CPT Community

New Images of Chess Pieces

StefanRenzewitz — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:38:00 GMT

The implementation of the new images of the chess pieces has been finished. An image for the chessboard is also planned, but this will take a little bit longer.

Can you spot the difference between the old and new ones?

The first one:

The second one:

Arrows and boxses could use some anti-aliasing too, but that's also for later. Now that the new images work I can finally do the documentation with the right screenshots.

These new images will be available in the next minor release which will also cover a few bug fixes. The next release will be in 1-2 weeks.

Merry Christmas and a Final Release of CPT

StefanRenzewitz — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:31:00 GMT

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope you have some relaxing days.

A final release is ready for downloading now. This version does not expire although some features will be deactivated after 30 days unless you register it. More about this in a later post.

You can download CPT 4 for free. If you decide to purchase a license for the full-feature version before the new web-site has been launched (which will happen around new year) you can use this coupon for a 20% discount:

xmas2011 (enter it on the order page in the coupon field)

Option 1: Get Chess Position Trainer 4 via Share!it (does not accept free mail providers like gmail.com)

Option 2: Get Chess Position Trainr 4 via FastSpring (accepts free mail providers like hotmail, google)

You all have been very patiently waiting for the final release. Your support and feedback over the past couple of years kept me motivated. I hope you like the final result. As a little "thank you" I decided to provide a link to the download page in this post (with a special discount) already before the official launch will be announced in about 2 weeks probably.

This release is still missing a few things, but I didn't want to let you wait any longer as they are not critical. All support material like manual or videos are missing. So, if you have never used CPT in the past you should probably wait till this support material is available. Then the chessboard and pieces are still using the same images. This will be probably updated before the end of this year.

Thanks and enjoy your holidays!

Stefan

Advanced Version: Your Opinion wanted on Price and Features

StefanRenzewitz — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:25:00 GMT

I'm in the final stage of releasing CPT 4. As previously announced there will be a free and a paid advanced version. This might sound strange or surprising, but I would like to ask you for your opinion which features should be reserved for the "Advanced Version" and what would be a reasonable price.

Personal support (email, forum) will be only guaranteed for the paid version. Beside that I have not yet finalized neither the feature list nor the price.

Looking foward to here your opinion on these topics - thanks!

Update: Before I create unintentional expection regarding the feature list: where are no features which I hold back till the final release. What I meant is that some of the current features will be only available in the advanced version. I haven't decided yet which ones and would like to hear your opinion.

Chess Position Trainer 4 - Release Candidate available

StefanRenzewitz — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:25:00 GMT

The release candidate version is 99% feature complete. The biggest change is the new training module. A show stopper issue just before releasing this new version stopped me from including the last big new feature: new chess pieces. So, this will be saved for the final release.

I really hope the separation of the training functionality will make it more intuitive for all non-professional CPT users (I myself can't imagine anymore how CPT life was before :)). Furthermore I listened to the complains that the program pushes too much the recall mode. It is less pushing now. The clear separation of training modes to learn new positions or recall already learned positions should help too.

Left on the ToDo list are new move & capture sounds and documention.

Download CPT Release Candidate

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I have added a backup system. Once enabled the program will automatically take care that a daily, weekly and monthly copy of your repertoire database is created.

New Beta Version 1.8 available

StefanRenzewitz — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 21:56:00 GMT

All reported issues are fixed with this beta and 99% of all planned features are implemented. Last beta will be released in November.

Databases created with this version will be supported in the final version in December. Databases created with previous beta version 1.7 can be loaded.

Beside several (important) bug fixes there are some interesting new features mainly for training.

Download CPT beta 1.8 now

The separation of the training module might still make it into the final version, but the fix milestone of releasing CPT 4 before x-mas will not be set at risk. I expect to have everything else done till 7th of November. Then I will focus on 'everything else' around this new release.

Separating Training Functionality from the Opening Module?

StefanRenzewitz — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:58:00 GMT

The other day a user suggested to create a separate module for training instead of being part of the opening module. He wrote: “I think the UI can be simplified by adding an ‘Opening Training button’ in the navigation panel. This way switching between repertoire and training mode would be easier and it reflects that the training module is a major part of CPT (and not a part of the explorer module). You can still show the (same) opening tree if the training button is clicked.”

My initial reaction was: Yes, you are absolutely right! The other day I was thinking about the suggestion again and came to the conclusion: I like this idea very much!

There are a few drawbacks for this approach though, but some more advantages too.

If we would go for this direction I would discard the option to train from the current position as it would be too abstract for the user (he is no longer seeing the current position when he starts the training). Also, switching between editing openings and training is a bigger visual interruption (two different modules). Then I would remove all edit options which are still available if the user switched to the training mode, but hasn’t clicked on “Start” yet to start the training.

On the other hand the training module would get a much bigger emphasize and being more focused (removing all the other “noise”). E.g. I have been looking for an intuitive way to get back from the training mode to the edit mode for a while already which is still not satisfying to me.

For some users it is confusing which openings are trained when they start the training. This would be more obvious then too.

Then I might be able to add an option to train a certain (sub-)variation instead of current opening (to limit recall just to these positions might be still not possible for technical reasons). Also, offering the option to check more openings (or folder) for training could be implemented too (in the future).

Before I start to implement this change I would like to hear what other users think about this potential change. Any concerns? Additional ideas or comments?

CPT office closed till mid-september

StefanRenzewitz — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:17:00 GMT

I will be on vacation for about 3 weeks in the Rocky Mountains area. Then I return I expect to be full of energy to finalize CPT 4. If you haven't tried it yet I recommend to download the latest beta 1.7

This new beta not only offers sound (which you can disable if you want), but also has some important bug fixes. I plan to support all database created with beta 1.7 in the final version. Please note that you should still make a copy of your repertoire database from to time as Murhphy's Law is always around the corner. Safety first!

Take care and enjoy the last summer weeks - see you then!

Stefan

We got sound - CPT unmuted (Beta 1.7)!

StefanRenzewitz — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 05:05:00 GMT

The just released new beta 1.7 is not only more stable, but the sound is back and it has been much improved since CPT 3.3.

If you liked how CPT uses sounds to keep you motivated you will be glad to read (or better hear) that the new beta has not only many new, better sounds, but also some extended "logic" behind the scenes. There are different sounds if you play a move incorrect for the first time or second time. There is even a different sound if you played a move correct after a mistake. Long runs will be rewarded by some nice new sounds.

During the edit mode you will notice many new sounds for moving and capturing pieces which are played randomly to add to the natural feeling (that means: not the same move sound is used for every move). If you move back they are played reversed. There is a page within the chessboard ribbon page which let you adjust the sound settings (if you prefer a more serious approach).

Let me know what you think about the new sounds (and version)!

Download beta 1.7

New Beta Version 1.6 available

StefanRenzewitz — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:50:00 GMT

The new beta 1.6 version should fix all know serious issues and give a performance boost to several functions (e.g. adding moves for openings with >70,000 moves).

There are some new features for the statistic module (which is much faster now too), but in general I spent a lot of time in fixing all reported issues and checking every data access method to speed up things.

I'm almost about to move to this new version completely. If I don't encounter any further issue this could become the final version regarding the database. Of course, I still have some things on my list to fix, but they are not critical and shouldn't lead to another database schema change.

As previous versions could create inconsistant databases and there was no simple way to fix this with a patch older CPT beta databases can't be used. Sorry for that! I hope this was the last time that I had to make such a decision.

Thanks for trying out the new beta!

The 3-in-1 Bug Fix just by changing 7 Characters

StefanRenzewitz — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:53:00 GMT

This happens very rarely, but sometimes you really have "luck" as a developer. Usually it goes like this: A user reports a bug. The developer thinks: "Oh well, this is a small issue I can easily fix." and then it turns-out it takes hours and days to fix it.

The other day I was hunting a bug which prevented CPT from importing Vietnamese comments from CPT 3.3 into CPT 4. Then I located the issue I quickly realized that this is actually the same reasons for two other, seemingly not connected bugs.

I missed one code line where I was still using "Encoding.Default" instead of "Encoding.UTF8". Just changing this one line solves the import problem for Vietnamese characters, but also the infamous "deleting a move" and "jumping positions while browsing an opening" bugs. To explain why, is probably not so exciting for everyone, but the good news is: I will release a new beta after this weekend which will no longer have these 3 annoying and serious bugs. EPD should work then too and if I'm able to find some new sounds the program will finally have sounds again (anybody with a hint where to get / buy some simple FX sounds is welcome!).

New Beta Version 1.5 available

StefanRenzewitz — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:30:00 GMT

Getting close to the final version there have been several important improvements especially for the training mode.

First of all the Position Explorer, my favorite new toy, is quite performance intensive. I have abondend the Beginner / Expert mode and instead made it a one-click option to activate or de-activate the Position Explorer:

Many chess players told me they are missing some of the old CPT 3.3 training options which made it easier to prepare for a concrete rated game. Having been in the same situation recently I quickly understood why the scheduled recalls are in general in my opinion still a promosing approach, but in some cases you just want to quickly repeat certain openings or positions. Thus I have added several options to pay attention to this special need. You can now reset training scores for a certain opening. However, more interesting is the option to train from a certain position on. Combining this feature with the Variation functionality which works similiar to bookmarks you get quickly some quite powerful new options.

But there is more to say abou the training module. You can now skip the scheduled recalls altogether if you want to focus on some new stuff and finally you can re-activate a training mode similiar to CPT 3.3: if you choose the recall mode and cancel the scheduled recalls you get the option to recall the current opening based on the last training date of the positions. Those which you haven't trained for the longest time are recalled first.

The Min-Max-Function should work finally too.

You can download the new beta now!

Speed matters

StefanRenzewitz — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 19:42:00 GMT

About two weeks ago Rich told me that the program does not run properly with large repertoires. I was aware that it was not yet as fast as CPT 3.3, but at least CPT 4 was supposed to be much better scalable than the previous version and thus it should't get any worse.

Rich sent me his example file. Well, firstly I realized that the import already failed for me (Peter also provided me some very helpful example PGN files). I have no idea how Rich even passed this part. Anyway, after I fixed this issue I was granted to "enjoy" the program with a REALLY huge opening. Just one opening contained 70,000 (!!!) moves.

I quickly understood what Rich meant with poor performance. However, due to the provided extreme example file I quickly found out what is going wrong. After some experimenting I was able to reduce the time it took to calculate the position tree from 47 seconds to 0,1 seconds - with an opening of 70,000 moves.

Excited about these amazing result I started to update several other time consuming tasks in a similiar way. What can I say? Now the program behaves lightning fast even with openings of the size of 70,000 moves.

So, thanks Rich to provide me this great example file. It lead to a delay for the next beta release, but it will be worthwile and the next beta will be a really significant improvement in respect to performance. Stay tuned!

New Beta Version 1.2 available

StefanRenzewitz — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 22:04:00 GMT

Now, this took much loooooooooonger than I expected. I released version 1.1 on a Friday and planned to release version 1.2. the following Sunday as I was making great progress fixing remaining issues. Everything was fine till I decided I will "just" make the position explorer load asynchrously which should improve the overall performance of CPT 4 before I will release the next beta. Well, this was not done as quickly as I thought as many people had to notice unfortunately. 3 weeks later I realized I opened Pandora's Box.

However, today I'm finally done and this beta should be stable again and at the same time much faster with better UI responsiveness. There is still some room for improvements which should not open another Pandora's Box, but for the moment I will focus on fixing all other reported issues which is certainly much more fun to work on than doing async programming

New Beta Version 1.1 available (much improved)

StefanRenzewitz — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 10:59:00 GMT

We are reaching a status where the software should be already very stable again. All reported issues have been fixed and many things polished. If you haven't tried the CPT 4 beta, now is a good moment to start!

There are two new things I would like to explain. I have added super tool tips to most commands in the ribbon. The following screenshot shows the difference between a common tooltip and a super tool tip which can be rather complex. This should further improve the user experience and reducing the neeed to look-up something in the manual.

More importantly I have added 4 different training modes. Well, they are not really new, but I realized it was not very intuitiv to understand the fundamental impact of some of the options as they were part of the ribbon like any other option:

The complete line mode is the one which most users usually use. The filter mode was there always too, but not so obviously. The super tooltip explains it in detail. Then we have the photo reading mode which was already a separate command in the past and finally the recall mode.

The recall mode is not to learn new moves, but to recall already learned moves. This mode is always checked before you can use any other training mode, because it is key to the whole training concept that you recall learned positions timely or you will lose the whole effect of the training methodology which is in place in the background.

You can download the new beta here.

New Beta Version 1.01 uploaded

StefanRenzewitz — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 23:51:00 GMT

Thanks to everybody who tested the CPT 4 beta and reported bugs. I also appreciate all your suggestions which you can post on the support page.

This new beta has not yet fixed all reported issues, but quite a few.

You can download the latest beta here:

http://community.chesspositiontrainer.com/files/folders/releases/entry1908.aspx

Writing the manual for CPT 4 - your feedback wanted

StefanRenzewitz — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 13:09:00 GMT

While I'm on vacation (fixing all reported issues starts next week) I've started to work on the manual. I would appreciate your feedback on what you would like to see in the manual or what type of manual / help (PDF, in-prgram help document, videos) should be provided.

Also, I'm thinking about the idea to include a section to give you guys something like a preface to people who are new to CPT and reading the manual. Anything you would recommend to them to take care of in the beginning to get quicker comfortabel with CPT? Something you like especially about CPT and want to share with new users to motivate them? How would you explain CPT in a nutshell to a friend?

Maybe you have some other ideas. Please send your thoughts either to my private email address or just reply here.

Not sure how this will work out at the end, but I like the idea which is right now rather basic.

Thanks!

CPT 4 - Public Beta Phase Begins Now

StefanRenzewitz — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:39:00 GMT

Happy New Year!

After some CPT users helped me testing an early beta version last year to make sure fundamental things like database creation will work for most computer configurations (thanks again for your support guys!) it’s now time to let everybody get his hands on the next version of CPT.

It is still a beta version and you will quickly recognize, but you should already get a feeling of what the final version will look like.

You can download the beta here.

Please note: this beta version will expire on the 10th of January. I will try to upload a new version till then, but can’t promise this yet.

Missing main features for the moment:

- Installer / setup is very basic

- UI & performance not yet optimized

- Engine support missing

- DGT support is not 100% implemented

- Sound

Thanks for testing the CPT 4 beta version!

Merry X-Mas

StefanRenzewitz — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 20:56:00 GMT

I hope you all enjoy your holidays.

This week I sent out to some people a link to the pre-beta version. I know that not everybody has received an email who asked for the pre-beta. My apologies (so many people asked that I even didn't reply to everyone -sorry!) Please rest assure that you are not missing all the fun yet. Actually the pre-beta was just about seeing whether the program installs, the example database loads, training runs and creating a new database works. The pre-beta is NOT fun yet.

I'm intensively working on the public beta by fixing all show-stopper bugs. I'm aware of the high anticipation (if I was not before, I'm since I've asked for volunteer pre-beta testers). For the moment I can only thank you for your interest and please stay turned - public beta is around the corner.

Stefan

Pre-Beta scheduled for Sunday night CET

StefanRenzewitz — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:51:00 GMT

A last delay, because the installer turned out to be a little bit more complex this time (to protect the code against reverse engineering) and the typical end-of-year process did the rest.

I would like to take the chance to THANK YOU ALL for the overwhelming and positive feedback I have received after announcing the pre-beta, but also the advanced version. I didn't know that you are SO MANY out there! Everybody who sent me an email asking for participating in the pre-beta will receive a link on Sunday night CET. If I didn't reply to you yet, its just because I have received so many emails.

Btw. if this is by any means representative: it looks like 80% of the CPT communty is already using a 64-bit OS

To be free or not to be free

StefanRenzewitz — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 06:38:00 GMT

Now that beta release is around the corner I would like to announce that there will be an advanced version of CPT 4 beside the basic / free version.

I know that some people will be not happy to read this, but if you haven’t like CPT just for the simple reason that it is for free these should be excellent news for everybody. In fact I have been even asked from CPT users to turn CPT into paid software for several times in the past.

Well, before you worry too much, let me start with what the free version will look like:

The free version will have similar features as the current version 3.3, but with all the advantages which the new infrastructure offers (much better user interface / visuals, high performance database, new repertoire concept, no longer any Windows Vista / 7 issues, etc.). No cheap tricks like no export function or limited to enter X moves only etc. A pretty honest and feature-rich chess software - promised!

However, it will not have some of the more advanced features like space repetition training, statistic module and individual user support. Thus all current CPT 3.3 users you will get with CPT 4 a much improved version – still for free.

Everybody who donated to this project in the past will get the advanced version for free – no matter how much you donated.

The price for the advanced version will be very moderate and it will allow you to download the latest version for a whole year – including user support and program updates.

In the past I practiced an open information policy to which I wanted to stick before the beta phase of CPT 4 begins and people start to voluntarily testing it. I know that many people of you have been waiting for CPT 4 for a long time. I always appreciated this big public interest, which kept me motivated to develop the chess software for opening training of which I have dreamed for such a long time. Now, that CPT 4 really will become true I felt the urge to inform you that I have decided to introduce a paid version beside a free version. I didn’t take this decision easy, but I believe in the long run this decision will be to an advantage for everybody, because this allows me (and Gregory) to spend continuously time on the project and to use professional 3rd party components to give CPT 4 this much improved UI.

I run out of ideas...

StefanRenzewitz — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 23:08:00 GMT

... what I could work on before public beta can start. So have decided to ask a few voluntaries to give it a try. All I'm asking for is just installing the program and check if it works at all. Nowadays with all these wonderful OS variations (Xp, Vista, Win7, 32bit, 64bit) it becomes more and more challenging to release software which works on all systems (even if it is a Windows system only).

If you are interested in being one of the first CPT 4 users, please send me an email (pick my first and last name separated by a dot and add this domain). Please include which OS you are running and whether it is 32bit or 64bit.

I expect the installer to be ready within the next 7 days. I will send you an email with a download link as soon as its ready for download.

Once this pre-beta testing was successful I will officially announce the beta phase and everybody can download it from this web-site.

Before you offer your help, please read through this recent announcement about a future advanced version of CPT 4.

Beginner Mode, Workspaces and Sub-Variations

StefanRenzewitz — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 22:29:00 GMT

Last weekend I have added a beginner mode. The other day I showed a web-designer CPT. While he liked the overall look & feel very much, he noted that the screen looks overloaded for a first time user. I agreed with him and on the mission to make CPT a great experience especially for new CPT users I have decided to add a beginner mode beside the expert mode:

For the moment the differences are pretty simple: the beginner mode will have less windows:

Expert mode:

As a power user we got used to all the info CPT offers, but I believe this new beginner mode will help new CPT users to quickly graps the most important info and learn the program before they run CPT with all whistles and bells. Maybe I will add a few more differences between the two modes. Suggestions welcome!

Another feature are workspaces. That means you can arrange all windows to your likings for each mode: edit, run games against repertoire and training. Depending on the mode you might prefer to have a specific window smaller or bigger (or even pinned). CPT will save the last layout before you switch the mode and restore it once you get back to the mode.

Last new feature is a new repertoire item type: sub-variations:

Variations are already new in CPT and they help you to even better organize your repertoire than CPT 3.3 already offered. They work like bookmarks. During my own CPT 4 sessions as a user I realized that it would be even better to have one more level to represent someone's repertoire on a high level view. Thus I introduced sub-variations. A variation can have any number of sub-variations. Now you should be able to organize even the most complex openings in a meaningful way.

Back to testing the training module before I will start to prepare the installer.

Testing Before Public Beta: 2/3 completed

StefanRenzewitz — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 11:07:00 GMT

The long weekend was a very productive one. I have been fixing bugs, but most importantly improved the general user experience.

For example I realized that statistics / charts took up to one minute to be calculated on the fly with a real-world repertoire. Now they all take between 0.1 and 0.8 seconds and they are still calculated on the fly. I have also added exporting (as image, PDF or HTML) and printing support.

There have been several other major or minor UI glitches which are all fixed now and which will hopefully lead to a greater user experience. These have been small details like auto-selecting the corresponding ribbon page when changing the module (e.g. from statistics to repertoire) or correct color coding and highlighting of the corresponding move in the move list. But also in the background making sure that no code is double executed which leads to a performance penalty. That latter is not so obvious and you only notice the impact once your repertoire has grown.

Right now the statistic module is 100% ready for beta. The main edit module is almost done too. There are two biggies left: testing and making sure that deleting and moving repertoires / moves doesn’t lead to inconsistent data. This is a key “feature” which I take very serious. The other thing missing is a function to copy / move all moves from a given position to another opening. I somehow missed this one from the old CPT version.

Then I will test the training module more thoroughly. Mainly I will work on a performance improvement and a few bug fixes which are on my list.

I will keep you posted as I make progress. I can hardly wait myself to release a public beta and to hear how you like the new CPT version.

Latest Status

StefanRenzewitz — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 20:58:00 GMT

Quick update to keep you posted. Right now I'm testing and fixing bugs, but more importantly I'm working a few major performance improvements.

I'm very optimistic that UCI support (especially Rybka) will make it either into the beta or at least final release.

At the same time work has started on a new chessboard graphic and chess pieces! Regarding chess pieces: if you like any specific chess pieces and they are freely available, please let me know. They don't have to be big. Any size is fine. They might be used as a basis.

Gregory and me are also working on a more scalable position storing / retrieval methodology. As CPT will have game database support in the future it's important to get this one right before CPT 4 will be released.

Last thing I'm working on right now is making CPT as accessable for new users as possible. This is for me a very important topic.

Next weekend will be a looong weekend. I will post news about the upcoming beta on 1th of November. It's getting very, very close.

Stefan

CPT 4 Beta

StefanRenzewitz — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 20:15:00 GMT

Just a quick note. There are very good chances that the beta phase will start at the end of October. I'm on vacation very soon and will continue to polish the program after my return. So no updates or news till October.

CU then!

Stefan