Author: Mike Hood
Date: 13:06:24 12/18/03
Go up one level in this thread
On December 18, 2003 at 11:48:40, Bob Durrett wrote:
>On December 18, 2003 at 06:39:08, Mike Hood wrote:
>
>>So the latest version of Chessbase's "powerbook" has been released on DVD? It
>>must be one mammoth file if it won't fit on a CD. But it's no big deal creating
>>a huge openings book. I have the Megabase, and if I set the right parameters I
>>would have no trouble generating an opening book that's 2 GB, 5 GB, 10 GB or
>>bigger.
>>
>>My thought is... is an openings book that big really worth it? It just sounds
>>sloppy to me. I don't think it has any instructional value if it hasn't been
>>trimmed better. Give me Sandro Necchi's fine tuned opening books any day.
>
>I just visited the Chessbase Store website and noted that Megabase 2004 and
>Powerbook 2004 have both been released.
>
>Megabase is on DVD but nothing is said as to whether or not PowerBook is on DVD.
> Perhaps there is some confusion between "Megabase" and "PowerBook."
>
>Megabase is now up to more than 2 and a half million games, a big increase over
>the 2003 version. I welcome that because I use the database a lot to find games
>discussed in hardcopy [printed] chess books. Typically, before I study a new
>hardcopy chess book, I create a new database just for that book and then copy
>the games out of Megabase into the new database. That makes going through the
>hardcopy chess book much easier. [There is no need to key in moves manually.]
>
>Recently, I acquired a pocket PC and now copy the database for that book into
>the SD Card for that pocket PC. This is all a matter of convenience. It's a
>bit of a pain to enter moves manually into the pocket PC.
>
>Having a large Megabase database is definitely "worth it" for the above purpose.
> The problem with a smaller database is that some of the games cited in the
>hardcopy chess book are not found in the reference database, making it necessary
>to key in the moves manually.
>
>Incidentally, I should add that it often happens that positions are given in
>hardcopy chess books but without reference to the game in which the position
>occurred. With Megabase, Chessbase's Correspondence database, and the Published
>Chess Problems database, it is a simple matter to find the game or composed
>problem in which the given position occurred. Then it is trivial to copy the
>continuation into the database for the hardcopy chess book.
>
>This saves a lot of time and trouble if it is desired to thoroughly study and
>digest the entire contents of the hardcopy chess book. On the other hand,
>creating a separate database for a hardcopy chess book would be a waste of time
>if the book were to be merely scanned like reading the comics in a newspaper. :
>)
>
>Having a large Fritz PowerBook is also "worth it" to me but for different
>reasons. Generally, whether or not it's "worth it" depends on how the PowerBook
>is to be used. For my uses, it is definitely "worth it." On the other hand, a
>chess computer programmer might want it as a starting point for creation of an
>opening book optimized for a specific chess engine. I am not such a programmer
>and so cannot say whether or not the Fritz PowerBook would be "worth it" for
>that purpose.
>
>I have used the Fritz PowerBook for various different purposes. Perhaps others
>have additional purposes. Whether or not having a "large" power book is "worth
>it" will depend on the intended use of the book.
>
>The Fritz PowerBook is useful as a starting point in identification of new and
>interesting opening lines for one's opening repertoire. A more exhaustive
>effort must also use a large database, such as Chessbase's Megabase, as well as
>hardcopy books on chess openings.
>
>The Fritz PowerBook is also convenient for post-mortem analysis of games.
>Again, it is a starting point.
>
>Generally, this "worth it" issue must be discussed in terms of the intended
>usages.
>
>Bob D.
Bob, the Powerbook 2004 really is on DVD, but the information is only on the
German Chessbase site, www.chessbase.de. It is advertised as "Neu: Powerbook
2004 (auf DVD)"
The two possible uses of the Powerbook that I can think of are
1) to help a chess program to play better (or more varied) openings
2) to help the user learn more openings
As for (1), I strongly doubt that any chess engine will play better by using the
Powerbook. A finely tuned powerbook, designed specifically for the engine, is
much better. And if it's just a matter of playing more varied openings, it's
relatively easy to create an old Fritz opening book (.FBK) and convert it to the
new format to have an opening book without weights, ie a book that will select
the next move randomly.
As for (2), I bought Powerbook 2002, and I have used it to study openings, but
not to a depth that justifies its size of "merely" 562 MB. Maybe some other user
could research deeper than me, but I fail to see what use a powerbook larger
than 700 MB would be for study purposes.
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