Is there a way to have some kind of training to help remember move order as well? For example, when i have to try to play a development move such as castle first instead of Nc3. Sometimes based on the move order it is hard to remember what to play first if there is no threat. So how would the threat feature work if it is just a matter of move order? Does threat mode usually work in tactical positions but move order work in development/planning/prophylaxis/ positions?

Also, I'm wondering if it is easier to remember your opening repertoire by understanding the moves if you play both sides(white and black). Stefan can you enable training to play both sides?

fischer2008 schrieb:
I could be wrong, but I tend to think 'move order' is about 'understanding' the position in front of you and there may be no substitute a little calculation on your part to see if both branches lead to the same place you are trying to get to.

I know the Chessbase 'threat' mode (really if one side 'skipped' their move) is obviously best a pointing out tactical threats...but also good a non-trivial positional threats as it is all based on engine evaluation with you passing and letting your opponent move. It's not perfect, but I can't think of any other (reasonable) way of doing this. But maybe Stephan has some other ideas.

I don't know of a good way (and personally don't see the need or value in it) of training from both sides - from one dataset anyway. I say this because for my 'black side' repertoire, I only have my 'best move' and ideas which I am trying to remember...but I have a bunch of 'branches' for the White side which I need to remember how to play against or remember why they are not optimal and how I should proceed. I would not want to switch sides and train as White against my narrow branched Black repertoire. That just seems weird to me, but maybe that would work for you.

fischer2008 wrote:
Is there a way to have some kind of training to help remember move order as well?

Sorry but what said Leavenfish seems to me the B.A BA explaination of what is essentialy CPT. And I aggree with him. You need to give a minimum effort to play chess if you want a minimum level of understanding positions. The big part of the work is when you prepare you exercices ressources. The purpose is the repetition of training. Or may be I don't clearly understood what you want !!
Best regards

Thanks Stefan!

I would love to see the ability to annotate the board more with color highlighting squares and color arrows so that when I am using CPT to review my repertoire (versus drilling my repertoire) I can better remember the key ideas to complement the notes I have written in the comments.

The comment feature is rich already with the ability to embed links to external web pages and files (so I can link to a youtube video or a file on my PC that goes into more depth on a specific position). You can also embed a picture so in theory I could embed a picture of a highlighted board in the comments...but that for me is just past my level of inertia I would prefer to annotate the board directly. But when drilling, the annotations should not show.

Just something for the wish list

CPT is an awesome program - keep up the great work!

I can see where it could be beneficial - Chessbase has this to emphasize 'weaknesses' or 'strong points' in a position. As the user would be the one placing the colored square, the onus would be on him of course to use it properly. Maybe having it show up AFTER you have tried to make the proscribed move and failed...say to remind you 'e6' is a weakness you need to be maneuvering against...something like that.

To have it show WHEN it is your move is a bit of a cheat...I know I would not at all want to see it until AFTER I have tried to make the 'proscribed' move and failed.

So, judiciously used, it could be a useful feature.

Me, I'm still waiting on the app version...got an Android tablet and would love to always have CPT at my finger tips...not just when I'm at my home computer.

"You need to give a minimum effort to play chess if you want a minimum level of understanding positions. The big part of the work is when you prepare you exercices ressources. The purpose is the repetition of training. Or may be I don't clearly understood what you want"=maxou93

"E.g. it is much easier to remember the right move, if you are aware of the threats in a position and are shown why your played move was wrong. This will stick much better in your brain than just knowing that the move was not the one, which has been pre-defined in your repertoire."-Stefan

I've been thinking a lot lately on how to implement a feature for understanding the moves while studying the positions and it seems that there is no easy answer without making the software more complicated. IT seems like there is no program like this in chess. There is only chess Mentor on chess.com and a program called Chess Hero.

Is there a way to make chess position trainer more like chess mentor that chess.com offers? When you are creating your repertoire you enter in also the wrong moves into your repertoire for the other side and your own side and try to enter in as many wrong moves based on your own ideas for both sides. For each wrong move you have a comment editor/hint.This would be done by having a different comment hint pop-up for every incorrect move that includes an explanation. Then you could also include multiple hints from the comment editor instead of just one if you are struggling to find the right move the first time. Unfortunately, you would have to manually enter in all the wrong moves and in the comment section explain why they are not good in a given position. Also, you would need to have multiple comment editors for each different wrong or right moves and not just one comment editor pop-up.

Also, is it a good idea to make the training feature of CPT like Chess Hero? Chess Hero works quite differently in that the computer evaluates each move and gives a plus/minus evaluation. If you get a minus evaluation in Chess Hero you then can click an analyze button and then you can see the variations analyzed by the engine. I assume this is for people that have a difficult time calculating the variations. You can also play out the variations by clicking the analyze button.

I've been thinking for months now and I don't think there is any other way to understand chess positions. You either have to manually do it like chess mentor that chess.com offers or you let an engine assist you like chess hero.

Hopefully, somebody can come up with a better idea that is simpler than the chess mentor or chess hero concept or just different and still works.