Author: Dave Gomboc
Date: 22:07:13 04/11/99
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On April 11, 1999 at 06:34:26, Phil Dixon wrote: >I'd like opinions on the latest version of Bookup and the books you can buy for >it. Good/bad? Are the books worthwhile for someone who wants to improve opening >knowledge? How does it compare with CB7? What about the back/solving part of >Bookup? > >Opinions, please!! > >A big THANK YOU in advance. :) > >Regards, >Phil I'm using Bookup/Windows 1.6. It's pretty good. I don't have a massive games collection, what I do is enter my opening books into Bookup. The sheer act of entering all of the variations gives me the opportunity to see the major themes of the positions that I might reach. It minimaxes the book (they call it "backsolving"), so you know which moves lead to what end result. This is quite useful, and contrary to the assertions of an insistent Komputer Korner, it is done correctly. Bookup can be configured either so that the backsolving is done as you are moving around in the tree (this is what I do), or to backsolve in a batch when you have the information you want in the book. Bookup also has a training mode, where it will play one colour, either "best play" or just any move in the book, then you play against it and see if you can remember what to do properly. It can record complete games for later retrieval, though not in a terribly sophisticated way (e.g. indexed by last name or rating). It is not a full-blown database. Overall, I like it. I will now digress here a bit, because I have something to say to all the people advertising their software with 3-d capabilities: I have yet to see a 3-d view that I really find usable. Software comes with "ooh! fancy 3-d board, ray-traced pieces..." and who cares? It never looks like a real chessboard looks to me! I lean as I analyze: if I looked straight down, I would be looking at (d1,e1) or (d8,e8), or just back from them, depending on how wide the table is. I never get this perspective from software, the eyes are always positioned much further back. Sometimes you can change the azimuth angle of the board, but the pieces don't turn with it, and it looks crappy, so what's the use? The azimuth angle needs to be adjustable, and the pieces should change with the board too, so that users can customize the view to where they find it comfortable! The pieces on the left side should look like they are leaning to the left a bit; the pieces on the right should look like they are leaning to the right a bit. How much depends on your head position and orientation. Allowing the user to adjust the head's location and orientation will allow for turning the board horizontally as well, of course. Granted, this isn't a walk in the park to do, but it's not rocket science either. Anyone who took a couple of graphics courses in computer science should be able to construct some solid geometry Staunton figures and render them appropriately. I hope this complaint will cause it to happen. Dave Gomboc
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