ChessBase
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ChessBase is a company that markets chess software, maintains a chess news site, and operates a server for online chess.
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[edit] The company
ChessBase GmbH (Hamburg, Germany) is the name of the company that markets these and other software related to chess. ChessBaseUSA markets their products in the United States, and some products are released in partnership with Viva Media (USA).
The company hosts an extensive online database.[1] As of October 2006, this contained 2.4 million games, and growing. This online database can be accessed directly through their database program.
It used to be possible to utilise the functionality of this database from Chessbase's Pocket Fritz 2.[2], which runs on PDAs, but some of this functionality was reduced in early 2006.
[edit] The database
ChessBase 9 (the current version) is a popular commercial database program for storing and searching records of games of chess; it runs under Microsoft Windows. ChessBase uses a proprietary format for storing games, but can also handle games in portable game notation. The proprietary format uses less hard drive space and manages information that is not possible in PGN. The software easily converts files from PGN to ChessBase format, or from ChessBase to PGN.
It permits searches for games, and positions in games, based on player names, openings, some tactical and strategic motifs, material imbalance, and features of the position. The ChessBase database software integrates chess analysis engines, such as Fritz, Junior, Shredder (all Chessbase products), and several non-commercial engines, including Crafty written by Professor Robert Hyatt, Comet, and Anaconda.
ChessBase also has a free version of its ChessBase program called ChessBase Light.[3] The free version is a pared down version of ChessBase 6 that has a limit of only 8000 per database--too few for accessing the one million game database that comes with Fritz, or a comprehensive database, such as ChessBase Mega (currently containing ~three million games), but adequate for storing one's own games and other specialized collections, such as the weekly installments of The Week in Chess.
[edit] The engines
The ChessBase company produces or markets the Fritz family of chess engines (Shredder, HIARCS, Junior, ChessTiger, NIMZO, and Zap!Chess along with their integrated graphic user interfaces (standard across the family). Some of these are sold (apart from ChessBase) in versions designed for MAC. (See, for example, HIARCS site.)
[edit] Playchess server
The Chessbase company owns the Playchess server, a European based online chess server. This is a competitor to other commercial servers, such as Internet Chess Club, and the non-commercial Free Internet Chess Server. Access to playchess requires Fritz, or one of the others in the family of engines. With the purchase of any of these playing programs, customers get one-year of access to the server. Alternately, users may download the client software, a pared down version of the Fritz GUI. New users may try the server for a short period of time before access requires an account number. Guests may always log in for free, but have limited access.
[edit] News site
Chessbase also maintains ChessBase News -- a web site[4] containing chess news, as well as information on their products. The site is available in German and English.
[edit] Other publications
ChessBase produces many CDs and DVDs, including monographs on famous players, tactical training exercises, and training for specific opening systems. They publish ChessBase Magazine six times per year, which comes as a thin printed text and accompanying CD with mutimedia chess news, articles on opening novelties, database updates (including annotated games), and other articles. All these are designed for viewing within their database software, but many have a more up-to-date version of ChessBase Light than the free version available from their webpage.
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://www.chesslive.de/.
- ^ http://www.chessbase.com/shop/product.asp?pid=152.
- ^ http://www.chessbase.com/download/cblight/index.asp.
- ^ http://www.chessbase.com.
[edit] See also
other database software
