Author: George Sobala
Date: 01:07:40 10/17/04
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On October 17, 2004 at 03:43:08, Steve Lim wrote: >On October 16, 2004 at 13:17:25, George Sobala wrote: > >>On October 16, 2004 at 12:58:22, Eugene Smith wrote: >> >>>I have CM9K,and i want to add a good data base to my chess tools.CA7.1 seems to >>>offer a lot for the price,and CB9 seems nice also.What one would you guys >>>recommend,and which one is more user friendly? >> >>CA8 is out in a couple of weeks. >> >>CA8 is more powerful, CB9 more user friendly! > >Hi George, > >Can you explain why you think CA8 is more powerful? I know it might be >subjective.. but I would like to know. I have never used it. > >Thanks. Well basically it is written by these mad Russian programmers, and any time one of their IMs/GMs says "wouldn't it be an idea if ..." they say yes, code it, and chuck it in. There is huge functionality in CA, quite a lot of it not particularly well documented. There are things such as endgame classifiers, flexible automatic engine analysis modes (lots of different ways to use engines to analyse), the ability to run multiple engines on an analysis over a network (master-slave type of thing). It has a built-in interface to the ICC which is fantastic for observing relayed GM games (e.g. following the opening through the tree, instantly looking up previous relevant games, and then using live engine analysis through the rest of the game). When picking one's way through the openings, you have available to you not only the CAP data (computer-aided analysis of a particular move) but also the human estimation (=, +- etc etc) from the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings. You don't pay extra for the full database with CA, and it will update automatically for free with new games over the Internet. If you feel you are the sort of person who only gets to use software after studying the manual carefully, avoid it. If you _enjoy_ unpicking the complexities yourself and only use the manual as a last resort, you'll have great fun with CA - but wait two weeks for CA8. (See my post yesterday for details. It is possible that they may have documented things better this time, with Flash tutorials etc!)
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