Forum

Hi, Guys. I'm brand new to SCID, and frankly I find the interface difficult. (I'm sure it will feel seamless once I get used to it.) The reason I downloaded SCID is that I'm looking to create a collection of Master games that contain a specific position. (I want to use this as a study tool for openings.) Right now I'm learning the English Opening, Botvinnik variation. I'd love to have an easy way to play through games of strong players who used this opening, in particular to see how they move from the opening into a strong middlegame. So, two questions: (1) What are the best sources of PGN collections of Master games [particularly older games, e.g., prior to 1950]?; (2) Once I create a SCID database containing these games, is it possible to search the database for games that include a particular FEN? Thanks very much for your help with this, and I apologize if these seem like trivial questions. 

I added thousands of games from 2024 to Monsterbase 2023. Click Here for Monsterbase 2024 files for SCID vs PC.

I've created a video and blog post on updating SCID vs PC and keeping all your setups and customizations. Chesstech Blog post

Bonjour, Comment paramétrer très facilement et concrètement scid avec mon Dgt eboard USB que je n'arrive pas à les connecter entre eux ? Un tutoriel, vidéo, site etc.....svp Merci Cordialement

Bonjour, J'aimerais votre avis. Pour travailler efficacement a la manière professionnelle, a la construction et entraînement avec un répertoire d'ouverture, vaut-il mieux utiliser scid ou un autre site comme lichess avec ses études . Le site 'chess .com peut peut-être aussi le faire je ne connais pas bien chess.com. Comment faites vous concrètement, un exemple en image ou tutoriel vidéo, etc..... Toute sources d'inspirations pour moi est utilie et pour la communauté également. Merci

I hope you will join me in the new SCID vs PC club. https://www.chess.com/club/scid-vs-pc/join

I have a 3 part post about setting up SCID vs PC. Here is a link to part 1. https://www.chesstech.info/2019/02/scid-vs-pc-players-pictures-part-1.html

Hi everyone, Quick question, does anyone know how to get the best out of SCID using tree masks for training? I'm trying to get a couple of new opening repetiores underway, but I can't get CPT to work on Linux so I thought I'd try and use SCID, but the learning curve is tough. If there are any articles or videos that people can recommend, I'll be more than grateful to have them. Cheers!

On the Scid webpage, there's a screenshots link. It shows various examples where the different scid windows have been placed in different locations. For example, "variations" has the engine analysis below the game board. I cannot figure out how to do this. You can right click and get "move to bottom, etc", but this doesn't get me there. Also, I can "undock" but can't see how to redock.

Hi, I've been trying to add the last version of Stockfish to the engines list in scid vs. PC 4.22 but I get this error when I run it. I've used the file stockfish_14.1_win_x64_popcnt from https://stockfishchess.org/download/ which is said to be more compatible, but with the "faster version" I get the same error. actually I suspect it might have to do with where are located the installation files. Here is the window of the Engine settings as currently set up. Is there any suggestion to be made on what direction I might try to learn how to set up the engine properly, which I assume is the cause of my problem?

Hey guys, I was unable to find where to change the keyboard shortcuts on Scid. Can someone help me?

Hi everyone, I guess I made something wrong at some point but Scid vs Pc does not have board window anymore. How can I recover it ? I googled it and only find the suggestion of deleting an options data file but the path is not consistent with mine. I am on Ubuntu 18.04. I tried to uninstall and reinstall it, it had no effects. Thanks for your help !

How do I enter a variation in scid on the go? And what is the funtion of the icon with square and star?

Hi. I had taken a hiatus from chess, and am easing back into play and study. I have a new PC and unfortunately lost a good chunk of my chess related data. I downloaded SCID vs. PC, but no longer have a game database. I am having trouble re-creating by previous data ... TWIC does not seem to post its archives before 2012, MillBase for SCID and GorgoBase are no longer available. The links on the SCID website seem broken or no longer available. Any suggestions?

Hi, I want to use a smaller font for the status bar (so that I can see two lines without scrolling). But to do so I have to change the font size of the "regular" font, but then I also change the font size of the moves in the pgn window etc. Is there a possibility to use "small" or "tiny" as font size for the status bar instead of "regular" ? Or can I somehow change the size of the status bar, so that there is enough room for two lines?

Looking for just checkmates in a particular opening. Is there a way to do this?

I tried to load a chess960 game in 4.11 and it died when it got to the O-O-O. Also when making moves in the GUI I can figure out no way to castle...

Hello, scid users! I have a laptop running OpenSUSE 13.1 Linux. I have been looking for a way to analyze my game using scid.I like scid because it is an opensource project and is developing always around the world. And I know scid has tons of attractive features such as- Tactics: Review game- Tactics: Calculation of variations- Tactics: Find best movesHowever due to lack of Help descriptions and the internet sources, I am not able to use them. I spent whole days yesterday and today on how to use them, no luck.The only way I am okay with analyzing my games are this, using Analysis Engine / Annotation.Step 1: Open my game and run an analysis engine (Stockfish on my machine)Step 2: Let the engine annotate my game, with following options {"For White(my coloer) moves only", Threshold = 0.5, Uncheck anything else}Step 3: Move to the position at where those I find as blunders, and play against the engine. You can do this by {Play -> Serious game -> Check 'Coach is watching'}Step 4: Don't look at the Notation window or so and simulate another line play against the engineStep 5: After you are okay with the alternative lines, you could fully see the analysis results or anything you want.Ideally speaking, I expect scid to mark only blunder symbols '?'/'??' to my moves as notation and let me think the alternative moves. But well, the current way is still okay.Could you share your experiences?Thanks!Junji

Hello, I've been trying to get this "Find Best Move" thing working with no success. When I try to "prepare" the database (I have tried default "tactics.si4" and "Auerswald Collection, 3500 tactic" form Gorgonian's Chess Site) and do this.. Preparing Databases Databases are prepared by annotating games with a UCI engine and enabling "Mark tactical exercises". This marks relevant moves a special comment (beginning with ****D and commented in the analysis.tcl source file), and tags the game with the tactics T flag. For a move to be regarded as a Tactical Shot, it must be a unique winning move, that is not obvious (ie found at depth <=3) .. I don't have any special comment marked with ****D and T-flags. (Btw, and what is the analysis.tcl file and where it can be found?) And the question about "Maintenance Window". If I want manually to add that "T-flag" should it look like this: or this: or something else? So, could you guys please explain to me what I do wrong? Thank you!

Saw a reference to Polyglot on another post would like to know what it does & where to get it. Probably some help on how to install as well Still using SCID 4.22