Q. What is Chess Workbook?
A. Chess Workbook is a chess training software based on the proven and tested educational technique known as flashcards. Flashcard is a familiar concept that our teachers in school use to reinforce what they teach. Do you still remember how you have memorized the capitals of each country in the world by using blank cards and writing the country name at one side and the corresponding capital at the other side? And then we put aside those cards that we can readily answer, while we concentrate on the cards that we have difficulties with?

Average chess players own volumes of chess books. When we found out about a chess book that we thought would help us improve our game, almost always, regardless of the price, we would buy it. But after reading (most often, we just end up reading some portion of the book), we felt that we still play the same level as before we read the book. And the book ended up as another addition to our collection of the chess books.

Compare this to when we were in school. When we read a book during those days, chances were we still know up to now about what we read. The difference was that in school our teachers reinforced what we have read by giving us quizzes and homeworks. Our chess books very rarely provide quizzes so as to reinforce and lock-up what we have learned. Chess Workbook builds this gap.

Q. What does this program do that others can't?
A. The learning algorithms help you thoroughly master the study material. The program tracks your progress and focuses attention on those positions causing difficulty while continuing to reinforce areas of strength.

Q. Where do I get exercise sets for download?
A. There are several workbooks that can be downloaded for free in our download page. There is also an exchange site hosted by MyChessSite where you can download more workbooks created by other users. This means that you never have to buy any training software involving training positions again.

Q. What is the built-in crafty engine for?
A. This is to further enhance your mastery of the position. More often than not, crafty will play moves that are not in the solution set.

Q. How can I create my own training workbook?
A. You'll need the FREE Chess Workbook Authoring Tool. Here you setup the training positions and provide the solutions. You can also copy and paste positions from other viewers that provide copy functions like Winboard.

Q. Can I use this program to study openings?
A. Absolutely! Kotov, in his classic book "Think Like a Grandmaster", recommends to master key positions of the paricular openings you want to study. Many chess masters and trainers agree that this is a better approach than memorizing variations. Using the Chess Workbook Authoring Tool, you can create workbooks that contain the key positions of the opening you like. Choose opening books that have plenty of diagrams that illustrate key positions. Good examples are "Pirc Alert!" of Alburt, "Guide to Modern Benoni" of Watson and "Attacking with 1.e4" of Emms.

Q. Why can't I get past the 10th position?
A. You are skipping and not solving the positions. Chess Workbook serves 10 positions per batch and you have to solve at least 1 position to get past the last position of the batch .

If you like to examine the positions sequentially, use the free Chess Workbook Authoring Tool.

Q. How can I change the color of the squares of the chess board?
A. Click 'Options' from the main menu and select either 'Light Square Color' or 'Dark Square Color'. A color dialog will pop-up where you can select the desired color to customize the square colors.