In response to:
I have Chessmaster but see that all the pros use ChessBase. I looked at your software section and got overwhelmed with options. I'm not sure what Fritz is or Shredder and I'm not sure which version of Chessbase I should look into. Can you assist this novice?
To help you make sense of all this software, I will explain a few of them.
Chessmaster is a common first program. It offers a variety of ways to play and learn.
ChessBase 10, released in the summer of 2008, comes in three versions. ChessBase is not only the name of the company producing many different chess training products, but the name of their flagship product, centrally a database tool. The idea behind a chess database is to store, enter, query, and generally manipulate a database of chess games so you can compare advantages, disadvantages, different moves, opening lines, frequency of positions, and a whole gamut of analytical tools that can help you understand chess positions.
The Database will have playing engines driving it's analysis, so at any time you can assess the relative positive or negative strengths of any position. The database of course lets you create your own databases for your own games, or search any of many thousands of other games for specific positions, players, locations, etc.
ChessBase
1. ChessBase 10 Starter which is the main product, plus a limited number of add-ons.
2. ChessBase 10 MEGA is the core product, plus lots of extras, including
- Player encyclopedia with over 29,000 pictures
- ChessBase Mega Database 2008 with 3,75 Mio. games + automatic update until 31 December 2008
- DVD Fritz Endgameturbo 3 (9 DVDs)
- ChessBase CORR 2009
- ChessBase Magazine subscription for one year
3. ChessBase 10 Upgrade, for owners of chessbase 9 or earlier to bring you up to version 10.
http://www.chesshouse.com/chess_database_s/119.htm
ChessBase as a software company also produces other software, such as Fritz, Shredder, Junior, Hiarcs, Rybka. All of them are like ChessMaster except more powerful and robust. ChessMaster is the "gamers" version of a chess program. I highly respect it, yet dedicated chess players usually invest in specialized playing programs such as the ones I just mentioned.
These playing programs will play against you, let you play online (most of them), and give you a ton of great things surrounding a playing environment.
Rybka is the latest playing program - and indisputably now one of the best. It's very powerful and represents quite a leap in playing power from many other recent program releases. You can find both Rybka and Deep Rybka here: http://www.chesshouse.com/chess_playing_software_s/60.htm
I'm still using ChessBase 8, which I bought from you many years ago. CB 10 has some nice features that tempt me, but for now I'm planning to wait until computer replacement forces the upgrade to Vista (XP still seems more stable in my experience).
A nice feature of having both Fritz and ChessBase is one-click closing of the database software to reopen the same game in Fritz (and other engines). Currently, my newest engine is Hiarcs 12 (it uses the Fritz 11 interface), and I need CB 10 to open it with one-click. I can run Fritz 9 and Hiarcs 10 within ChessBase, or open either with the one-click feature, but must upgrade to use my strongest engine within the database program.
I can also add that the automatic updating feature is of less value than one might assume as long as Mark Crowther continues to maintain The Week in Chess--my source for the latest games.
Posted by: James Stripes | October 19, 2008 at 09:50 AM