Agreed.

I like to use words to explain what I should be trying to do at various points in a line. I insert them at critical moments or at the end of variations.

A 'program' like Fritz...no, that's not the way to approach things. It's a gimmick and little more ( I own it ). Import comments or have your engine look over various points in a position to get an idea of what to do...that's all one needs.

I still like the idea of having the engine to 'skip' a half move so that one can discern threats in certain places.

CPT is to TRAIN. It's in the name.

All I would like to see added is the ability to annotate positions with square coloring and arrows to complement my comments. I use CPT to manage, review, and train my repertoire. Some additional annotation features would make it even more useful for training/reviewing.

It should be obvious - but I am talking about when entering/reviewing your repertoire. Not when you are drilling it obviously. Don't want your annotations showing then

A big thumbs up to arrows and coloring!

Actually, being 'visual', I too would like to have the ability to code them in so that I simply see them when stepping thru the positions. Actually seeing a black pawn on c6 colored RED and arrows from a Rook on c1 and Bishop on g2...along with maybe an arrow from a b2 pawn to b5 in an English Opening then an arrow from b5 to c6, speaks a lot more loudly that words you have to read.

Unfortunately, Steffan doesn't do 'incremental' enhancements so items like this which could easily be implemented take...well, years to see happen.

CPT is the best positional database program available, bar none. I use it to develop and maintain my repertoires, but the training function is for training recall only. Unless I play a couple of games I find that I really don't "know" the opening. Fritz for me is as good as any playing program.

For study and verifying my positional assessment I like to use Aquarium for its Interactive Deep Analysis capability, and Chess Base for its game and structure search capabilities. then, back to CPT for repertoire updates and archiving.

It's a bit complicated, but CPT's capability to move positions to other programs is a great asset in my workflow. I'd just like to be able to flag positions for export to an epd file to streamline the workflow.

I too have Chessbase and Aquarium. I don't use Aquarium...just not very intuitive and I can get what I want from the other programs. I do have Chess Assistant and it is arguably better than CPT as a pure 'positional database'...but it too is so infuriatingly counter intuitive (for the average guy) that I rarely use it. I know people obsessed with correspondence play (old phrase...more 'cyborg play' now ) gravitate toward those Convekta products but most people have Chessbase/Fritz as it is easier to wrap one's head around it.

TRAINING NEEDS TO BE EASY...IF IT'S COMPLICATED, YOU DREAD DOING IT...so, CPT improvements should not make CPT too complicated. That's my personal opinion. Steffan has been good about NOT making CPT too complicated, so I trust him to continue with that.

I frankly find that for OTB play where it is just one-on-one and players are left to their own devices, CPT is invaluable in trying to recall 'YOUR' preparation. THAT is its primary purpose. Once I get a good repertoire, I only do my editing within CPT via UCI engines. I really think Steffan could help out there with logical assistance like: the ability to have an engine 'pass' when you are stepping thru your repertoire editing it, to better see what your opponents move might threaten...or what your move might threaten which you might not even be aware of! You can then color code or make a comment as to a trick or potential pitfall to remember. I use this a lot in Chessbase - 'X' (threat) function...unfortunately, once I have imported a PGN file, I lose the ability to do this....and a simple Variation board to follow the analysis out a bit before entering variations.

So, on my wish list:
1. COLORED SQUARE and ARROWS - visual aids are GREAT for training! You might could even use these as 'optional' during recall sessions or even during simple stepping thru the lines which I more often do.
2. BETER ENGINE CAPABILTIES - 'skip a half move' (X function in Chessbase...essentially a 'THREAT BUTTON')...could help in giving you hints when you can't recall what you should be trying to do or tricks in the position to avoid.
3. VARIATION BOARD for engine use.
4. Giving you easy options when stepping thru variations to simply PLAY OUT THE POSITION (or just a few moves to get a better feel for positions you may not have studied in a long time) against an engine. All good trainers recommend 'playing out' of positionsagainst opponents. Of course you would NOT want to have those moves recorded inside CPT...maybe sent to some temp file you can continuously overwrite. TRAINING = MEMORIZATION + PLAY...but this needs to be easily done...not something you have to close CPT and export the position to an actual chess playing program. Chessbase does have a 'play out against Fritz' feature...exports the position to a weakened online Fritz where you can play the position as long as you like. Something like this... ideally within CPT where you have designated an engine only to look 'x' ply deep (weakening it)would be SO beneficial for actual trainingTHIS MIGHT BE THE SINGLE BIGGEST TRAINING FUNCTION CPT LACKS!?.

That's basically it...nothing too radical, just ideas to make CHESS POSITION TRAINER better live up to it's name.

leavenfish wrote:
Right on... The advantage to exporting to the Fritz program is to work with different engines to get some variability in play (I prefer to play with the engine a full strength since I'm learning and losing is not an issue).

That may be no longer necessary with Komodo 10.4 which has a variability setting in the uci parameters. A play function in CPT with this engine active might just be enough. I've only just installed the new engine, so I'm waiting in seeing how it works...