed it from the initial release of CPT 4 was the way tabiyas were managed in CPT 3. They were just named positions, which were loosely coupled with the rest of a repertoire database.

I had a vision how it should be done properly. I’m right now in the final stage of implementing this last big feature for the CPT 4.2 release and I would like to give you a preview of what I believe will be a really great enhancement of CPT and much better than it was done in CPT 3.

First of all, let’s start with a screenshot:

In CPT 4.2 you can add a new repertoire element, which is called ‘topic’. A topic can contain any type of positions. Usually it won’t be the start position or opening. Instead you probably will create a topic an opening to manage key positions (or positions you frequently forget). You could also create another repertoire just to manage tabiyas like end games (with different themes) or mate in 2 positions etc.

If you load a topic the first tabiya is shown. Then you can easily navigate through all tabiyas of the topic, add new ones or delete some. And of course you can train it!

You can see how topics perfectly fit into the comprehensive and unique repertoire concept of CPT. Folders will further help you to organize topics. The fact that you can have several repertoires for a single database makes it very easy to manage all training material.

This new feature will also allow chess teachers to create more complete and innovative training units for their pupils.

This is the very last new feature I’m right now finalizing. The release of version 4.2 took more time than originally planned, but we are now really close to the finish and about 100 new features, bug fixes and improvements have been implemented. It will be released before x-mas and it is a free upgrade for all Pro license owners!

For one week only SAVE 15% on CPT. No excuse for not knowing your openings anymore! Train like a pro and use the promo code "chessegg" by 04/07/13 (enter on second order page).
Buy Chess Position Trainer 4 Pro License

A recent review of Chess Position Trainer 4 has been published. The reviewer gave it 4 out of 5. Besides the training features and user friendly interface he especially likes the function to run your internet games against your complete opening repertoire to detect novelties.

Read the full revew on Schachrezension.