COW (Chess Openings Wizard)

Chess Openings Wizard (COW) is an openings program that is associated with an ECO website www.chessopeningspgn.com.  The website was working just fine until last Friday.  For some reason I have been unable to access that website since last Friday.  If anyone else has COW Express or COW professional and has been unable to access the ECO website please let me know.  I don't know if it's just my PC that can't access that website or if other people are having the same problem.  Please let me know.

Thanks everyone!

Mike :-)

The link is down for me too.

What exactly do you do on that site? Perhaps there alternatives.

Hi baruchyadid,

Sorry I took so long to get back to you.  That website is for learning Openings.  Here is how it works:  The pgn files are grouped by ECO codes.  You goto the ECO code that you are interested in learning and download that file.  The file is pgn format.  You then create a book in Chess Openings Wizard and import that file. It's a very good way to learn Chess openings fast.  I hope this info helps.  Thanks for responding to me!

Mike :-)

COW? Really? Couldn't the people who created the site come up with a slightly better name for it?

Lol..

COW! For when you have beef [with your opening]!

Hi Mike,

That is what I suspected and I remember seeing several sites like that, which is why I recommended searching for alternatievs. Alas, it's been a while so I decided to do some searching myself and came across the following site:

http://www.pgnmentor.com/files.html

The site groups the openings by name, not ECO, but I think they're organized pretty well nonetheless. An added bonus is the collection of games by famous players and events.

That said, if I were you I'd do some filtering of the files first. Do you have a database program? I used to have MasterChess which worked together with COW but I don't recall whether I had to pay extra for it or it came with my purchase.

Anyway, I would filter the files for games by players rated over 2300-2400, or even higher if you want to narrow it down more, otherwise you might be learning the wrong plans from our fellow patzers and doing yourself a disservice.

I hope that makes sense.

Hi baruchyadid,

Thanks for the information!  I do own a Chess database.  I own Chessbase 12 64 bit.  I also have Fritz 13.  I also have Big Database 2013 which is a Chessbase CD.  I also have collections of analyzed master games in Chessbase 12.  It's just that COW was much easier to use to study openings than either Chessbase or Fritz.  I also did some research on the net and found out that website chessopeningspgn.com is owned by Mike Leahy who also owns COW.  I have emailed Mr. Leahy regarding the website being down but so far has not responed to my emails.  I want to thank everyone who has posted comments on this subject.  You have all been a big help!!

Mike :-)