ChessBase is a personal, stand-alone chess database that has become the standard throughout the world. Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it.
When you click on one of the tabs labelled Players, Tournament, Annotator, Source, etc. you get an index of that category. For instance clicking on “Players” produces an alphabetical list of all the players in the database.
The new Players index of ChessBase 9.0 (click to enlarge)
On the left there is a list that can be configured and sorted (like the games list described in the previous article). There is also a search function at the bottom: typing in a few letters of a player’s name causes the program to jump to that player.
On the right are two windows with the games of the highlighted player and the tournaments in which they were played (double-click a tournament for a full cross table). Once again all the list functions like sorting, filters and tool tips are available.
If you right-click a player on the left you can restrict the display to only his white or black games. You can also call up an ID card, get statistics and generate a “player dossier” (a full report derived from the reference database on the players games, career highlights, openings repertoire, best and worst lines, etc.).
There is also a special “Filter” at the bottom of the windows which allows you to restrict the entries in many different ways. For instance you can display only certain players, only those with a certain minimum/maximum rating, with a certain title, from a certain country, of a certain age, male or female, etc. In tournaments it is particularly useful to be able to search for any set of characters, e.g. to locate “Corus Wijk aan Zee” by simply searching for “wijk” or “zee”.
An improved index format with two additional files makes these lists much faster. The information is displayed without searches in the database, as was the case in ChessBase 6, 7, and 8.
This displays a list of openings keys, based on the Informator ECO codes (there is also a smaller descriptive key included with the program).
The openings keys in ChessBase 9 are displayed in the style of the Windows Explorer, with “directories” which you can open and close to display or hide entire sections of the keys. When you move your cursor onto a key the games are displayed in the window below, with the continuations from the branching point of the key given. Naturally you can sort this list like any other, e.g. according to the strength of the players or the continuations that were played.
Note that the moves leading to the classification position are shown at the top of the openings key list, together with the ECO classification code and the traditional descriptive name of the opening.
This is a new function which allows you to perform a fast background check in the reference database. With a position of interest on the board you can click the “Reference” tab at the top of the notation.
The new Opening Reference in ChessBase 9.0 (click to enlarge)
ChessBase 9 generates an overview of all moves and all games played in the current position (in the games of the reference database). The number of games, score, date of the latest games, highest Elo and the players are displayed. At the bottom are the games, which once again can be sorted, e.g. according to rating, at a click of the mouse.
Click on a move in the reference window to execute on the board. You can use the mouse or the cursor keys up/down to move between alternate lines, and left/right to move forward or backwards in variations. You can right-click a game and use “Copy to notation” to insert it as a reference in the current game.
– To be continued –
