11/30/2015 – Memorizing humongous amount of opening theory is one of the biggest problems faced by chess players at all levels. But in the ChessBase Account there is a new web based application called Openings Trainer which can help you overcome the difficulty. In this article we explain you the features of this app, with step by step screen grabs. There is also a video you should watch.
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The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
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Become an opening expert
The Openings Trainer is one of the most recent and useful web based applications
developed by ChessBase. In order to use it you need to go to "Openings"
in the ChessBase Account menu and login with your ChessBase account or Playchess
ID.
The Openings Trainer page has a lot of features
on it
So let’s get acquainted with this exciting new application. There
are two main functions:
Organize your openings and
Remember them through regular drills
The Openings Trainer can be used to learn an opening, but its main function
is to help you get organized and better at the variations you have already
prepared.
The first thing you do is to start feeding in the moves of the opening
you would like to study on the Openings Trainer board. You can make use
of the Live Book, which has seven million games, in the form of a tree for
this. Below the Live Book you have the Live Database which updates with
the latest games as soon as the moves are made.
Let’s say you want to work on the Queen’s Gambit 5.Bf4 variation.
After making the initial moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4,
you mark the 5.Bf4 as your move using the “Mark Move” function.
The mark move function lies on top at the tool
bar with other options.
You can also right click on a specific move and mark the move.
You will see an asterisk on top of the move
Bf4 and these five moves get added to your white repertoire
As the moves are made, the list of the live database also keeps getting
updated. You can see the latest game that happened in this line is the top
level encounter between Inarkiev against Aronian from the EU Cup just a
few days ago.
After 5.Bf4 you make the moves 5…0-0 6.e3 Nbd7. At this point suppose
it is very important for you to remember to make the positional move 7.a3
here, instead of the aggressive 7.c5. So you make the move a3 and right
click on it and choose “mark as important move.”
Mark as important move is used when you would
like to remember an important move in your repertoire.
You will see two asterisks on your move a3
and the entire sequence of seven moves
gets added to your white repertoire
What is described here was a simple line with only one branch. You can
add intricate variations lasting more than 20 moves with many branches and
save them in your repertoire. Every time you would like to save a particular
line just mark the final move (final white move if it is a white repertoire)
as “your move.”
Once you have built a decent white repertoire, you can then choose the
very unique function called “Drill White”.
With the drill function the computer will take the black side and ask you
to make the first white move. As soon as you play 1.d4 it will reply with
1…d5. It will always try to remain in your repertoire until you deviate.
Now you can either make your repertoire move 2.c4, or something else say
2.Nf3. If you deviate the trainer shows a message saying “not in your
moves” but plays on until it has moves in the live book.
The move 2.Nf3 is not in your repertoire and
hence on your right you can see the words
“Not in your moves”. Yet the trainer continues playing and makes
the move 2…g6.
The training ends when the moves in the live book end. If you like the
new line you can just mark the final move as your move and add it to your
white repertoire. Of course, everything that was written above remains true
for building a black repertoire too.
Below the notation pane you can see many important functions in the openings
trainer. You can download the PGN file, insert text between moves, delete
or cut a line or use the annotations palette
When you start marking a lot of moves, the size of your repertoire will
increase and then the Openings Trainer will have more options to drill you.
You will have your entire opening preparation in one place and also the
chance to regularly test yourself on it. This will translate into more tournament
points as you will remember your variations better and not forget them in
the crucial games!
Video tutorial
Second video on some advanced functions of the Openings Trainer
Sagar ShahSagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.
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The greater part of the material on which the Rossolimo/Moscow Powerbook 2025 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 263.000 games. This imposing amount is supplemented by some 50 000 games from Mega and from Correspondence Chess.
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The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
€49.90
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