I'm a bit confused about what to use for analysis.

 I thought Chessbase was the tool for this (I downloaded their free Chessbase Light) but I don't really see an option to "analyse" the game, just to replay and check their Database for other players who made that opening and such.

 The only option to analyse is to load the game into Fritz and have that analyse the game (or open the PGN in another GUI I guess).

 So what is Chessbase used for and is it good for a newbie like me ?

Also what is the best way to analyse ? Since I don't have the knowledge to do it myself I guess a engine like Fritz, Rybka, Hiarcs, ... is the best option ?

And finally annotation ? How does that work ? (how can I add someting like !! for a great move if I don't know it's a great move ??).

Chessbase it's a great tool for organizing your games personally i find it really really useful for researching lines, looking for games, analising variants, etc. you can run any chess engine on it, for game analisis you have to use the own Fritz GUI.

 Now for how to do it you can help yourself using the help function on fritz (usually F1)

You can analyse with chessbase in the sense of finding how the highest rated,  or well-known, players played a certain opening position. Then decide to trust in their judgement or not.

Azoth wrote:

for game analisis you have to use the own Fritz GUI.

 Now for how to do it you can help yourself using the help function on fritz (usually F1)

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 Yeah, problem is that I'm still waiting for Fritz 11 to arrive (and I was under the impresion that ChessBase was the tool for analysing the games, so I guess I was wrong).

 I probably don't need ChessBase the.

 What would be a good tool for organizing your games ? (I guess keeping track of the played games is helpfull to see if there is any progress and offcourse to analyze).

 

cloudywizzard> I was under the impression that ChessBase was the tool for analysing the games, so I guess I was wrong

Chessbase is the tool for serious game analysis. 

(1) Chessbase will find where you find where left your opening repertoire and help you grasp opening, early middlegame, and endgame positions using (a) your brain, (b) relevant master games, (c) engine analysis, and (d) game statistics. 

(2) In the deep middlegame you will only have your brain and engines. CB comes with Fritz and Crafty but you can insert stronger engines like Rybka or Toga.

(3) Chessbase also comes with rich tools for describing and storing your analysis, storing your repertoire, automatically being updated with new games relevant to your repertoire, researching opponents, storing your games, searching for patterns in your games, etc.

The Fritz interface is much better if you want to scan your games for blunders and errors... Chessbase doesn't have that functionality.

The whole product line is indeed confusing.  The Chessbase Light software that you downloaded is primarily for managing a small database of your own personal games.  I seem to recall that it had a very old version of Fritz 5.32 included with it that you could just as a basic kibitzer but I might be wrong about that.  If so, you can download one of the free chess engines like Toga II 1.4.1SE and use it to analyze within Chessbase Light.  Here's a link to a great series of tutorials on how to use CB Light.  It'll walk you through installing a new engine and tell you all about the basic features etc.

-Roy 

Gonnosuke wrote:

The whole product line is indeed confusing.  The Chessbase Light software that you downloaded is primarily for managing a small database of your own personal games.  I seem to recall that it had a very old version of Fritz 5.32 included with it that you could just as a basic kibitzer but I might be wrong about that.  If so, you can download one of the free chess engines like Toga II 1.4.1SE and use it to analyze within Chessbase Light.  Here's a link to a great series of tutorials on how to use CB Light.  It'll walk you through installing a new engine and tell you all about the basic features etc.

-Roy 

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 Thanks both for the reply !

I'll have a look at those tutorials on CB Light.

i use babas to analyse different lines and i have never changed to a different product and it free!!  http://www.babaschess.net/

I use the BabasChess interface to play blitz and it's great. It also features blunder-checking like Fritz. But it doesn't hold a candle to Chessbase in the analysis department.

Chessbase and Fritz are two different products. What you should be seeking is chess engines (Fritz, Hiarcs, etc) that will do game analysis. Chessbase is a database program for storing and sorting through games. I am a few gen behind, but Fritz 6 is what I have and it worked great to get concrete lines and weed out blunders. I found a marked improvement in my play when I started reviewing my games through Fritz and learning from the analysis of my poor/strong moves.

Chessbase if a product for storing and reviewing games. Fritz is a chess engine to pay against   see www.chessbase.com

artb wrote: Chessbase if a product for storing and reviewing games. Fritz is a chess engine to pay against   see www.chessbase.com

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 LOL !I guess you mean "Play" against

 Offcourse you need to "Pay" for Fritz first before you can play against it

Also to be completely correct with Fritz you can also mean the "GUI" right ? since there are people who use the Rybka, Hiarcs, or whatever UCI engine instead of Fritz in the GUI.

ahhahaha you have to pay? damn that sucks, i guess poor me will be staying away,really far away.

buenotc wrote: ahhahaha you have to pay? damn that sucks, i guess poor me will be staying away,really far away.

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 There are also some free alternatives.

Arena for example or BabasChess  (and if you run Linux there are also a few)