CT-Art 4.0?
Geert asks:
Did anyone try the new CT Art 4.0 yet? What exactly is the improvement over the previous version?I'm curious, anyone know the answers?
posted by Blue Devil Knight at 3/04/2010 05:40:00 PM
11 Comments:
I'm sure they read my blog and fixed all the errors in problems that I pointed out. Then they added 3000 new problems full of the same kinds of errors.
(one of those sentences is probably true)
I'd also like to know if it's worth upgrading from 3.0.
I have several thousand tactics to go through now from my own games, so I'm not exactly starved for material.
I have it, but I haven't used it very much (not enough spare time these days). I'm not sure if it's worth upgrading from CT-ART 3.0 if you've just gone through all the tactics recently, but the last time I did so was seven or eight years ago. I've noticed one definite improvement; you don't get a barrage of flashing squares and arrows as soon as you make one mistake, which used to drive me crazy.
There's a new GUI. optimized to switch between different Convekta traning programs within the same "Peshka" interface. All the courses can be purchased and downloaded directtly from ChessOK while the interface itself is free.
There's supposed to be around 600 new problems, for a total of 1800. From what I can tell most of the new problems are in the tougher sections; levels 50 to 90.
I don't think there has been much revision of incomplete/wrong solutions since 3.0, but don't trust me on that.
Sorry, I have the new version and I saw that you asked my back on my blog what it is like, but time constraints and all.
As I look at it now it has a nicer (easier on the eyes) interface, and Splits up the lessons. In training mode when you incorrectly try to solve a puzzle twice it gives you a similar puzzle with the emphasis on the quadrant where the action is (in my example it showed me a 4x6 area of the board where the tactic was taking place) to help you solve the current problem.
The interface seems to be a fair bit less touchy. In 3.0 oftentimes it would drop a piece before the square I intended or just not pick the right piece and mark me as wrong, that hasn't happened with 4.0.
The biggest difference is that you have to download a client that will get you to the Convecta website and gives you access to free and pay software training. You can launch other training programs that they make through this software as well.
It's nice but if you're happy with CT-Art 3.0 then save your money. Eventually you'll have to upgrade if you get windows 7, which I have an actually like more than XP.
It is still only $25 though so it is pretty cheap. If the look of CT-Art 3.0 drives you nuts like it did me, it could be worth the investment.
Oh yeah and what Aziridine said.
I would hope they'd fix the errors from the old version, but then again it is a very strange company not the most responsive to customer feedback (at least in English).
While 'what is the degree of improvement between 4.0 and 3.0' is a good question, what is even more significant (since 3.0 is plenty, even with its defects) is asking whether you need to embark upon any of its versions, and in so asking, how it compares to other alternatives? Not to snipe. You blog is the smartest, best run, blog in English speaking chess for new and intermediate improvers, but I had a guy write me (extensively), and I mentored him. On and on, and on... is this book better, is THAT book better? He asked ad infinitum. But it never stopped. And in the end, as a 700 elo blitz player, he started to play 1 0 at ICC. My god, just to get him to play a single 2 12 blitz game.
Thats not you, no way. You are far, far more. But my point is, sometimes its not what is the best game collection, or what is the best opening system, but JUST really looking at two classic GM games a week. The activity.
No deep analysis. Just plain looking, click, click.
Sometimes its not whether the Infinite Jest Variation of the Laplace Defered 8.Nh3 variation is better than the Larsen Seduction, but just plain knowing whether its best to play in reply to 1.d4... d5 instead of EVER playing 1.Nf6!
We all want glory. But activity reduces to simplicity. Last night, I solved a problem from Reinfelds 1001 Brilliant Checkmates that I had in bed for two, maybe three nights before bed.
I solved it. 14 moves. Complex position, in my head. I think I am ready to go back to CT-Art3.0 after the book!
Love dk
4.0 is the same as 3.0. cf current issue of chess Cafe for review of CT-Art 4.0, which is only different by adding endgame studies, repacking an old CD.
current 3.0 owners need not run to replace what they have. new buyers, if the cost is not significantly less, can buy 4.0 without harm. just know, its the same as 3.0 with a few studies NOT integrated into the old fabric, but an add on.
that settles it. dk
PS: hope you and mrs BDK are well.
I am trying to follow the Maza method using ct art 4.0. Does anyone know of a way that you can pick 1000 problems in ascending order of dificulty??
CT-Art 4.0 DOES it for you. it starts simply and you advance.
now, to be clear, by problem 500 most of us are sinking, so you are getting the right answer to the wrong question.
if you are rated over 1700, you dont need us to tell you what to do. and if you are rated 1500 or below, whats wrong with a judicious smattering of Alburt Pocket Chess Training Volume I (NOT vol II!), Reinfeld 1001 Sacrifices, THEN Reinfeld 1001 Checkmates?
Ascending order of difficulty implies that 1,000 is enough. its not. its two steps along the way.
then you can do 20,000 CTS, and advance from 1400 at 75% to 90% at 1500 or see IF you can do 98.5% at 1300. i did all that, and ive hardly begun.
my karate teacher, Sensei Vic Coffin (real name, marine special forces) said, 'do the front snap kick 10,000 times then ask me again.
we are not fast food chess. have you played 10,000 games recorded to chessBase?
Silman's endgame book, for last, has exercises, class D to A, etc.
k?
warmly to all, dk
just came upon your post as I search for info on Ct-art 4 in google. My 3 no longer is supported on my new computers OS.
As you might guess, I'm getting the chess bug again.
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