Chess Assistant 7.1 - What's new?
1 Introduction
Our development team has been working hard on Chess Assistant 7 (CA 7), and has
produced the most powerful version of the program to date. We have paid special
attention to the analysis functions of the program, which now provide
capabilities that are unmatched by any other chess software.
For example, the new, enhanced infinite analysis mode now supports the viewing
of analysis from an arbitrary number of engines, all running simultaneously.
Furthermore, moves can be included or excluded from analysis at the user's
discretion. CA 7's advanced analysis architecture even allows you to conduct
analysis on other machines!
CA 7 also includes the latest editions of Christophe Theron's chess engines -
Tiger 15 and Tiger Gambit III. These new engines are appreciably stronger than
last year's versions, and complement the new analysis capabilities of the
program. CA also comes packaged with Ruffian, which certainly belongs in the top
10 of UCI compatible engines.
Another very important capability in CA is background processing. This allows
you to continue with game analysis while an engine analyzes the current, or
other games automatically. Searches and long database operations can also be
performed while the computer is performing background analysis.
There are many other enhancements that have been made to the program as well.
Every major functional area has been updated, and a number of new features have
been added. We recommend that you read this document, since it focuses on the
new features, and provides an easy overview. More details on specific functions
can be found in the manual.
2 Engine Analysis
The Infinite Analysis mode sees a number of major enhancements in CA 7. This
mode is generally fairly familiar to users of chess software, since it is
usually the fastest way to get the opinion of the chess engine on a position.
This new implementation is extremely powerful and has a great deal of
flexibility.
This version of CA sees the introduction of two major analysis functions -
Analysis by Time and Level, and Background Analysis. The former allows you to
specify, in a flexible way, the manner in which a game will be analyzed by the
computer. The latter refers to a new method that can be used while manually
analyzing a game. These two modes automatically analyze entire games, and no
user intervention is necessary.
2.1 Infinite Analysis
Main menu: Engines->Infinite analysis …
The previous version of CA was limited to running two engines at once. CA 7 no
longer has this limitation, and is capable of running as many simultaneous
engines as you want. You also can have certain engines analyze specific moves,
or exclude moves from analysis. Using an engine to show an opponent's threat is
also supported.
Analysis is displayed in up to two panels. Each panel can contain an arbitrary
number of engines providing analysis, and is controlled separately. So for
instance, you can have Tiger 15 running in one window in a k-best (i.e. the
k-best variations are shown), while running Shredder and a Winboard engine in
another.
Figure 1, Tiger 15 and Nimzo 2000 running in top panel,
Tiger 14.0 showing three best variations in lower panel. Tiger 14.0 is running
on another networked computer.
2.2 New Automatic Engine Analysis Options
2.2.1 Analysis by Level
Main menu: Engines->Game analysis->Select method using levels
Here, you can specify the how rigorously the program should analyze a game in
the opening, middle, and endgame phases. This type of analysis is best suited
for instances when you want the program to pay extra attention to certain phases
of the game. Just adjust the sliders in this window to the desired level of
detail. In addition to the sliders, the user also has the option of manually
fine-tuning the different analysis modes (by clicking on the "Advanced…"
button).
Figure 2, select the amount of attention you want paid to
each phase in the game
2.2.2 Analysis by Time
Main menu: Engines->Game analysis->Select method using time
This analysis function should be used when you want to allocate a fixed amount
of time for analyzing a game. While it may take more or less time than you
specify, the program does its best to adhere to the number you pick. This mode,
like the Analysis by Level mode, uses a quick pass through the entire game,
followed by successive refinement of existing analysis, and a search for
improvements.
Figure 3, the new Analysis by Time dialog
2.2.3 Analysis Options Common to Both Modes
Main menu: Engines->Game analysis->Select method using levels, then select
"Commenting Options"
Both modes allow you to specify the level of detail for the program's
annotations. For instance, the program currently assigns a move that changes the
evaluation of the game between 0.8 and 1.5 pawns a "?". CA already
comes with these values pre-configured; but this option allows you to change
this range to whatever you desire.
2.3 Background Analysis
Main menu: Engines->Background analysis, available through game context menu
also
The addition of background analysis allows you to perform multiple tasks at the
same time. For instance, let's say that you entered a variation that you wish to
check with a chess engine. In version 6 of the program, you would mark the
variation, and perhaps other positions as well, and then start a batch analysis
of the data. You'd come back some time later, and the job would be finished. You
can still do it the same way in CA 7 if you want, but now you have the option of
having that variation checked, and those positions analyzed in the background,
while you continue to annotate the game, or do other searches. This is obviously
a very useful feature, and can be a big time saver. It also allows you to keep
the thread of the game when annotating, since it can be difficult to pick up
again, when you go back some time later. One key capability of this mode is the
ability to automatically pause the background analysis, should you wish to use
an engine in the foreground (say in infinite analysis mode).
Figure 4, the new background analysis menu
The results of background analysis can then be automatically imported into
the games, and/or imported into a chess tree. The results of the latter
procedure can then be shown in much the same fashion as the CAP data.
To make the background analysis viable, CA 7 uses something called the
background analysis (BGA) manager to control the engine analysis. This means
that analysis tasks are submitted to the BGA manager, which parcels them out to
various engines, running in BGA clients. These clients are also capable of
conducting analysis tasks requested by other computers (user controllable). This
architecture works with all the old engines that CA supports (i.e. UCI, previous
versions of Tiger, winboard, etc), as well as with the new Tiger 15 engine. This
architecture also allows you to say, run CA on one computer on a local network,
and display analysis from it (in real time) on another computer.
3 Playing
3.1 New Playing Dialog
Main menu: Engines->Play against an engine
Users requested a better way to play games against the computer, and so we have
added a new dialog box that opens whenever a game with the computer is requested.
This dialog box allows you to specify all the most important options for play
against the computer
Figure 5, select your game play options, and the game will
start
We feel that this approach is superior to many other implementations, since
it allows the most used options to be configured from one dialog, rather than
having the user hunt through menus for changing them.
3.2 Improved Winboard/UCI Support
We have improved winboard/UCI support for CA, and you should find that many
engines run within the CA interface. There are over 50 winboard engines that
have been tested, and run within CA. As with version 6 of CA, engines without
their own opening book can use CA's comprehensive book functions
.
3.3 Opening Book Improvements
There has been a significant overhaul of the opening book function in CA 7. This
has lead to the simplification of the manner in which the book functions, and
moves are selected by the engine. This new approach is user-friendly, and is
based on fuzzy-logic principles. The manual contains full documentation of the
approach.
3.4 Improvements to Test Suite Mode
Test suite mode is now much easier to use, with a redesigned interface, and a
more user-friendly way of assigning points to completed test positions.
4 Database, Search and Classifier
The reference database for CA 7 has been brought up to date, and now contains
approximately 2,000,000 games. The direct tree for the database has been
pre-built, and is also included.
4.1 Opening EPD Files Directly
While version 6 of CA had extensive EPD processing capabilities, it did not
allow transparent access to individual EPD positions in a file. With version 7,
we have added the capability to open EPD files as databases, with all the normal
functions, like drag and drop movement and copying of games, etc. This new
functionality will make working with test sets and positions very easy.
4.2 Player Ratings Stored in Game Header
Previous versions of CA stored this information in the player library, which
meant that each player could have only a single ELO. CA 7 allows this
information to be stored in the game as well, which means that the player's
rating progress can be recorded.
4.3 Player ELO and Tournament History
CA 7 includes a separate database of over 500,000 games from players with ELO
over 2450. A pre-built classifier is attached to this database, and it easily
lets you see the ELO rating progress of the player over time. Every tournament
that the player participated in is also only a click away.
4.4 Search Function Improvements
We have increased the number of fields that can be used in the advanced search.
This allows increased flexibility when looking for certain types of endgames.
The maximum number of regions is now 14. An option to quickly shift regions has
been added to the local context menu for the board.
You can also now search for undefined fields. This means that you can search
specifically for an empty field, i.e. the absence of information
Coupled with these features is the ability to add search results to open
datasets. This allows for the easy aggregation of search data without saving
intermediate datasets to disk.
4.5 Classifiers can now Contain Multiple Search Criteria
Classifier context menu: Add to current criteria
You can now add additional search criteria to classifiers. This allows more
flexible classifier specification.
4.6 Other Minor Database Enhancements
One of the usability enhancements we have made in CA 7 is the incorporation of
tooltips that show which classes and folders a particular game belongs to. Just
hold your mouse over the "classes box" that appears before each game
in a dataset.
Figure 6, this game has been called out for its importance
for opening study, and for the use of the f-pawn spike.
5 Annotation
5.1 Game moves Visible in Tree
Long time users of CA know that there is an extremely powerful tree window that
appears when stepping through the moves of a game. Now, the moves and variations
from the current game are highlighted in yellow in the tree.
5.2 Styles
Keystroke combination: Shift-s, also context menu on game score
The addition of move styles allows the user to change the appearance of many
types game notation. Available options include changing the move font, weight,
and background/foreground colors. This feature allows quick navigation to
important positions in the game, with easy fine-tuning of game appearance as
well.
As an example, look at the screen shot below. Here, the default style for engine
analysis has been modified to have a yellow background, for easier visibility.
Move 28 has been highlighted in green, and is book marked for future reference.
Figure 7, example illustrating styles
5.3 Easy Construction of Game Fragments
CA 7 now has a two shortcut keys that can be used to quickly form game fragments.
This capability is very useful for constructing test positions. Typing the
"[" key will truncate all previous moves from the current position,
which typing "]" will truncate the remaining moves.
6 Usability Enhancements
6.1 New Test Mode
Game context menu: Test mode
CA 7 includes a new test mode that is accessible from the context menu in game
view. This mode was developed with specific input from Maxim Blokh, the man
responsible for the exercises and presentation in CT-ART. With this mode, you
can set up exercises to be automatically presented as you go from game to game
in a database. There are a large number of criteria that can be selected for
determining which moves constitute a good exercise. This timesaving approach
means that the user does not have to construct each exercise by hand. Conditions
can also be specified for determining when exercises should be automatically
presented (accessible through the Advanced... button).
Figure 8, the new test mode that can be used for opening
preparation or chess exercises
6.2 Shortcut Key Assignments
Main menu: Tools->Main menu shortcuts, View shortcuts, etc
A new tree-like view of the keyboard shortcuts shows you the keys assigned to
all the menu functions in CA. This function allows new users of the program to
more readily adapt to it, or it allows experienced users to pick keystroke
combinations that may be more intuitive for them. Additionally, you can also
change the shortcut keys for any context-menu selection for a game. This would,
for example, give you the option to change the keystroke combinations that are
used for copying and pasting game scores from the windows clipboard.
6.3 New Piece Set
A new piece set is accessible through the "Advanced…" button in the
View options dialog.
6.4 Tile Selected Windows
Main menu: Window->Tile selected
Since it is very easy to open many windows at once in CA, we have provided a
tool for rearranging them. With the "Tile Selected" command, you can
select which windows you want to see, and they will be tiled in a number of user
selectable configurations.
6.5 Prepare for Opponent
Main menu: Advanced->Prepare for your opponent
This function was available in CA 6, but we have added many enhancements to it
for version 7. And while this function is normally used to point out weaknesses
(and strengths) of a player's repertoire, it can also be applied to your own
games as well.
There is now an easier way to see good and bad moves, and an option to show all
variations played by that individual in ECO and move-tree format. Clicking on a
specific variation in ECO-mode transports you to set of games from that
variation. Folder views in ECO mode are also provided for your convenience.
In the figure below, we have asked CA 7 to analyze Judit Polgar's repertoire.
Here we see that she generally scores pretty well with the King's Indian when
playing black. However, the E74 variation seems to be problematic for her.
Double-clicking on E74 displays a dataset of her games from this variation.
Figure 9, preparing to play Judit Polgar
6.6 Background Processing
Many search, database, and analysis functions now have a new progress indicator,
and can be sent to the background. When the background button is clicked, the
program will reside in the windows tray. An animated icon shows percent
completion for the current operation. Operations can be paused as well, if you
wish to free the processor for other calculations.
6.7 Scripting
Main menu: Tree->Scripts->Manager…
CA 7 also has a number of new scripting capabilities. CA 6 allowed the user to
script various tree functions. Now you also have the option to script database
operations too. This allows very time-intensive tasks to be deferred, via the
included built-in scheduler, which is also new for this version.
Figure 10, some of the new scripting commands in this version
7 ICC
7.1 New Automatic Reconnect
Main menu->Tools->Options->ICC->Keep connection
Many players are frustrated when the ICC connection is dropped, and manual
reconnection is necessary. CA 7 now detects when a connection is dropped by the
server, and attempts to immediately reconnect. Game continuity is thus improved.
7.2 New Events Tab
It is now very easy to see upcoming events at ICC. Simply click on the events
tab in the ICC console window. Double-clicking on an entry will open the game in
question.
7.3 Other usability Enhancements
ICC toolbar: Seek->Match Icon, Actions->Draw
CA 7 can now automatically accept draws, or rematch an opponent, if desired. You
can also specify a script to run at the end of each ICC game.
8 Printing
8.1 Improved DHTML and HTML Export
Main Menu->Print->Print and export options
DHTML export now allows for specifying a number of header, footer, and
background files. This allows you, for example, to include website information,
or boilerplate code into the DHTML that CA generates. The rendering of CA
generated HTML pages on Netscape browsers has also been improved.
9 Downloading of new games
About 10.000 new games per month for free via the Internet on our servers are
available CA7.0 users.
System Requirements:
IPM-compatible PC, 32 Mb RAM, Hard Disk 1Gb of free disk space, CD-ROM drive,
Windows 95/98/2000/NT/ME/XP.
No additional software is required.
Price
Euro 129,00
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