My ChessBase 26 Desktop! - Lilit Mkrtchian

by ChessBase
12/21/2025 – We take a unique behind-the-scenes look at how top chess masters organize their digital workspace. Grandmasters and trainers reveal their personal ChessBase 26 setups — from meticulously clean desktops to chaotic databases full of ideas. They show us their board designs, current projects, and discuss their favourite or most-used ChessBase functions, offering fascinating insights into how great minds prepare, study, and work with chess every day.

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FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before. 

My ChessBase 26 Desktop! - Chess Masters invite us in

Lilit Mkrtchian

Lilit Mkrtchian presents a very clean, aesthetically focused ChessBase 26 desktop, using a dark style with medium-sized icons and minimal clutter. She explains how she systematically creates and stores hundreds of instructive exercises to support her extensive coaching work, emphasizing post-game engine analysis and learning from mistakes.

Her favourite ChessBase feature remains the Reference tab, and she highlights a new ChessBase 26 filter that allows her to exclude blitz games and focus on classical and rapid games when studying openings, which she finds especially valuable for serious preparation.

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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