Mega 2017: Enjoying the updates

by Albert Silver
12/9/2016 – When looking at the flagship database by ChessBase, Mega 2017, it would be understandable to conclude that its asking price was buying you the 6.8 million games it comes with, not to mention the over 70 thousand commented games, but that is only part of what you get. When you purchase Mega 2017, you also get a professional 12-month service that will keep your database completely up-to-date. Here is a tutorial on how to activate and use it.

Upgrade Mega 2017 from Mega 2016 Upgrade Mega 2017 from Mega 2016

The "Mega" is the database every serious chessplayer needs. The database contains 6.8 million games from 1500 to 2016, in highest quality standard, full of top level analyses and completely classified.

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Keep up with the GMs

There is no question that Mega Database 2017 is the Rolls-Royce of databases. It comes with 6.8 million games, of which over 70 thousand are commented, many by the greatest players ever. However, as a tool that is supposed to allow the best players in the world prepare against their peers, a database that isn’t up-to-date is a tool that won’t cut it for cutting edge preparation.

When you buy Mega 2017, you will notice it also comes with a serial number. The part that might leave you scratching your head in mild confusion is that the serial number is not asked of you at any time during the installation. So what is it for? The answer is that it is for the one-year subscription to the Online-Update service that will keep your database at the forefront of chess development.

How to activate the Update Subscription

When you download Mega 2017 from the ChessBase Shop, you wll find two links to download the files, and a serial number. After installing Mega 2017 and the Player Encyclopedia, keep the page open as you will need the serial number.

Keep the page open to grab the serial number

Open ChessBase 13/14 (for example) and in the bottom left corner click on New Games:

New Games button

If you are a previous subscriber, you now have the option of transferring your subscriptions to your ChessBase Account. To do this, click on Transfer Subscriptions...

Open Transfer Subscriptions dialogue...

... and fill out your old data. That is all.

Notice the highlighted blue line which says that Update Base 2017 is 'Not Subscribed' and has 29,036 waiting to be downloaded. Then click on the Activate Subscription button...

We click on the Activate Subscription button...

... and fill in our serial number, the four-letter code below it, and then click Ok.

Downloading updates

Once subscribed, highlight the updates you want to install, and then click on Download selected entries.

Download selected game collections

After the file(s) are downloaded, a little window will pop up. Select Append to... and make sure the base it will add the updates to is Mega Database 2017. If it is not, click on [...] and find it. It will likely be in \My Documents\ChessBase\Bases

Find the database to append new games to

All future updates will only require you to click on New Games, select the files and Download them

Mega Database 2017

The "Mega" is the database every serious chessplayer needs. The database contains 6.8 million games from 1500 to 2016, in highest quality standard, full of top level analyses and completely classified.


Born in the US, he grew up in Paris, France, where he completed his Baccalaureat, and after college moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He had a peak rating of 2240 FIDE, and was a key designer of Chess Assistant 6. In 2010 he joined the ChessBase family as an editor and writer at ChessBase News. He is also a passionate photographer with work appearing in numerous publications, and the content creator of the YouTube channel, Chess & Tech.