JG27Pyth> So, no one has used both the full ($) Chessbase Database (that's the Megabase, right?) and the free ChessDB and can compare the two?
The "Big Database" costs $50 USD and contains about 4 million games (the MegaBase just annotates 60,000 of them for extra $$$). You don't need to buy Chessbase to use it... although if you do own Chessbase 10, you'll have more ways to search it and free games updates throughout the year beyond what This Week In Chess would provide.
I don't have time to do a head-to-head comparison, but I was a SCID user before I got Chessbase and I now use Chessbase for 99% of my work. Most things you can do in Chessbase, you could do with some combination of freeware programs (SCID + free database + Arena + Chess Position Trainer). But you can do it faster and more conveniently in Chessbase, which also means you'll sometimes learn things you otherwise wouldn't.
(Chessbase 10 + Big Database) = $140 in USA.
(Chess Assistant 10 + HugeBase + Rybka3) = $89 in USA.
Thanks, Likesforests...
God, all these DB programs and databases names are all so similar it's hard to keep track of what's being talked about!
You mention SCID... ChessDB is built from SCID, (has a virtually indentical interface) but is improved with some features SCID didn't have... ChessDB is basically SCID v.2 I recommend it.
My main follow up question is about the Data. The games themselves. Is the $50 commercial database, called "Big Database" is that a significant upgrade from the "free-huge" Database one can download freely using ChessDB? The "free-huge" database is approx 3.2 million games and with the full set of TWIC updates it is currently 3.95 million games.
Second... can the "Big Database" be used with SCID/ChessDB? Or is it in some proprietary format?
Just a note on commericial DBs, I have Chess assistant, really liked it, but my new computer has Vista and CA doesn't like it. If you're thinking CA wait for the next edition if you have or are expecting to get Vista.
Isn't the next edition Aquarium?
agent_86> Isn't the next edition Aquarium?
No, Aquarium is to Chess Assistant what Fritz is to Chessbase and Arena is to SCID. They're complementary. Aquarium does come with the HugeBase and CorrBase, though. :)
You may want to download the www.icofy.net database...
I passed a link to it's site, read about it and now want to download but I don't see a link to begin downloading. Also I don't see a link to register there. What should I do?
Look at this collection of links to DBs:
http://www.westportchessclub.org/links.htm#Databases
There are more DBs to download in the "Download" section just below the DB section.
I checked www.icofy.net and it changed since I downloaded a large database (more than 5 million games) from there maybe a year ago. I guess you have to register now, not needed before.
I don't see a link to pass for registration((.
Me too!? (Site was changed since I last downloaded the file.)
Actually, it seems Aquarium is intended as a full-fledged replacement for Chess Assistant. It has a wide range of database functions, even more than Chessbase in some areas (e.g. backsolving, batch analysis of EPD's, automated interactive analysis). The layout though is radically different from any software that's gone before so it takes a while to figure out how to do things.
rigamagician> It seems Aquarium is intended as a full-fledged replacement for [CA].
That's not how Convekta has marketed it, and Aquarium's feature set is very different than Chessbase's feature set. I can't speak as to their long-term intentions but I've heard no serious talk by the developers of merging Aquarium & CA.
rigamagician> It has a wide range of database functions, even more than Chessbase in some areas (e.g. backsolving, batch analysis of EPD's, automated interactive analysis).
Backsolving - Do you have Aquarium? I do and I don't believe it supports that. Opening tools like Chess Opening Wizard and Chess Position Trainer do.
Batch analysis, automated interactive analysis - Chessbase doesn't support these because they're engine analysis features more than database features. Aquarium and Fritz both have competitive features in these areas---eg, interactive deep analysis vs shared analysis, randomizer vs monte carlo analysis, etc.
Yes, I do have Aquarium 3, although I've only just started tinkering with it. It is very different from Chess Assistant, so I doubt they would be able to merge the two even if they wanted to. It has been designed from the ground up to include features that Rajlich thought would be interesting. It comes with utilities called AquariumEPDProcess and AquariumTreeUtilities which can handle epd analysis and backsolving in a manner similar to Bookup, Chess Openings Wizard and Chess Assistant. Chess Position Trainer cannot do batch analysis as far as I can tell.
I'll try to play around with it some more, and report back, but my impression is that it is more complete than Shredder or Fritz when it comes to working through and editing opening trees and analyzing openings in general. Fritz is mainly for playing against or engine matches, whereas Aquarium seems to be designed to replace all other programs.
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