New edition of the opening book coming soon

 Next months i am going to  work on the new edition, which will probably take me a few hundred 

hours.  At first, the main updates will be presented in the E-book versions, eg on Amazon

Learning-Chess-Openings-intermediate-levels-ebook (Amazon)

The paper version will get the same updates, but in addition also the comprehensive

appendix with the details of all variations (not in the E-book) will be updated, thus 

making it a timeless reference guide for almost all chess players.  

Note basically, more advanced players will notice it is a 'repertoire' book; because

chess fundamentally is a draw, it is possible the chess players is deviating with his/her

'repertoire'' (built up after beginner level) from the variations in the book(s); however

in some situation we already indicate where such deviations are possible (eg for

more adventurous players,  or sometimes for more advanced players), and in any case

the repertoire given in the new edition of the book will be perfect rocksolid, timeless

and suitable from a practical point of view for the majority of chess players.

Improving opening theory (update of my chess book)

 A few years ago i wrote a book about opening theory specifically aimed

at beginner and intermediate levels; this is/was the paper version of the book:

Better-Chess-Openings (Amazon)

There also is an E-book version (and some other review) with various outlets (eg lulu.com/kobo), but the above  is key. The book was based on chess programs (engines) at that time, which already analyzed positions better  than  human chess grandmasters. However in recent years the chess engines were again considerably improved  due to the use of neural networks (the NNUE approach). As a result I had to check the content  of the book, and the recommended 'repertoire' (main  variations for Black and White). For this purpose in  last two  months I have analyzed two million of the most important opening positions added  the improved results to my computer chess 'opening book' did 'backsolving' some checks and finetuning on the final results. 

Luckily I found that  the  older 'main' opening choices ('repertoire')  still basically are correct (as result  of earlier deep/thorough analysis it appears I  was  ahead of my time) but many variations now do need an update in specific  moves,  and  sometimes  the order  of importance  for specific variations (recommended top choices) will be  changed.  This means it now is time for a  second, completely NEW, improved Edition, based on the latest  ('NNUE')  engines and a systematic analysis of  ALL relevant opening positions starting from scratch. 

Thereby many variations will get an update wrt the specific moves usually from move 3 or 4 onwards, and sometimes  the order of importance for specific variations (recommended top choices) will be changed. An example of a variation  which  has become almost obsolete as result of the engine analysis , is the French Winawer for Black. While I already  not recommended it for Black, I know can list the best moves for White to refute the variation,  in case  Black would play such the -erroneous/outdated- ...Bb4?!.  Also in the chapter with gambits,  and the more advanced 'positional' chapter (with 1.d4) there will be changes in the recommended moves, usually after move 3 or 4 or so, while maintaining the main structure  of the (sub)chapters. 

update Chess Gambiteer (open source)

 today uploaded an update of my (gambit) opening training package
at  Sourceforge:

Chess Gambiteer open source application(s)

There are various options available in this package,
1) play against a  engine -with gambit book- at (relatively low) club level, or
2) observe games at higher level (between gambit book
and ordinary book, with two different engines; often yielding
quite interesting and instructive -unbalanced- games).

See the various readme.txt files for more info.

Bookbuilder open source

Announced the open source 'package' (lots of files !) again.
after i added some more instructions (in sources directory
and updated the readme.txt. Announced on talkchess.com (programmers forum).

Some history, the functionality of the program speaks for itself,
decades ago the idea was to use the program not only to study
opening theory, but to improve opening theory itself.

NB not offering support (but you always can try to 'bribe' me
of course if you really get stuck :-)
(no guarantees, however)

PS all this work  resulted in my awesome (paper) chess -openingstudy- book (on lulu) :
https://www.lulu.com/shop/jef-kaan/better-chess-openings/paperback/product-1mw8r8qz.html
with five stars on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Better-Chess-Openings-Jef-Kaan/dp/1326180770/

Meanwhile i used my knowledge to play correspondence chess for some years
on ICCF and acquired a CCM (master) title.

While we are approaching the draw limit in computer chess, i've 
stopped with correspondence chess, at least as long as the (endgame
and 3 pos draw) rule haven't been modified to reduce the draw rate at high levels.

Yet based on the more modern Nnue engines of last year, i'm intending to update
my (paper) book (on Lulu/Amazon) or possibly even write a new edition.

Small update in Bookbuilder book

 In the latest download (bookbuilder setup file), there's now
a slight update of the book.pbs file (more than one million positions)

Best move now is 1.e4 in line with experiences in correspondence chess.
With best play, chess is a draw. but humans still may enjoy the g
game; and become a bit more modest in the process. 

The updated book may be useful for otb players, who like
to check/update their repertoire. But it's not perfect, of  course.

In correspondence chess you may of course look at 
bigger databases/ opening books.

Nevertheless, have fun

:)

Bookbuilder (free) download

The opening study and training program Bookuilder
(latest commercial version was 4.3b) now becomes
opensource. The setup file now can be downloaded at 

Bookbuilder download page 

Formerly a trial version for a week, the serial codes
for registration now are given as 'donation-ware'

Method for registration: go to help entry on menu 

username: customer@2013

serial code(s) FA95  997

Latest, medium size book was made by analyzing 
endmodes with SFNNue (!) and backsolving /full minimax
of the book with the older version bb36 (also included).

Enjoy

A donation a foundation in Moldova will be appreciated

See info in the readme.txt

PS sourcecodes of the program will be uploaded soon
(in the directory sources of this project on sourceforge.net)

Updated Chess-Gambiteer program

Now uploaded as open source project to Sourceforge

Chess-gambiteer on Sourceforge

It's a training program for weaker to average club players
to play against gambit opening lines (with a rather weak engine0

See the further description on Sourceforge.

SImply download the zip file, unzip, and start with the startdjeng.bat

Have fun !

2019

New layout again (January 2019)

some other news: (old) site www.bookbuilder.nl discontinued
(looking for other server).

Meanwhile my program Bookbuilder about chess openings
can still be registered at:
Bookbuilder info 

Download link coming in next post !

Meanwhile found some updates in my French repertoire
(for Black), English (for White), and (Semi)Slav (for White).
To be posted later on this blog...

Also planning an update (soon) for my book
about chess openings (find at):
Learning the chess openings (book at Amazon)