Make your best game a part of Mega Database 2017

by Sagar Shah
3/6/2017 – Have you played a game of chess that you were always proud of? You wanted to share this game with others, but never really found a way to reach the maximum audience. Well, the developers at ChessBase have come up with a way to upload your best game to the best chess database – the Mega Database 2017 and share it with the world. Here's how you do it:

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The Mega Database is the gold standard for chess databases. Mega contains games annotated by the best players in the world: Kasparov, Carlsen, Anand, Kramnik, So, Nakamura, Caruana and many other top grandmasters and titleholders. Now it's your turn! Make sure that your best effort is not forgotten: upload your game of choice to our Mega-server - it just takes a couple of mouseclicks.

How do you do it?

The ChessBase 14 program makes it easy to upload your game.

From my annotated games I selected my win against GM Jaime Alexander Cuartas as the one that I wanted to upload to the Mega-server

I like this game for its simplicity. It's not a usual occurrence that you are able to beat a grandmaster in just 25 moves. That being said, I clearly think that my opponent was not in his best form. In any case, it turned out to be a good win and the game is not present in the Mega Database 2017, which gives me good reasons to upload it on the Mega-server.

[Event "Montcada Open"] [Site "?"] [Date "2014.07.02"] [Round "8"] [White "Sagar, Shah"] [Black "Jaime Alexander, Cuartas"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D30"] [WhiteElo "2309"] [BlackElo "2483"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "49"] [EventDate "2014.??.??"] [SourceDate "2009.03.06"] [SourceVersionDate "2009.03.06"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Bg5 {GM Lalith Babu had suggested this move to me to follow in the footsteps of Andreikin by developing the knight to d2 but I didnt know anything.} c6 (4... h6 5. Bh4 (5. Bxf6 Qxf6 6. Nbd2 {This unambitious way is how Andreikin beat Topalov in Candidates 2014.}) 5... Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 {I like this move.} (6. Nc3 g5 7. Bg3 Ne4 8. Qc2 h5 9. h4 g4 10. Nd2 Nxg3 11. fxg3 Nc6 $15) 6... dxc4 (6... g5 7. Bg3 Ne4 8. a3 Bxd2+ 9. Nxd2 $16) 7. e3 $1 (7. Qa4+ $6 Nc6 8. e3 g5 9. Bg3 {Black has to find the only move to keep the advantage.} Qd5 $1 $15 (9... Ne4 $6 10. O-O-O $14) 10. O-O-O b5 $17) 7... b5 8. a3 Bxd2+ (8... Be7 9. a4 c6 10. axb5 cxb5 11. b3 $14) 9. Nxd2 Bb7 ( 9... O-O $6 10. Qf3 $16 c6 11. a4) 10. b3 c3 11. Nf3 a6 12. Qc2 g5 13. Bg3 Ne4 14. Bd3 $14) 5. Nbd2 Nbd7 (5... dxc4 6. Nxc4 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Bxd2+ 8. Qxd2 $14) ( 5... h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. Nxc4 Bb4+ 8. Ncd2 g5 9. Bg3 Ne4 10. e3 h5 11. Qc2 Nxd2 12. Nxd2 h4 13. Be5 Bxd2+ 14. Kxd2 $16) 6. e3 Be7 7. Bd3 O-O 8. O-O {Already I was comfortable with my position and add to the fact that my opponent had lost 2.5 points out of the 3 previous games, I think he was not in such a great mood.} c5 $6 (8... b6 9. Qc2 (9. e4 dxe4 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 (11... Nxf2 $2 12. Bxh7+ $1 Kh8 13. Bxd8 Nxd1 14. Raxd1 Rxd8 15. Be4 $18) 12. Bxe4 Bb7 13. Qe2 Nf6 14. Bc2 c5 15. d5 Rad8 16. Rad1 Rd6 $11) 9... Bb7 10. cxd5 exd5 ( 10... cxd5 11. Rfc1 $14) 11. Ne5 c5 12. Nxd7 Qxd7 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Bxh7+ Kh8 15. Bf5 Qd6 16. Nf3 $14) 9. Ne5 $1 cxd4 10. exd4 dxc4 11. Ndxc4 Nd5 12. Be3 { Retaing the bishop makes black's task more difficult as he has less space.} ( 12. Bxe7 Qxe7 {I didn't like my position so much though the computer thinks that white is just better.} 13. Re1 N7f6 14. Rc1 Bd7 15. Qb3 Rab8 {White looks optically better but Black can defend.}) 12... N7f6 (12... f6 13. Qh5 $18) ( 12... Nxe3 13. fxe3 $14) 13. Qf3 (13. Qb3 {After making my move I was repenting as to why I didn't make this move because I felt that it prevents blacks queenside development.} Nb4 14. Be2 b5 $1 15. Nd2 a6 16. a3 Nbd5 17. Nc6 Qd6 18. Nxe7+ Qxe7 {Black has solved all his opening problems. That's why Qb3 was not really such a great idea.}) 13... Bd7 14. Rac1 (14. Qh3 Nb4 15. Bb1 Bb5 {So I first decided to develop my rook.}) 14... Rc8 15. Qh3 g6 $2 {Atrocious move.} (15... Bc6 {Black is extremely solid and I think he shouldn't have many problems to equalise.}) 16. Bh6 $1 Re8 17. Nxf7 $1 {A nice sacrifice.} Kxf7 18. Ne5+ Kg8 19. Bxg6 {As Kasparov would have said, such sacrifices need not be calculated. They just work.} Bf8 (19... hxg6 20. Qg3 $18) 20. Bf7+ (20. Bxh7+ Nxh7 (20... Kxh7 21. Qd3+ {I missed this check in my calculation which was the reason why I didn't go for this line.} Kg8 (21... Kxh6 22. Qg6#) 22. Qg6+) 21. Qg3+ Ng5 22. Bxg5 $18) 20... Kh8 21. Bxe8 Qxe8 22. Bxf8 Rxc1 (22... Qxf8 23. Ng6+ $18) 23. Rxc1 Nf4 24. Qf3 N6d5 25. Bh6 {A nice game for me but I think my opponent did not play upto his standard.} 1-0

Once you have identified the game, open it and click on file.

In "File", you have the option to "Send" and then click on the button "Upload Best Game". (Remember to open your game and do these steps)

The game is automatically selected for uploading and all the details are filled in

Review the details and check if all the information is correct. Once verified, click on submit.

This is the mail that you receive from ChessBase

If you do not have a ChessBase 14

If you do not yet have ChessBase 14 you can go another way: first save your best game in a pgn-file on your computer

Then go to http://mega.chessbase.com/en and log on with your ChessBase Account (or your playchess.com username). Now click the upload button symbol:

When you click on the symbol, a dialogue box opens and you select the pgn file from your hard drive. If there are a lot of games in the pgn file, then choose the one that you want to submit. Once again check if all the details related to the game are correctly shown. Once you are done with it, click Submit.

Mega Database reviewers will go through your game and upload it on the Mega-server. This will be available in the Mega Database itself either via the Mega Update or in Mega Database 2018. It is your unique opportunity to get your favourite game and its analysis in the biggest available chess database in the world. Doing this will ensure that your game is seen and appreciated by amateurs and masters across the chess globe.

Get your copy of world's largest database, Mega Database 2017, from the ChessBase shop

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Sagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.