ChessBase´26 – Tips for beginners, part 27: Creating Effective Training Material (Part 1)

by Stefan Liebig
8/16/2026 – Chess trainers love ChessBase´26 — and for good reason! With just a few clicks, you can create outstanding training material and even enrich it with interactive exercises. In this first part, we’ll show you how to set up a thematic database in no time — perfect for your own practice or for your students. In the upcoming parts, you’ll discover powerful ways to use it to boost training results quickly and effectively.
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Creating a Database for Training Purposes

As is often the case in ChessBase, there are several ways to work with databases. In episode 7 of this tutorial series, we already explained some basic database functions. In the context of this episode, you can get to know another method:

The three hands show the way: Click first at the top on "New" to create a new database — you can also do this via the "File" menu. Then, in the menu window that opens, select the folder where you want to save the new database and give the database a name. Finally, click "Create new" in the bottom right.

This database will now also appear in the "My Databases" window.

Games and themes for the database

Here we describe three examples of how you can fill your database with training games:

Games from the Mega Database on specific themes

We want to find checkmate positions to demonstrate checkmating for beginners. In the Romantic era of chess, the likelihood of a game being played all the way to checkmate was certainly higher. So we decide to look for games by Paul Morphy in which checkmate occurred.

To do this, in the Mega Database select the "Players" tab, enter the name at the bottom, and then click on "Dossier" at the top (Shortcut: CTRL+ALT+D):

In the menu window that opens, click on "Legacy Dossier" and then on "OK":

In the new window, check "Games with mate" and confirm again with "OK":

The dossier is generated, which may take a while:

The result then looks as follows (excerpts):

Here you can now see several games by Morphy that ended in checkmate. If you click on the red links, the games will open in a new window.

If, in this new window, you go to "File" in the main menu and select "Save as new game," this selection window will open. Here, choose the directory you created above and the database you set up, in order to store the game there via the "New/Open" button:

This way, you can expand the database with additional Morphy games or games by other masters.

Winning starts with what you know
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Using material from the ChessBase Magazine (CBM)

If you want to work with a ready-made database, you can, for example, use the already prepared tactics database from the ChessBase Magazine section "Tactics Total." To do this, click in the CBM on the section and the corresponding article there:

There you will find the practical option "All tactical exercises from this article." If you click there, this window will open:

All the tactical exercises are displayed below the left diagram. With a click on the arrow, you can start the download:

If you select the top option "Download & Copy – PGN," the database will be saved as a PGN in your downloads folder. If ChessBase´26 is open, the database will also appear simultaneously in these two windows:

Now, as described above, you can create a new database and insert individual games there, or mark all games and drag & drop them into it. Don’t forget to save!

Adding games "by hand" to a database

Of course, you can also insert games into a new or existing database that you notice somewhere else or come across by chance. If you have the PGN, you already know the procedure. If, for example, you see a nice combination in a magazine, you can also integrate this position into the database via "Set up position" (see tutorial episodes 15 and 16).

Give it a try and create your databases with ChessBase´26, the Mega Database, the ChessBase Magazine, or other sources! There are many possibilities ... In the next episode, you will learn how to transform this database into your own training material, as Oliver Reh does in the ChessBase Magazine.

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ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post.
Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #226 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.! -> books.chessbase.com
 

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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:

The ChessBase Mega Database 2025 is the premiere chess database with over 11 million games from 1475 to 2024
The ChessBase Mega Database 2025 is the premiere chess database with over 11 million games from 1475 to 2024 in high quality. Packing more than 113,000 annotated games, Mega 2025 contains the world‘s largest collection of high-class analysed games. Train like a pro! Prepare for your opponents with ChessBase and the Mega Database 2025. Let grandmasters explain how to best handle your favorite variations, improve your repertoire and much more.

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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 26: Null moves: The art of doing nothing

8/9/2026 – It’s often the small tricks that make training clearer and more effective. One such feature in ChessBase´26 is the ability to insert null moves. This can be especially helpful in chess training or analysis. In this short and concise tutorial, you'll learn how to use null moves effectively.

See also

ChessBase´26 – Tips for beginners, part 25: Customizing your view – how to see what matters

8/2/2026 – ChessBase´26 offers a wide range of technical features and training tools. To get the most out of them, it helps to know where to look. In this tutorial, we show you how just a few clicks can enhance your ChessBase experience. Explore the "View" menu across different sections of the program to design your own personalized ChessBase environment. Take a look and try it out — because in the end, it’s all a matter of personal preference...
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Video

60m English New ideas in the Najdorf_E

‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are: • 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2 • 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc) • 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation • 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1 • 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3) It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.