Two questions about Chess Assistant 7.1

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

Convekta has a handy form where you can ask questions. Getting answers
is another matter.

http://www.convekta.com/downloads.asp

gives Build 732 for Chess Assistant 7.1. I am using Build 729. There
are two versions of Build 732. There is a Build, and also a Full
Build, described as follows: "Besides the Build 732 capabilities, this
patch also performs the additional functions." Which additional
functions does the Full Build perform? Which one should I use for a
729 system? Might there be such a thing as a Build log?

Second, I would like to do a ? multichange ? on my TWIC database to get
all the names in the format
Kasparov,Gary rather than
Kasparov Gary or any other variant that might have crept in. That will
make it easier to find players, and add to the database every week.
Surely there is a TWIC-friendly multichange out there?

TIA.

--
Jonathan Berry

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

I think there is some problem with
build 732. I would stick with build 729
or upgrade to CA 8.1

But maybe there was some problem
with my computer rather than with
build 732. Did anyone get build 732
to work right?

 

[ceebee]

Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

"Akorps@aol.com" <Akorps@aol.com> wrote in rec.games.chess.computer:

> But maybe there was some problem
> with my computer rather than with
> build 732. Did anyone get build 732
> to work right?


Yes, I can remember it worked well on my PC. But what I do remember
is that the in-program update function did not detect 732 when asked
for.



--
CeeBee

***The cookie has spoken***

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

"Jonathan Berry" <jberry@islandnet.com> wrote in
news:1118158802.011510.201810@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

> Convekta has a handy form where you can ask questions.
Getting
> answers is another matter.
>
> http://www.convekta.com/downloads.asp
>
> gives Build 732 for Chess Assistant 7.1. I am using Build
729.
> There are two versions of Build 732. There is a Build, and
also a
> Full Build, described as follows: "Besides the Build 732
> capabilities, this patch also performs the additional
functions."
> Which additional functions does the Full Build perform? Which
one
> should I use for a 729 system? Might there be such a thing as
a
> Build log?
>
> Second, I would like to do a ? multichange ? on my TWIC
database
> to get all the names in the format
> Kasparov,Gary rather than
> Kasparov Gary or any other variant that might have crept in.
That
> will make it easier to find players, and add to the database
every
> week. Surely there is a TWIC-friendly multichange out there?
>
> TIA.
>

Scid, a free chess database application, has a spellchecker with
last name,first name format. Scid treats PGN files as read only.
The database has to be converted from PGN to Scidbase. After
running the spellchecker, the database can be exported as a PGN
file.

http://scid.sourceforge.net/scidbase.html

There are a couple of ways to convert PGN to Scidbase:

1. Put pgnscid.exe in the same directory with the PGN file that
is to be converted.

2. click Start/All Programs/Accessories/Command prompt

3. Change directory to the directory where pgnscid is located

4. type pgnscid filename.pgn (leave a space between filename.pgn
and pgnscid)

5. hit the enter key

6. the scidbase files will be created in the same directory
where pgnscid is located


or this simpler method

1. start Scid

2. file/new

3. tools/import file of PGN games

4. file/close

5. the imported PGN file will be saved in Scidbase format

6. exit Scid

BTW, pgnscid.exe is in C:\Program Files\Scid\bin

I'd suggest making a backup copy of your database before using
Scid spellchecker. The Scid photo file, photo.zip, uses the
same spelling format as the spellchecker. The player's pictures
will not display unless the database uses the spellchecker
format.

Scid forum:

http://newscid.proboards29.com/index.cgi

rt

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

I tried scid a few years back, and it did not work for me. Maybe I
need to try again.

The database, which contains over 500,000 games, is not in PGN format,
but I suppose I could export it.

The solution which eventually came from Convekta, involved making a
multichange for each player name. Sorry, I'm too old for that. But
surely somebody has done this sort of thing before and the multichange
file might be resting on somebody's hard drive.

I will not update to Build 732 until I hear positive news about it.
729 works OK.

--
Jonathan Berry

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

"Jonathan Berry" <jberry@islandnet.com> wrote in
news:1118276908.497353.163860@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> I tried scid a few years back, and it did not work for me.
Maybe
> I need to try again.
>
> The database, which contains over 500,000 games, is not in
PGN
> format, but I suppose I could export it.
>
> The solution which eventually came from Convekta, involved
making
> a multichange for each player name. Sorry, I'm too old for
that.
> But surely somebody has done this sort of thing before and
the
> multichange file might be resting on somebody's hard drive.
>
> I will not update to Build 732 until I hear positive news
about
> it. 729 works OK.
>

How large is the file? I'm on dialup, so if it's not too big,
I'd be willing Scid spellcheck it and repost it for you, if you
post a PGN zip file to alt.binaries.chess.

rt

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

The zipped pgn file is 100 MB.
So, instead of that, I downloaded and installed scid. Installation
successful!

Save base from CA 7.1 as a PGN file. Open scid, > Options > Load
Spellcheck file > Save Options, exit scid.

Open scid, create new scid database. > Tools > Import File of PGN
games. It took about 9 minutes to import the 533,000-odd games.

>File >Maintenance >Name Spelling >Spellcheck Player Names. After less than a minute the program came back with 20,115 corrections, but since it listed only the first 2,000, I had to repeat the process 13 times, in the end changing close to a million name instances. So effectively every name in the db was changed.

The spelling checker is very good. However, I guess I wasn't precise
in saying what I wanted.

In my TWIC database, I have
Kasparov
Kasparov,G
Kasparov, G
Kasparov,Gary
Kasparov,Garry
Kasparov,Garik
(I don't know if I have these precise names, but ones like them) and I
would like them all to be listed under the name which TWIC uses every
week. This happens to be:
Kasparov,G
Surname, coma, no space and then the bare minimum of the given name to
avoid ambiguity.

scid uses
Surname, Comma, Space, full given name. So if I export this to CA 7.1,
and start importing TWICs week by week, all the names will soon be
duplicated again.

So it was fun, and I guess I have a scid database of games from TWIC 92
to the present (TWIC 552), but it didn't accomplish what I set out to
do.

Incidentally, the current scid spelling checker thinks that
Berry, Jonathan and
Berry, Francis Jonathan
are different players. We are not!

F.Berry is probably Frank Berry of Oklahoma, or might be Frank Berry of
California. Some of my postal games might be labelled F. J. Berry, but
then again one of the Frank Berry's is a postal player. Which goes to
show that player identification is as much of an art as a science.

Thank you, rt, for turning me on to scid.

At the moment, neither of the problems outlined in the original post is
resolved, but I'm more inclined to live with them.

--
Jonathan Berry

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

"Jonathan Berry" <jberry@islandnet.com> wrote in
news:1118340210.407857.111740@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> The zipped pgn file is 100 MB.
> So, instead of that, I downloaded and installed scid.
Installation
> successful!
>
> Save base from CA 7.1 as a PGN file. Open scid, > Options >
Load
> Spellcheck file > Save Options, exit scid.
>
> Open scid, create new scid database. > Tools > Import File
of PGN
> games. It took about 9 minutes to import the 533,000-odd
games.
>
>>File >Maintenance >Name Spelling >Spellcheck Player Names.
After
>>less than a minute the program came back with 20,115
corrections,
>>but since it listed only the first 2,000, I had to repeat the
>>process 13 times, in the end changing close to a million name
>>instances. So effectively every name in the db was changed.
>
> The spelling checker is very good. However, I guess I wasn't
> precise in saying what I wanted.
>
> In my TWIC database, I have
> Kasparov
> Kasparov,G
> Kasparov, G
> Kasparov,Gary
> Kasparov,Garry
> Kasparov,Garik
> (I don't know if I have these precise names, but ones like
them)
> and I would like them all to be listed under the name which
TWIC
> uses every week. This happens to be:
> Kasparov,G
> Surname, coma, no space and then the bare minimum of the
given
> name to avoid ambiguity.
>
> scid uses
> Surname, Comma, Space, full given name. So if I export this
to CA
> 7.1, and start importing TWICs week by week, all the names
will
> soon be duplicated again.
>
> So it was fun, and I guess I have a scid database of games
from
> TWIC 92 to the present (TWIC 552), but it didn't accomplish
what I
> set out to do.
>
> Incidentally, the current scid spelling checker thinks that
> Berry, Jonathan and
> Berry, Francis Jonathan
> are different players. We are not!
>
> F.Berry is probably Frank Berry of Oklahoma, or might be
Frank
> Berry of California. Some of my postal games might be
labelled F.
> J. Berry, but then again one of the Frank Berry's is a postal
> player. Which goes to show that player identification is as
much
> of an art as a science.
>
> Thank you, rt, for turning me on to scid.
>
> At the moment, neither of the problems outlined in the
original
> post is resolved, but I'm more inclined to live with them.
>

There is an Unofficial Scid site. The original author hasn't
updated Scid for several months. A new spellcheck file is on
the downloads page. Perhaps you could contact the author of
the new spellcheck file to see if he can help you.

His e-mail address is on this web page.

http://members.aon.at/schachverein.steyr/

Unofficial Scid site.

http://scid.skjoldebrand.org/index.php?id=90&type=1

The webmaster's e-mail address is on the pages linked to [more]
I can't get those pages or the downloads page to open unless I
right click and open in a new window.

Downloads page

http://scid.skjoldebrand.org/index.php?id=88&type=1

rt

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

> In my TWIC database, I have
> Kasparov
> Kasparov,G
> Kasparov, G
> Kasparov,Gary
> Kasparov,Garry
> Kasparov,Garik
> (I don't know if I have these precise names, but ones like them) and I
> would like them all to be listed under the name which TWIC uses every
> week. This happens to be:
> Kasparov,G

Its easy enough to do for one name (like Kasparov, G) but I never was
able to get the scripts for changing all the names in a database to
work right. There were all kinds of strange things that happened that I
never managed to figure out. So I gave up after awhile.

 

[edog]

Archived from groups: rec.games.chess.computer (More info?)

I used to update the exectuable automatically until one of the builds would
not run on my machine. I had to re-install from CD and never bothered to
update the executable since then.

If something isn't working I haven't figured out what it is.

CA is a great program but sometimes I feel like the interface is a little
clunky.

Not enough to make me want to switch to another database though.