Chess Flashcard Trainer

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Chess Flashcard Trainer

Date 09/07/02

DISCLAMIER: This is _not_ a review per se. This is my own program.

The Chess Flashcard Trainer is a bit different from some of the other software on the market. It comes with a few tactical exercises, but it meant to be used with exercise sets that you download off the internet. It can use any PGN file that contains test positions.

The program uses a flashcard-like training method. You can set the time, and the program randomly selects a user-defined number of test positions to solve. The positions are presented sequentially, and when your time is up, you move on to the next one. IMO, this is one of the best ways to study tactical problems, since it allows you to improve your visualization and clock management skills. There is also an ELO filtering option that scores all the test positions, and only presents the ones within a certain ELO range/difficulty (this last feature can be disabled). You can find more information, and a demo download at:http://members.aol.com/rjpawlak/flash.

While the program can be used for simple or complex exercises, it is mostly meant for those that want a program with a little more challenge, but still be easy to use. For this reason, you cannot move the pieces on the board - you must visualize their movement. For particularly difficult positions, you can export the current position to PGN, and paste (via the windows clipboard) into a database program like Chessbase or Chess Assistant.

Databases of tactical tests are downloadable from a variety of places on the net. The Chess Flashcard Trainer homepage has links to some places where you can get these files. You can also create your own files if you have a chess program that can write PGN files.

The idea for this program grew out of an e-mail post I received some years ago from a very helpful person. He suggested that I do timed tactical exercise with five minutes max, before I moved on to the next position. I started buying almost every tactical book I could get my hands on, and used this method. Then I ran across a series by August Livshitz. These books also place a time limit on each example. And in the books, the author further suggests that sets of exercises be done, and the solutions consulted at the end of the set. I found that this method was extremely effective for improving my tactical skill.

And of course many years later, the light bulb went off, and I realized that the whole process could be automated with a computer program. Furthermore, it occurred to me that the program could be made easily extendable (at no cost!) via the support for PGN files. Thus, these two ideas led to the genesis of the Chess Flashcard Trainer.

Ok, like I mentioned at the beginning of this article, I have not set out to write a review. It would not be fair for me to do this. And so I have simply written something about the genesis of the program, and what it can do. If the concept sounds interesting to you, I would suggest you download it, and give it a try.