125,000 pages – or one DVD

Mega Database 2009 and ChessBase 10

ChessBase 10 with its fast Reference feature plus the brand-new Mega Database 2009 is the ideal package for opening training and preparation. The super-fast access to the completely rebuilt Online-Database is another excellent tool in ChessBase 10 in order find the games of your choice at a glance. It is especially fruitful when you want to check the latest trends in opening theory. On the other hand, the search result will here only show the last 1000 games and requires a stable Internet connection. If you play or visit tournaments from time to time you will know that even in hotels Internet is often not available or overpriced. Fortunately there is the new Mega Database 2009 which keeps ready all games until mid-November 2008. Another plus of the Mega 2009 is the large number of annotated games. Analysis and advice by strong grandmasters and opening experts are always a great aid to understanding the new ideas behind the moves and save you a great deal of time.

ChessBase 10 and Mega 2009 come with another brilliant novelty. The Mega Database 2009 includes a key for the Online-Upgrade of your database for the whole year 2009. That is another 200,000 new games from January to December. The Online-Upgrade Service of ChessBase 10 automatically downloads the games, copies them to your database and upgrades the indexes for openings, middlegame themes etc.

The latest event covered in the Mega Database 2009 is the Blitz world championship. The complete chess Olympiad has not yet been entered but will be delivered with the very first online upgrade beginning of 2009. The game list window of Mega 2009 shows a total of 4 126 340 games and texts.

The last games of Mega 2009

The highlight of the year was the world championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik in Bonn. Anand commented on the third and fifth games of the match in the famous Fritz-Trainer format (audio) on ChessBase Mâgazine 127. The pathbreaking third game, where he first surprised Kramnik with 14....Bb7, was also commented upon by the champion in classic style. It is included too in Mega 2009.

The Player Index lists 2,509 games by Anand.

The screen shows the players' list on the left, and the games and tournaments of the selected player on the right.

Cross-table of the World-championship 2008 in Bonn

Double-clicking on a result in the cross-table loads the game from the Mega Database 2009

The third game of Anand vs. Kramnik with analysis by the champion.

Vishy Anand has been among the top three players of the world for more than 20 years now. Over time he has commented on very many of his games for ChessBase Magazine: 259!  Compare this with the heavy new book "Kasparov on Modern Chess Volume 2, Kasparov vs Karpov" (76 annotated games, 422 pages), which gives an idea of what a printout of Anand's annotated games from Mega 2009 would amount to. However, against the background of 62,000 annotated games in the database, Anand's contribution to the Mega suddenly looks rather small. Assess 200 printed pages for 100 annotated games, and you will reach a full printout of approximately 125,000 pages for all annotated games in the Mega Database 2009. In the light of climate change, hardly anyone will do this.

Anand as the annotator of 259 games

Now, what about 14...Bb7, which was supposed to be the key move of the world championship match? If you look at the position after Kramnik's 14.Qe2 and start the Reference feature of ChessBase 10, you will see that 14...b4 is the main line with quite sound statistics for Black.

Anyone who thought that 14...Bb7 was a complete novelty will realize that he was wrong. Both the Reference search and the ChessBase Online Database prove that this move had been played several times already, though not at the highest level.

The Botvinnik Variation and the Anti-Moscow Gambit have become especially popular in 2008. You will meet it in nearly all topical tournaments and by means of the Mega Database 2009 and the ChessBase 10 Reference feature you will gain a very precise overview over the actual state of affairs.

Thanks to Teimour Radjabov also the Schliemann/Jaenisch Defence was greatly revived this year.

Surprisingly, the statistics for this line are much better than its reputation. 

There are certainly many more surprising discoveries awaiting us. Searching for them in the new Mega Database 2009 with ChessBase 10 is not only fascinating but will also give you a lot of fun.

 

Prices

Mega Database 2009    149,90 €
+ online update 2009 (for ChessBase 10)

Big Database 2009    49,99 €
+ online update 2009 (for ChessBase 10)

Updates

Update from Mega 2008 to 2009   49,99 €
+ online update 2009 (for ChessBase 10)
 
Update from Big 2008 or older Mega to Mega 2009   99,99 €
+ online update 2009 (for ChessBase 10)
 
 

ChessBase 10 Packages

ChessBase 10 Starter Package:
The economical way to get started. ChessBase10 program and Big Database 2009 with more than 4 million unannotated games. Plus online update 2009 (200 000 new games). Plus 3 current DVDs of ChessBase Magazine.
Starter Package   154,90  €
 

ChessBase 10 Mega Package:
ChessBase10 program and Mega Database 2009 with more than 62 000 annotated games. More than 4 million games in all. Plus online update 2009 (200 000 new games). Plus a year’s subscription to ChessBase Magazine. Plus Correspondence Chess DVD. Plus the DVD-Endgame Turbo 3 (9 DVDs with Nalimov Tablebases)
Mega Package   359,00 €

System requirements for ChessBase 10

• Minimum requirements: Windows XP, Internet-Explorer 6, DVD-ROM drive, 512 MB RAM, 600 MHz.
• Recommended: Windows XP or Vista, 2 GB RAM, 2 GHz or better, DVD drive. New graphics adapter for a fast 3D board. Windows Media Player 10 for Chess Media System.