What is the best way to practice a defence using Chessmaster? I am not
very good at chess. I have been practicing black. I have chosen to
learn the Sicilian defence. I was doing this online when I was playing
Blitzin with a guest account.

The main reason I would like to learn more about the Sicilian defence
is more to throw players of my skill level off.

I get off to a good start most of the time.

The two things that give the most trouble are when they castle queen
side, and players that answer

1.e4 c5
2.Nc3 Nc6
3.f4

When this happens I know I am playing a strong player.

Any suggestions on how to become more familiar with this opening?

I have tried using the openings to learn but I would have to also learn
what each variation is called.

I have also tried playing myself and getting advice for each move. How
can I get chessmaster to offer playing another move than the one it
picks?

ChessMaster recommends........... Can I say. don't do that one
recommend another one?

Terry wrote:
What is the best way to practice a defence using Chessmaster? I am not
very good at chess. I have been practicing black. I have chosen to
learn the Sicilian defence. I was doing this online when I was playing
Blitzin with a guest account.

The main reason I would like to learn more about the Sicilian defence
is more to throw players of my skill level off.

I get off to a good start most of the time.

The two things that give the most trouble are when they castle queen
side, and players that answer

1.e4 c5
2.Nc3 Nc6
3.f4

When this happens I know I am playing a strong player.

Any suggestions on how to become more familiar with this opening?

I would download all of the "opening-specific" opening books that were
created initially for CM8000 and still work with later versions. You
can get them (along with the directions on how to use them) he

http://chessmaster8000.ubi.com/downloads.html

Just look a little ways down the page for "New Chessmaster Opening
Books".

I have also tried playing myself and getting advice for each move. How
can I get chessmaster to offer playing another move than the one it
picks?

ChessMaster recommends........... Can I say. don't do that one
recommend another one?

Nope, CM will only recommend one move, although it MIGHT recommend a
different move if you give it a different amount of time to think.

jm

"Terry" wrote in message
oups.com...
What is the best way to practice a defence using Chessmaster? I am not
very good at chess. I have been practicing black. I have chosen to
learn the Sicilian defence. I was doing this online when I was playing
Blitzin with a guest account.

The main reason I would like to learn more about the Sicilian defence
is more to throw players of my skill level off.

I get off to a good start most of the time.

The two things that give the most trouble are when they castle queen
side, and players that answer

1.e4 c5
2.Nc3 Nc6
3.f4

When this happens I know I am playing a strong player.

Any suggestions on how to become more familiar with this opening?

I have tried using the openings to learn but I would have to also learn
what each variation is called.

I have also tried playing myself and getting advice for each move. How
can I get chessmaster to offer playing another move than the one it
picks?

ChessMaster recommends........... Can I say. don't do that one
recommend another one?

Go into the database and do a position search for those moves. Chessmaster
will bring up any games that have that position and you can play through
them to see how other people handled the game from there.

Also, you can play games yourself from this position against Chessmaster and
then have it analyze the game when you're done. Chessmaster will suggest
moves, etc, which you can compare with the ones you made.

JS

"John Sloan" wrote in message
news:3LU%g.31567$P7.22774@edtnps90...
"Terry" wrote in message
oups.com...
What is the best way to practice a defence using Chessmaster? I am not
very good at chess. I have been practicing black. I have chosen to
learn the Sicilian defence. I was doing this online when I was playing
Blitzin with a guest account.

The main reason I would like to learn more about the Sicilian defence
is more to throw players of my skill level off.

I get off to a good start most of the time.

The two things that give the most trouble are when they castle queen
side, and players that answer

1.e4 c5
2.Nc3 Nc6
3.f4

When this happens I know I am playing a strong player.

Any suggestions on how to become more familiar with this opening?

I have tried using the openings to learn but I would have to also learn
what each variation is called.

I have also tried playing myself and getting advice for each move. How
can I get chessmaster to offer playing another move than the one it
picks?

ChessMaster recommends........... Can I say. don't do that one
recommend another one?

Go into the database and do a position search for those moves.
Chessmaster will bring up any games that have that position and you can
play through them to see how other people handled the game from there.

I just looked up the position for the moves you gave above, and Chessmaster
10th Edition came up with over 1400 complete games that start that way.

JS

On Oct 25, 10:06 pm, "John Sloan" wrote:
"Terry" wrote in ooglegroups.com...

Go into the database and do a position search for those moves. Chessmaster
will bring up any games that have that position and you can play through
them to see how other people handled the game from there.

I was looking for your suggestion, and I found something. It might be
the same thing you suggested but I am not sure. I know it is just what
I am looking for.

I found it by going LearnOpeningsOpening Book Reference. This gives
each answer to the current position. This could be very useful.

It is a shame that such a great chess tool like this had left out the
ability to pop the chessboard over all the useful help screens.

The chessboard is after all the main feature. Having to move all
these useful information boxes out of the way to see the chessboard
sucks.

Terry wrote:
The two things that give the most trouble are when they castle queen
side, and players that answer

1.e4 c5
2.Nc3 Nc6
3.f4

When this happens I know I am playing a strong player.

Castling queenside isn't necessarily an indication of a strong player:
one stereotyped way of playing against the Sicilian is to castle
queenside and play for a kingside pawn storm. A player of any
strength can give that a go and you only need to see it a couple of
times to realise it can be effective. It's likely to be particularly
effective against a beginner who doesn't realise that the way to
counter it is for Black to use the open c-file and have a queenside
pawn storm.

Playing 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 (the Grand Prix attack) certainly isn't
an indication of a strong player, either. Note that almost all
Grandmaster Sicilian games are in the 2.Nf3 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 lines.
If anything, I'd say that the Grand Prix attack is more likely to
indicate a relatively weak player who has the same goal as you: play
it to upset the opponent.


Any suggestions on how to become more familiar with this opening?

Play lots of games. Notice how you lose.


I have also tried playing myself and getting advice for each move.

The only good computer advice is tactical advice. Computers can't
really give anything better than ``Play this because anything else
loses material'' or ``Play this because the Grandmasters play it.''
The latter isn't much use unless you can work out *why* the GMs play
it.


Dave.

--
David Richerby Miniature Watch (TM): it's like a
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ precision chronometer but you can hold
in it your hand!

David Richerby wrote:
The only good computer advice is tactical advice. Computers can't
really give anything better than ``Play this because anything else
loses material'' or ``Play this because the Grandmasters play it.''
The latter isn't much use unless you can work out *why* the GMs play
it.


Perhaps that is changing? I note that Junior is beginning to understand the
concept of compensation. I can't say that I have had to many opportunities
where it has analyzed a game that I played where it has suggested any sort of
sacrifice ... but the day is likely coming. It certainly tromps all over me
when it is left to its bits.

--
Thomas T. Veldhouse
Key Fingerprint: D281 77A5 63EE 82C5 5E68 00E4 7868 0ADC 4EFB 39F0

"Terry" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Oct 25, 10:06 pm, "John Sloan" wrote:
"Terry" wrote in
ooglegroups.com...

Go into the database and do a position search for those moves.
Chessmaster
will bring up any games that have that position and you can play through
them to see how other people handled the game from there.

I was looking for your suggestion, and I found something. It might be
the same thing you suggested but I am not sure. I know it is just what
I am looking for.

I found it by going LearnOpeningsOpening Book Reference. This gives
each answer to the current position. This could be very useful.

This is a different part of Chessmaster than what I meant, though a useful
to learn some of the main lines.

What I meant was to try LearnDatabasePosition Search.

I like to learn an opening by watching how strong players handle it, by
following their games move by move, seeing if I can figure out what they're
going to do next, looking for the tactical threats, etc in the position
before I look at their next move. One of my weak areas is knowing what to
do after the first 8 or 9 moves. I end up with a position on the board and,
"Now what do I do?" I find this position-search feature very useful for
getting ideas about how to take a particular opening/position into the
middle game.

Another thing I'll do is go to PlaySetup Position and set up a particular
position and then have Chessmaster play itself in the position on the
highest level to see how it comes out. Or, you can play one side of the
position against Chessmaster and learn from that. Not as good as going
through master games from the same position, but helpful.

It is a shame that such a great chess tool like this had left out the
ability to pop the chessboard over all the useful help screens.

Some of those help screens can be resized by dragging on their outer
boarders and pulling them inward to make them smaller on one side, leaving
more room for the chess board on the screen. You can also resize the chess
board by left-clicking on the background behind the chessboard and then
using the wheel on your mouse (there's a way to do this without using the
mouse, too, if your's doesn't have the wheel, but I'm not sure how to do
it - I know you can rotate the 3D boards using the arrow keys).

The chessboard is after all the main feature. Having to move all
these useful information boxes out of the way to see the chessboard
sucks.

I turn most of the windows off, except for the game status window, myself.

JS

On Oct 27, 4:11 pm, "John Sloan" wrote:
The chessboard is after all the main feature. Having to move all
these useful information boxes out of the way to see the chessboard
sucks.

I turn most of the windows off, except for the game status window, myself.

My point was that if you could get the chessboard to pop up over the
info screens you would not have to re-size, close, or move any of them.
You could just click on the info screen you are interested in and then
click back on the chessboard.

"Terry" wrote in message
ps.com...
On Oct 27, 4:11 pm, "John Sloan" wrote:
The chessboard is after all the main feature. Having to move all
these useful information boxes out of the way to see the chessboard
sucks.

I turn most of the windows off, except for the game status window,
myself.

My point was that if you could get the chessboard to pop up over the
info screens you would not have to re-size, close, or move any of them.
You could just click on the info screen you are interested in and then
click back on the chessboard.

Yes, I see what you mean. I wish I could tell you how to do that.

Some of the windows have a minimizing feature (that little pyramid-shaped
icon in their upper right corners). Click on this and the screen is reduced
to a small bar, which you can reopen whenever you want - this way you can
"remove" the screen from view, or significantly reduce it, without actually
closing it completely.

JS