Some ebooks are over 15 years old. I hope you guys will update them soon, I love them.

I have seen this too, and it has annoyed me.

GMTonyKosten wrote on 10/06/14 at 10:15:36:

Having said that, they do look rather long and overpowering, and when there are several links in a row they take up a lot of the space and make the actual moves look rather secondary. It would be nice if I could edit the info on these somehow, and make them shorter. Does anyone know how?

GMTonyKosten wrote on 12/20/11 at 12:56:13:


Yes that's very true. We could start with the Tarrasch, which is sure to be more popular now 

And another e-book that I think is needed is the Queen's Gambit Declined. There's not even an old style e-book available.

There's a ton of good stuff from Ruslan in the pdf that needs to get its way into a proper format 

Thanks for your good work, it's a great site, but should also continue to move forward 

GMTonyKosten wrote on 12/17/11 at 14:00:41:


I would greatly appreciate the Spanish being updated 

GMTonyKosten wrote on 12/14/11 at 23:19:56:


Well, I think this is fine, however, as mentioned, some have not been updated for many years.

BabySnake wrote on 12/15/11 at 22:14:39:

I wouldn't suggest using it if it didn't exist! Why not look on the ChessBase downloads page, it is still there!

BabySnake wrote on 12/15/11 at 12:37:48:

Why not download the free ChessBase light program?

BabySnake wrote on 12/15/11 at 12:37:48:

Well I agree, I find that they are fantastic tools to prepare before games. I think the main problem is that you need ChessBase and Windows, and a lot of subscribers don't like/use both/either!

As I wrote before, all the newer style playable (CBV) eBooks are updated whenever the PDF eBooks are updated.
We would be happy to do more, but there is simply very little demand for them.

What has happened to the updates of the playable e-books? Some are updated, whereas others are from very long ago

Tony,

Keep 'em coming, loving it!!!

Still a bit confused - 

How do I know which eBook is new style and which is old style (without downloading and open it)? Is it the eBooks with "NEW" in front?

How do I know when a New Style eBook is updated? I take it that when it is advertised on the Home page then it is a new eBook and not only an updated new eBook.

Sorry for all the questions but I do like to utilize the New Style eBooks and really  want to know when there are new ones and when new ones are updated. As it is now I have totally missed that the new ones are updated almost every month.


Section                        Total                   New
                                 Playable             Playable
1 e4 e5                           7                       0
French                            4                        0
Dragons                               3                        2
Open Sicilian                    4                        2
Anti-Sicilian                      6                       2
1 e4 …                            4                       1
1 d4 d5                           6                       1
d-pawn Special                5                       0
King’s Indian                    4                        1
Nimzo  and Benoni          4                        0
Daring Defence                6                       2
Flank Openings                5                       1

GMTonyKosten wrote on 05/04/10 at 18:53:53:

 
Don't understand what you are saying Tony. Is really the playable eBooks updated as frequently as the PDF files?

E.g 

PDF Spanish
"Last Updated: 25th April 2010, Size= 449kb, Estimated download time with a 56.6 modem= 45 seconds"

but

Playable eBook Spanish
"Last Updated: 4th October 2007, Size= 927kb, Estimated download time with a 56.6 modem= 110 seconds"

This descrepency goes for most of the eBooks.

Unfortunately I have the same experience as TalJechin

TalJechin wrote on 05/01/10 at 17:51:49:

We do send out email notifications whenever new eBooks are available, but you have to have email notification switched on for the relevant section (most subscribers turn this off). We also announce them on the Feed and on the Home page, not to mention that month's update!

GMTonyKosten wrote on 05/01/10 at 17:28:10:


By all means continue! They're absolutely great!

Since this thread was last active we've added a number of the new-style playable eBooks, and have kept all the recent ones completely up-to-date. 
Sometimes this has even involved major changes, two recent examples being the Catalan and Classical Dragon eBooks.
However, I get the impression this has passed almost unnoticed, we've received no comments here, and I've seen almost nothing on the Forum. The number of downloads is still much less than for the PDF eBooks, although this might well be because the playable ones can only be used with ChessBase, thus requiring a lot of work for Linux and Mac users.
Should we discontinue? 

Tony,

I have noted that a new classical and other dragons ebook is available for download with the November Update of GM Ward.

Could you kindly publicite in the main page of chesspublishing.com in the same way that the modern-pirc one?

I have added an sticky post in the dragon forum

Thanks for the work!

Muchas gracias, Tony!

rukh wrote on 09/04/09 at 13:23:11:

Well it's now online, hope you enjoy it!

I like the playable e-book format, it's more efficient to use because I don't have to move my eyes all the time between the book and the board and seek again where the move was in the book or pdf.

Tony, are you planning to make a playable ebook of the pirc/modern?

Thanks for all the new eBooks!!! Keep 'em coming boys!!!

Tony, thanks for the new ebooks.

To date you have been adding new ebooks to the stock, but are you thinking in update the old ones presents in the chesspub site?


GMTonyKosten wrote on 05/06/09 at 18:39:43:

OK, so far there are over 50 playable eBooks, with 13 new style, and more being added every week!

ChessMonkey wrote on 04/28/09 at 01:42:52:

It is the Classical that is new.

hi Tony,
.pdf files are more often downloaded because:
- they are updated. once i noticed that most .cbv ebooks were from 2006-2007 (some even 2004) i never wasted time to visit the "Playable ebooks" section;
- they can be used not only with several operating systems, but also on several devices; i read most of my .pdfs on my pda...
However, .cbv files are more usefull for most players. as someone from above posts said, if you really want to study a particular variation, sooner or later you will put all the moves in a chessbase database. and the new format is much nicer then the old one.
About a greater feedback for .cbv files: just put a poll in the first page.
About Gold Plus: only usefull feature is "One stop games download", hardly an incentive for subscribers to upgrade to Gold status. Access to a section of often updated playable ebooks will be a better incentove maybe. the .cbv may not be upgraded monthly, quarterly upgrades should be enough.
and last but not the least, I would like to thank you for "The Dynamic English", best white repertoire book that I ever read! when I read it first time, I was sorry that it had only 130 pages instead of 500 pages..  

Göran wrote on 03/30/09 at 16:06:12:

I have only tried a couple of times, but yes, the free CB 2007 seems to handle the eBooks quite well.

It is possible to download the light version of ChessBase for free. It gives the option to read the eBooks if you would like to compare.

Göran wrote on 03/29/09 at 23:19:40:

Yep, they are even way behind many of the other playable eBooks, but I only have statistics for the whole month, and they have been online for less than two weeks. In a couple of weeks I will have more meaningful results.

Agree very much - the interface not really there yet but very promising.

I think Convetka will give Aquarium Demo support for reading i-Books. This new feature came out with recent version 3.1.

This new format is really cool but it's already too young and lacks some functionality in order to make it easier, I mean:

- Lacks keyboard navigation.
- The edition of i-Books is already very complicated (a text window where you have to use tags and commands). It is planned to add buttons in the interface in order to make the edition easier.

For sure, this fundamental features will be added in near future, I hope.

For those who already don't know anything about i-Books is like reading a formated paper book + having a board of the position + having a classifier where you can jump from one chapter to another. But also if you have an opening book in Aquarium you can also see if the position of the i-Book is in the tree in other pane in real time...

For more info the Aquarium section in Rybka's Forum is a good site.

PD: I really like the New Style eBooks over pdfs.

I write as one who has downloaded and tried both the old and new Playable eBooks but rarely use them because I find I much prefer to use the PDF eBooks alongside a database of the games.

First I should explain that I am a correspondence player and my requirement is to have a good understanding of openings and be able to research individual positions in depth. I do not need to memorise an opening for OTB play, and that may possibly make a difference.

The PDF eBooks are excellent. They are very professionally presented. My on-screen layout displays the index and two pages of text and it is easy to use the index to skip between pages to view different lines. While this does not allow me to play through the variations there are sufficient diagrams to give a good understanding of the opening themes and typical positions.  In contrast I find the Playable eBooks less readable and if I wish to overview an opening I need to open several game windows and skip between them, sometimes frustratingly confusing the windows.

When I want to research a position in detail I open a CB board window and use my single “ChessPublishing” database as the reference database. The reference tab then gives me a service that I find comparable to the Playable eBook, but with the advantage that I only need to maintain a single database.

My monthly workflow is straightforward. I overwrite my existing PDF eBooks when they are updated and add all the new games to my CB “ChessPublishing” database.

I appreciate the work that Tony is doing in trying to improve the service and would not wish to discourage his efforts. If my comments are shared by others it may explain why there has been a less enthusiastic response to the Playable eBooks than expected. One of the limitations of the Playable eBook is perhaps the lack of quality and versatility of the Chessbase format. I have recently seen examples of the Aquarium i-book. At first sight the i-book does look a better vehicle for the service that Tony is trying to offer, possibly improving on both PDF and Playable eBooks. But I wonder how many subscribers yet have access to Aquarium?

GMTonyKosten wrote on 06/11/08 at 16:48:26:


As to me, I like playable books much more because they are easier to read through in Chessbase 10. Otherwise, I'd have to print out your recent pdf-books and then make a playable book myself; it's much more time and effort-assuming to me. So I am both hands up for the new format CB playable books! 

LeeRoth wrote on 02/15/09 at 16:14:00:


Antillian wrote on 02/15/09 at 16:00:40:


OK - you can download it now!

First impression: It's great. That is really the way to go! Can we have Accelerated Dragon/Hyper-Accelerated Dragon? Can't wait.

So much better than the PDF versions. Easy to access, good overview and playable games in CB.  

Great!

Grazie!

I vote for Pirc and Scheveningen.  I'd also be willing to pay extra for the eBook service.

Incidentally, I know there are lots of undocumented shortcuts in Chessbase that you can customize (I still use a couple of my old customizations despite the fact they no longer appear in the Customize list!), is there a chance we could customize the Game Quotation one, so it is something simpler than Ctrl+ Enter (right arrow would be nice!)?

King's Indian Fianchetto, Nimzo-Indian, Catalan would be my choices.

For Fausto, Anti, Monkey, Lou et al: After I've finished putting this round of updates online I will do a couple of new style eBooks just for you.
Now you just have to decide which ones you want!

GMTonyKosten wrote on 02/13/09 at 01:44:11:


But isn't this because the PDF books are far more current? 

I simply can't imagine that given a choice, people will choose PDF books over Chessbase e-books.   But, maybe I am just really biased because of my own strong preference for e-books.  I don't buy Everyman Chess paper books anymore unless I really can't wait. Otherwise, I wait a while for the e-book to come out instead.

Tony, which are the actual possibilites of make playable ebooks accesibles to subscribers updated on monthly bases (or bi-monthly) instead of have 2004 ebooks without any updates.

What about put a Gold+ Subscription with that service for a reasonable fee?

I will pay for that extra service, so valueous for me, and probably the people who are usings ebooks.


Lou_Cyber wrote on 02/13/09 at 16:38:21:

Really a pity .  I have a bunch of the Everyman books both in paper and eBook form and find it very convenient when I want to do a quick check on a variation or to save analysis (w/Rybka's assistance ) that is not covered in the book.  I also have Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual in paper and CD form (the CD is for the 1st edition from what I can tell) which makes it a breeze to go through sidelines and sub-subvariations.