ChessBase is a personal, stand-alone chess database that has become the standard throughout the world. Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it.
With ChessBase 11, the product description says, chess becomes even more fascinating and all the more exciting. It lists a plethora of new functions that include:
Sounds tempting, and since we have heard a number of good things about the program, e.g. the new “Fashionable Variation” function. ChessBase 11 apparently shows you not just which continuation was played most often but which on is currently fashionable – an important distinction. It weeds out old or amateur games and places the latest games between the strongest players at the top of the games list. Also there is the fact that ChessBase 11 gives you very fast access to the ChessBase Online database with over five million games, which is kept up-to-date by the company.
Okay, we decide to take the plunge – an protocol how long it takes to make the switch. It took us all of twelve minutes to complete, as you can see from the times given below.
11:15 a.m. – we insert the disk and the Autoplay comes up
11:15 a.m. – After permitting "Run setup" to run we get
the Install box
11:16 a.m. – The Setup Wizard asks for permission to start. We click
"Next"
11:16 a.m. – We accept the default location for the program files
11:16 a.m. – We start the installation (Windows may sometimes ask
for special permission)
11:17 a.m. – The installation is under way. It took under four minutes
on our computer
11:20 a.m. – The Setup Wizard informs us that the installation is
complete
11:21 a.m. – We find ChessBase 11 in our start menu
11:23 a.m. – We drag the program with the right mouse key into our
quick start menu and click it to start
11:24 a.m. – ChessBase 11 offers to install standard database.
We politely decline, since we have all we need our our hard disk.
11:25 a.m. – This will cause ChessBase 11 to be fired up when we double-click
a CBV, CBH or PGN file in the Windows Explorer or in an Internet browser
11:26 a.m. – We need to enter the activation key, which is printed
on the front of the short
instruction manual. We also type in the four characters, NSBK, to prove that
we are human.
11:27 a.m. – ChessBase 11 now starts, with the new "ribbon" look, a lot crisper of course than in the compressed picture show above. We are glad to note that it has adopted all the defaults from our previous CB 10 installation. There are new icons for the database types, but one gets used to that very quickly.
The rest is quite painless – there is no substantial interruption of our workflow. On our quick start bar we see that ChessBase 10 is still there and can be started as before, so we have a backup plan if we suffer a bout of new program trauma. So far that has not occurred, and we are merrily on our way to finding out about the new functions that ChessBase 11 has in store for us.
Addendum: We are told by some readers that it is highly advisable to reboot your computer after the above procedure, since otherwise some of the screens – e.g. the Fritz or Rybka analysis – might appear mangled. So the procedure takes a little longer – let's say fifteen minutes for the switch.
How to proceed? Most people want to learn the functionality of the new program without looking into the manual? Well, there is an excellent alternative to that: you can watch the video instructions recorded by Nick Murphy, who explains the most important features of the new interface. Just click on the video image to start the first lesson:
