According to the opening, it can happen that a chess program does not perform at its best because it has fallen into an unfavourable opening variation.

 

Let us assume that over time you have put together a database of games in which a computer program was defeated by its opponent because of an unfavourable opening variation. So that this situation is not repeated, you can arm the engine against this line.

 

From the main screen we load Openings book and select from Edit – Openings Book the option “Learn from Database”.

 

 

You then enter into the dialog box the path of the database which contains the aforementioned defeats and the following dialog is called up:

 

 

We can now specify which information from the database Kommodo & Co should take into account. These options (which can all be combined) assimilate the weightings into the openings book, just as if the engine had itself played the games in question.

 

In normal circumstances the program alters the weightings given to each move in the openings book according to the experience gained from its own games. These weightings decide the probability with which any specific move will be played. This process of automatically adjusting these weightings after winning with a specific variation is called "Learning".

 

This feature has other practical uses. Many computer chess freaks are committed to playing with their chess engines in the engine room of the chess server playchess.com.