Wednesday 24 March 2010

BEST CHESS TRAINING SOFTWARE



In my School chess club i use CT-art 3.0 and Chess tactics for beginners,both from Convekta now chess ok.
The students work through the puzzles in the programs and are graded/rated at the end.
I find these old programs very good for children to use.
CT-art has now gone to version 4,using the Peshka interface.
As an added bonus to these i also use Fritz 11 to go over some of the childrens games,to get some top level notes.
I am thinking of adding more software from the Convekta/chess ok family,i think they are good value software.
Some may say basic and with faults,but good value.
These programs are installed on computers in the School,and the children can use them when they want to.
The familiarity across the range of these older softwae titles is good for the children.
They are not having to learn new systems for each program.

6 comments:

Russ Bastable said...

I recently started using their endgame software and I really like it. It was a bit tough to get used to, but once I did I decided I'd find the nearest blog and announce my love for the software! (Actually that just happened on it's own, but the love part is true.)

Rolling Pawns said...

I now read a book, on which CT-ART 3.0 was based and I like it a lot.
The programs should not replace the teacher, but can complement him very well.

From the patzer said...

I agree with Rolling Pawns, first the teacher and only then the software. Hope you and the pupils have fun.

chessx said...

The children use the programs for a couple of 10 to 15 minute slots per month.
The good thing about these programs is you can see what they have been doing.
Also they keep a log (most times it works) of what they themselfs do.
Plus the time taken to solve each puzzle when i am not their with them.
I use this as an addition to, not as a replacement to being taught by a human.
What they learn from these programs is being filtered through into their games.
They are seeing the patterens from the programs appear in their games, and are able to see the results of this study.
Although the children dont see it as study,they see it as chess computer time!!!

Rolling pawns
The book version sounds interesting i shall have to look into this.

Chesstiger
I hope the children have fun doing this,the time seems to fly by,the 1.5 hours just goes.

A couple of weeks ago the school played in a London zone chess tournament,the under 11 team came equal 2nd and the under 9 team came 4th.
Both teams quailified for the nationals during a weekend in may.

Rolling Pawns said...

That's a great result, congratulations! Participation in nationals will be a great experience and a lots of fun. Are you going with them?

chessx said...

Rolling pawns
Yes i spend the weekend with them and their parents.
As team manager you are responsible for the games your team plays.
Any problems you and the other teams manager sort them out,if you cant next stop the arbitor.