ChessBase´26 – Tips for beginners, part 28: Creating Effective Training Material (Part 2)

by Stefan Liebig
8/23/2026 – Use ChessBase´26 for training purposes: with smart use of the database functions and the training tool, you can quickly put together excellent training material. There’s no need anymore to pore over books, copy diagrams, or scan pages. In this second part of the tutorial, you’ll learn how easy it is to prepare your material in a didactic way and turn it into exercises. This saves you valuable time that you can use for your own training or for your students.
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Creating exercises from a database

In the first part of this tutorial, we explained how to create a training database. To now demonstrate how to generate training examples from such a database, we have selected a number of positions from Carl Colditz’s classic tactics book Lehr-, Übungs- und Testbuch der Schachkombinationen. In Germany, this book has long been regarded as a standard reference for learning and practicing combinations, and it remains widely known among chess trainers and club players. These positions were taken from the Mega Database 2025 and compiled into a separate database. To this we have added some more recent examples by Oliver Reeh from ChessBase Magazine, as well as a pawn endgame.

A note in advance:

The examples mentioned here make use of two different approaches. One is the ChessBase method described in detail in this tutorial. The other is mainly used for ChessBase Magazine and the ChessBase video courses. Both methods allow you to import the material into your own databases or integrate it into cloud databases, something we will cover in more detail in the next part of the tutorial. The practical advantage is that both methods are compatible and can even be combined.

So let’s begin with the pawn endgame shown at the start. It appears marked at the very bottom of the list, since we have sorted the examples by date (click on the date column). The position is already visible in the preview on the right. If we double-click the database entry, the example will open.

As you can see, this basic endgame position already comes with a training question and a set of possible answers. A countdown clock shows how much time you have left to solve the task.

Next, we’ll show you how to create a similar exercise yourself. For this demonstration, we’ve recreated the endgame position (shortcut: S).

The two top index fingers (from right to left) indicate what you need to set:

  • In the main menu bar, select Training
  • To use the functions, make sure the box "Enable training" is checked

Now, if you play 1.Ke6 from the starting position, the new position will appear on the main board, and in the notation pane below the starting position you will see the first move. If you then enter all possible alternative moves—1.Kc6, 1.Kc5, and 1.Ke5—followed by the main move 1.Ke6, and then click "Training Comment" at the top left, the following window will open:

You can now adjust the following settings (you don’t need to use all of them):

  • At the top, choose the language for the text
  • With Move Input/Multiple Choice, select the type of question
  • On the left, you can add extra text, for example to comment on wrong answers or to provide hints
  • Below that, you can set the time limit for solving the exercise
  • To the right of the alternative moves, you can select a move and assign comments and point values to it

In the second screenshot of this tutorial, we used a multiple-choice example in which the task was to evaluate the position after Ke6. For demonstration purposes, let’s now click on the correct solution A:

and then on the incorrect solution B:

Here's an example from the Colditz book, showing how instructional material from books can be prepared:

The free app from ChessBase! ChessBase Mobile has everything you need as a chess player on the go: access your chess data in cloud databases - and 13 million games.
ChessBase Mobile has everything you need as a chess player on the go:
  • Access the ChessBase online database - with more than 13 million games: search for players, positions, openings etc.
  • Save your own games and analyses in cloud databases
  • Synchronise your personal databases across all your devices
  • Analyse your games with the built-in engine
  • Live opening book: use the most comprehensive and up-to-date statistics for every opening position
  • Access your opening repertoire in the cloud: create and edit your personal opening repertoire
  • 300 opening overviews, with repertoire suggestions: get started with new systems!
  • Practise opening variations with three modes.
  • Advanced notation: add comments, symbols, variations, arrows and markings to your games
  • Advanced sharing options: share games and positions via link, image, GIF, FEN or QR code
  • PGN compatibility: upload and download games or databases as PGN files

In the ChessBase Magazine, the professional version looks like this:

Pro tips:

If you want to show or hide the solutions, you can do this with the command "Show training questions when replaying games," found above the diagram symbol on the right, or with the command "Enable training," located at the top left as described earlier (this option is only available when the training questions menu is closed).

You have additional settings available in the Options menu (ALT+CTRL+O):

In the "Annotations" field, you should activate "Training." This allows you, for example, to rotate the diagrams embedded in the notation. If you set the marker to Black, the diagram will appear rotated in the notation. In some cases, you may need to close and reopen the game for the change to take effect.

If you right-click your database in the clip database, you can again select "Training" in the Properties menu and then click "Training" on the right:

The following window opens:

If you select "Random training" here, then during your training session each click on "Next game" will bring up a randomly chosen exercise. If the box is not checked, ChessBase 18 will automatically move to the next entry in the database. Depending on the size of the database and the type of training, both options can be useful.

With the "Reset" option, you can set the statistics shown under "Points achieved" back to 0.

Give it a try—it takes a little practice. But once you get the hang of it, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can collect and prepare high-quality training material. Take a look at your databases and optimize them with ChessBase´26, the Mega Database, ChessBase Magazine, or other sources! There are many paths to successful training—with ChessBase you can avoid unnecessary detours.

In the next part of this tutorial, you will learn how to distribute your training material to students in the simplest way, or upload it to your cloud for use on the go.

“Mate is great!” – Tactical training with Oliver Reeh, “The 8th rank” – Andy Woodward analyses his game against Magnus Carlsen from TePe Sigeman 2026, “A modern Nimzo-Indian” – Andrei Volokitin introduces readers to "his" system and much more!
ChessBase Magazine offers top-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their finest 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 exactly the tricks and techniques you need to become a successful tournament player! Available as a download (including the magazine as a PDF file).
Included: CBM #232 as a “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.! At 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 free app from ChessBase! ChessBase Mobile has everything you need as a chess player on the go: access your chess data in cloud databases - and 13 million games.
ChessBase Mobile has everything you need as a chess player on the go:
  • Access the ChessBase online database - with more than 13 million games: search for players, positions, openings etc.
  • Save your own games and analyses in cloud databases
  • Synchronise your personal databases across all your devices
  • Analyse your games with the built-in engine
  • Live opening book: use the most comprehensive and up-to-date statistics for every opening position
  • Access your opening repertoire in the cloud: create and edit your personal opening repertoire
  • 300 opening overviews, with repertoire suggestions: get started with new systems!
  • Practise opening variations with three modes.
  • Advanced notation: add comments, symbols, variations, arrows and markings to your games
  • Advanced sharing options: share games and positions via link, image, GIF, FEN or QR code
  • PGN compatibility: upload and download games or databases as PGN files

<< Renowned ex-footballer Gerard Piqué now part-owner of Fyers American Gambits
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 27: Creating Effective Training Material (Part 1)

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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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.

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60m How to fight Queen's Pawn Openigns

After 1.d4 d5 many players with White avoid the great amount of theory in the Slav, Semi-Slav, QGA and Orthodox Queen's Gambit and do not therefore play 2.c4. This is not very ambitious, but the painful experience of many chess players has been that the Colle System, the Trompowsky Attack, the Torre Attack and the London System are nevertheless extremely dangerous. Black has to be prepared for each of these openings and IM Valeri Lilov offers you some help with his six instructive videos, in which he demonstrates for each single opening a relevant plan for Black. In addition to the openings mentioned, the Bulgarian trainer also delves into the Catalan, the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and the Richter-Veresov Opening.