ChessBase´26 – Beginner's Tips Part 11: Multitasking with several windows

by Stefan Liebig
4/19/2026 – ChessBase´26 offers great possibilities for analysing with several menu windows at the same time. Having been introduced to the practical options in the last tutorial, today you will learn about options that will take your analysis to a new level.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
The London System is one of the most popular openings at every level of chess but not all Londons are the same. In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Free sample video: Introduction
Free sample video: 5...cxd4 6.exd4 Qb6 sidelines

In the last tutorial, we showed you how to create your own ChessBase´26 layout or use one of the predefined standard layouts. It's easy to switch between the different settings so you can analyse in the way that suits you best. The next step is to expand this view for a game so that you can work comfortably with several notations at the same time. This allows you to quickly insert references, copy comments or leave out unwanted information – everything just the way you want it...

YOUR EASY ACCESS TO OPENING THEORY: Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product.
YOUR EASY ACCESS TO OPENING THEORY
Be well prepared with the new Opening Encyclopaedia 2026! Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product and is the ideal start for your opening training. Many new articles enrich the current theory with new or revisited ideas. The Encyclopaedia can help you learn openings quickly and give you a head start on your next opponent. Each article contains explanations and annotated games illustrating typical plans to deepen your understanding.

Working with several game windows

First, check the Options section to see if multiple windows are enabled – a maximum of eight are possible:

With "Maximum Board Windows" you define how many board windows can be open at the same time. That is, you do not have to close a board window to open another. The area for the main overviews of the databases is limited by the menu item ‘Maximum Database Windows’ (maximum 6). These are the categories (accessible via the ‘Text’, ‘Games’, ‘Players’, etc. tabs) of the database.

Next, we use a prepared database (or any other database, see tutorial series 9) and open it.

Of course, you could now analyse all these games individually. However, we will show you a way to quickly and effectively summarise your findings in an analysis by using the practical two-window approach:

From this database, we open number 1 (name and tournament invented, as in game 5), which already contains two variations, and number 2. The variations already contained in the game come from the prepared database, whose games numbered 2 to 4 are annotated and refer to the first game in terms of the opening.

Let's assume we want to look for supplementary material for game number 1 or for similar openings in the opening database or in this database. We can then arrange the windows side by side or spread across two screens. However, there is also an automatic function that displays two already opened games in full screen mode:

Under the main menu item ‘View’, in the ‘Arrange Main Windows’ section, you can choose between vertical, horizontal and diagonal arrangement of two windows – select ‘Maximise all’ or ‘Full screen’ to return to the larger view.

Pro tip:

Keep your games unannotated in a database, and analyse them in a separately saved analysis (either in a separate database or in the same database).

Practical exercise:

As you can see in the last screenshot, a variation from the GM game on the right has already been integrated into the analysis game on the left. Try out for yourself the advantage of this dual-window view by dragging moves/variations from the right window to the left. Of course, the most interesting part is always the point in the game where the two examples differ. Here it is the 12th move, and a variation has already been inserted on the left from the right and another database game.

The easiest way to do this is to click on the move – in this case 12.f5 – in the master or model game, hold down the left mouse button and, when the plus sign appears on the mouse pointer, drag the variation – with the left mouse button still pressed – into the target window with your analysis. When you release the mouse button, the entire variation, including all comments, will be inserted.

If this is too much information, you can hide variants or delete parts of variants by clicking on the green minus sign (more on this in Part 5: Comments). 

And never forget: You can undo every step with CTRL+Z!

EXPAND YOUR CHESS HORIZONS
Data, plans, practice – the new Opening Report In ChessBase there are always attempts to show the typical plans of an opening variation. In the age of engines, chess is much more concrete than previously thought. But amateurs in particular love openings with clear plans, see the London System. In ChessBase ’26, three functions deal with the display of plans. The new opening report examines which piece moves or pawn advances are significant for each important variation. In the reference search you can now see on the board where the pieces usually go. If you start the new Monte Carlo analysis, the board also shows the most common figure paths.

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ChessBase has developed over decades to become what it is now in its 2026 version. The program has countless options, which we will present here in small portions – so you can design your interface for pleasant daily use and keep learning about new options and how to use them to get the most out of ChessBase´26 and save time. 

We hope that this tip will help you to have more fun and be more successful when using ChessBase´26. You can find more tips and hints on our support pages and FAQ pages.

All parts of the series and more links:

Learn from legends! Get the full Master Class series on the World Champions at a discounted bundle price – only for a limited time.
Learn from legends! Get the full Master Class series on the World Champions at a discounted bundle price – only for a limited time.

<< Stockholm hosts Chess Party with world record attempt
Topics: ChessBase´26, Tutorial
Stefan Liebig, born in 1974, is a journalist and co-owner of a marketing agency. He now lives in Barterode near Göttingen. At the age of five, strange pieces on his neighbour’s shelf aroused his curiosity. Since then, the game of chess has cast a spell over him. Flying high in the NRW youth league with his home club SV Bad Laasphe and several appearances in the second division team of Tempo Göttingen were highlights for the former youth South Westphalia champion.
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See also

ChessBase´26 – Tips for Beginners, Part 6: Quick access toolbars and variation hierarchies

3/8/2026 – Analyses with ChessBase´26 are flexible: insights gained can be added to or changed at any time. This often leads to a re-evaluation of variations. In this tutorial episode, we will therefore explain how you can upgrade variations and insert or change evaluations. We will show how practical this is with the quick access bars next to and below the notation.
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 5

See also

ChessBase´26 – Tips for Beginners, Part 5: Annotations

3/1/2026 – With ChessBase´26, you can not only analyse your own games professionally – as we have already shown in the first four parts of the tutorial – you can also comment on them individually. There are several methods for doing this, and they can be linked together. The comments can be entered as text or using the commonly used chess symbols. In this fifth part of our tutorial series, we will show you how easily you can integrate all types of comments into your notation.
More...
 3

Video

60m English Anti-Bayonet

King’s Indian fans who choose the Mar del Plata attack (7...Nc6) against White’s classical system (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0) usually aim for a complex position with mutual attacks on open wings, requiring long-term strategic planning and tactical sharpness in critical moments. Computers often do not know how to handle the arising complex strategic positions, which suits players who like to think on their own instead of memorizing long variations. However, the fashionable Bayonet Attack (9.b4) interferes with Black’s ideas. After Black’s main move 9...Nh5 the positions opens, the lines get forced and computer analysis is important again. But this DVD offers an antidote against White’s Bayonet Attack, namely 9...a5! This move leads to sound positions with very few concrete lines, in which the focus is on strategy not on tactics. Objectively chances are equal but if Black knows what to do things might quickly become dangerous for White.