Bookup.com

[Ian Prittie]

Does anyone use or have an opinion on bookup.com to learn openings?

[Eric Hansen]

Re: Bookup.com

looks pretty suspicious

[Felix Dumont]

Re : Bookup.com

It is apparently a scam : http://www.chesscircle.net/forums/sh...tabase-program

[Vlad Drkulec]

Re: Bookup.com

Does anyone use or have an opinion on bookup.com to learn openings?

I have been using various versions of bookup since the 1990s though I gradually moved to DOS versions of Chessbase in the 1990s before dropping out of chess for a long while. I have communicated with and bought various products from Mike Leahy (with the most recent purchase probably being about six months ago though it might have been longer as time seems to fly these days) and he has always delivered exactly what I expected and what was promised. I found bookup useful back then (in the 1990s) and updated to chess opening wizard in the last few years.

These days I tend to use chessdb and a recent version of chessbase for the most part to display games and game fragments and have dabbled with chess position trainer and bookup's chess opening wizard. I have used chess opening wizard mostly to generate chess diagrams which was actually one of the selling points of the program. If openings ever become a high priority for me I will use chess opening wizard to help me but most of my opening work comes to me from watching chessbase videos, reading chess books and using websites like chesspublishing.com or from repertoires provided by my chess coach GM Viktor Gavrikov.

[Kevin Me]

Re: Bookup.com

This is actually legit, though perhaps outdated. I was introduced to this program over 10 years ago.

[Kerry Liles]

Re: Re : Bookup.com

It is apparently a scam : http://www.chesscircle.net/forums/sh...tabase-program

You believe what you read on the Internet? I have a copy of Bookup and yes, I occasionally get emails from Mike Leahy advertising new versions or new opening books (which do cost nominal amounts) but some small percentage of people apparently have had problems with him and continue to slag him at every opportunity... that has not been my experience.

I don't think his software is more sophisticated than chessbase stuff, but it is a lot easier to use and seems to properly work.

He publishes a lot of how-to videos on Youtube illustrating how his program(s) work - it might be worthwhile to watch some of that to see (free) for yourself.

Chess forums [especially but not limited to the ones in the U.S.] seem to breed low-lifes who have nothing better to do than slag everyone and everything...

[Gordon Ritchie]

Re: Bookup.com

It is entirely legitimate. I believe Bookup itself is still freeware---and worth every penny... The commercial version is a bit pricey for what it offers and the supplementary materials on openings, classic games, etc. is overpriced.
As for the key program, Chess Opening Wizard, it does the job of collating a basic opening repertoire and drilling players on the required moves. Some of the fancier elements, including the flash drills, are wildly overhyped and of highly dubious effectiveness.
In all, for its limited basic purposes it is a useful addition to the toolbox and fills a gap that neither ChessBase nor ChessAssistant have yet met.

[Dan Scoones]

Re: Bookup.com

In recent years I have used Bookup and its successor Chess Opening Wizard to study openings that require exact knowledge of specific variations. Instead of playing over games with a board and pieces you play them over in Bookup and the program automatically keeps track of everything. Later you can set it on test mode and reinforce what you've learned. It comes pre-loaded with the Crafty analysis module, which I have replaced with the much stronger Houdini. I think the program would be especially helpful for anyone who has more than one book on their repertoire openings. When new games come out in your favourite lines it is very easy to add them to the tree and write yourself a note about their significance. Games can be added manually, or from a pgn file, but I prefer the manual method because it forces me to think about what I'm doing. I don't use Bookup for opening lines that are primarily strategic -- for example, the Queen's Gambit Exchange Variation -- but I can't imagine playing, say, the Grunfeld Defence without using Bookup.