Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
While it is absolutely true that one can create a database, enter fresh games, and analyze them, all completely free using the MyGames app, the database can only be saved onto the hard drive via ChessBase 13. In other words, if you plan to save a PGN on a website, or combine the base and analysis with work on your laptop or desktop, you will need ChessBase 13 at some point. Another important limitation is that of sharing permissions. This will become readily apparent in the following tutorials.
When preparing for a tournament with the assistance of someone else, the advantage of the Cloud Database becomes quite apparent. You can create a Cloud database, set it so that someone else can also access it, and that way, each can add or edit games to the same database, without needing to send it back and forth via email or other. While permissions can only be set via ChessBase 13, everyone who is given permission can edit and add games via the app without ChessBase on their computer.
In ChessBase 13, click on Cloud Databases
Click on the New button, or right-click on the database area, to create a base
Set the name and click on Create New
Right-click on the base of your choice, and select Database Sharing
A new window will open. Click on Add User, and then add the Playchess/ChessBase nick of
the person you wish to share with, not their proper name
The default setting is to give the person Load permission only. That means they can see and
read the database, but cannot modify it. If you want to let them edit the database, by adding
or modifying games, you will need to put a check in the Save option.
Once a database has been created, and permissions to share it with others have been set, how can this be leveraged for productivity using the web app?
If you are a player who wishes to enlist the help of another, whether player or coach, only one person really needs access to ChessBase 13. Preferably that will be the player. Just create a database, give the person permission to Load/Save it as explained above, and they can do all their work directly from the web as demonstrated in Part one. Any modifications and additions will then be saved to the database, and the player can immediately access it at will.
Although a teacher can obviously work much the same as in Player Preparation, there are other options if you work with a group or groups of students:
It is normal for a tournament organizer to enter the games played in an event, and often to have several people doing so on different computers. Having copies of ChessBase 13 on all machines may not be feasible, but there is an easy solution if at least one copy is installed on a machine:
The organizer can create a database, and set Load/Save permissions for the helpers to enter games and edit the database. They can then access and update the database via the web app on any machine using a Playchess/ChessBase account. The one obvious condition is that they must have access to the internet, but aside from that, they can all add games to the same database at the same time, without pendrives, emails or other methods.
