Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
The latest Fritz 8 upgrade is also to be found on the latest ChessBase Magazine CDs and can be manually executed from there. Once again it is a painless process requiring just a few minutes. If you unsure whether you have the latest version you can log into the Playchess.com server and use "Help – Query update" to find out.
But what do you get when you have installed this running update? First of all a stronger engine, one the authors have tuned up and improved for recent tournaments. Secondly there are a lot of new chess server functions, that make your activities on one of biggest onlen chess communities in the world even more pleasant.
Separate saving of games played in the machine room.
"Ducats" (pronounced "Duck-it", to rhyme approximately with bucket) is the currency on Playchess.com. With ducats you can pay strong players for games or for private coaching. Ducats are bought online in the www.chessbase.com shop. This is best done from the program, using the Menu Edit – Payments – Fill up account, because it ensures that the right name is given to the shop. For 10 Euros (just over $10) you can buy 100 ducats.
From now on all prizes in tournaments will be paid out in ducats. Ducats you have won or bought can be used to purchase any ChessBase products. To do so, use the function Menu Edit – Payments – Buy with Ducats. The system is currently under construction. Full details will follow in the coming week.
Join the channel Events. If an important player (with rank of rook or higher) starts a transmission or a training session it is automatically announced in this channel.
If you want to analyze during a game or broadcast, unplug the transmission. This is done in the menu Game – Unplug transmission (or press Ctrl-U). Click Plug into transmission or press Ctrl-U again to resume automatic transmission.
Use the premove function in blitz games. It is activated using Tools – Options – Server settings – Premove. It is a double-edged weapon for bullet players, but if it is used properly it saves a lot of thinking time without any risk. If you expect your opponent to exchange, enter your recapture in advance. Your reply will cost zero seconds of thinking time. An example: after 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 you now enter Nxe4 by moving c3 to e4. A green arrow appears that indicates the premove. If the opponent does not play d5xe4, then Nc3xe4 is an illegal move because your pawn is still on e4. So it won't be executed.
Switch off the Window titles (like Players, Games, Challenges, Rooms)
to save space on the screen. Menu Tools -> Options -> Server Settings
-> Window Titles.
Prominent or strong players tend to get chatted up or even mobbed during live broadcasts. If youe want to concentrate on the game you can set a minimal rank for incoming chat (Tools -> Options -> Chat -> Autoreply below rank). If someone below this rank addresses you, a polite autoreply is send to him, and the chat does not appear in your window.
Before accepting an incoming challenge, click on it, and check the quality of the connection in the status bar in the lower part of the window. This way you avoid blitz-games with an unacceptable "lag" (delay through slow internet connections).
To be continued...
