Help me choose a chess database/engine

All I'm after is something I can bung pgns into a database. Ideally something like 2 databases - 1 for the master games I'm trying to study, another for my own games so I can chronicle my own experience. And then search for them move by move.

It's so simple, I can't believe I haven't found it in 10 years.

I think it should have been very easy to find, but I've never found out exactly whether each program marketed to me does that. I am actually willing to spend a fair amount of money on a perfect match, but I suspect there a really cheap one out there that does the job anyway. But anyway, please help me find one first.

http://chessdb.sourceforge.net/

it runs on mac/linux/windows and is free.

i'm looking at setting this up on my home PC.

Or you could use SCID, which chessdb is a branch of.

http://scid.sourceforge.net/

And jose is java based, and has very pretty 3D chess boards, too, though it's a tiny bit buggy sometimes.

http://jose-chess.sourceforge.net/

Well thanks for all the replies. I have tried scid and ChessDB before. Simply neither of them run for me. I may try the java one.

I would have though Fritz has the database functions. My Fritz 2.0 didn't. Maybe I just went with a version that is too old.

Hmmm not much luck. Jose and Chessbase Light 2009 let me load pgns. But let me put it this way, what I'm looking for is something that bungs all the games *together*, just like the Opening Explorer on chess.com, or maybe that is also what people call a tablebase. Any suggestions?

That's strange: Jose does have the ability to make up your own databases, at least the version I have does. It's based on MySQL ... did you check out all the possible menu options?

There should be one called the database window or some such ... I'll check when I get home and see whether I can help.

What's the problem you're having with SCID? Did you build the program from scratch, or download an executable?

Tablebases are a special format used to store all the moves in all possible endgames, up to a certain number of pieces. You're definitely looking for a database program.

To create a new database with jose, you just open the file containing all your games or positions by going to File->Open. It opens a dialog where you can choose the file format. It can deal with pgn, epd, fen files or files the native jose database format. Then if you open up the database window various operations like searching on a position or exporting games as a jose database are possible. So you could just put the pgn's of all your master games into one big pgn file, open it up, export it, and you'ld be set.

It's a shame you can't get SCID to run, because its search features are far more sophisticated, and it does neat things like generate a theory tree, and opening graphs, for example. It takes a little getting used to, but it's a pretty capable program, and you can also use it to play at FICS, for example.

Thanks for all those information! I guess you're on the right track on all of those (for example, I am aware of the difference between source code and the .exec that can be run by laymen, but I might just have downloaded the wrong one anyway).

I'll keep you up to date when I have the energy to give them another go.

Right, SCID is running now. Apparently setting Windows to support Japanese was stopping some (French?) codes there from working.

It does take getting used to. I barely managed to paste 1 game onto 1 database of games. Also, while it does put the games together as a tree. The display isn't quite as practical as chess.com's Explorer.

Any ideas is there's a more standard and easy way to merge stuff together on SCID? Thanks.

You don't want to use the "Import one pgn game" tool on the graphical user interface, to build up your database. There should be a command line utility included with the SCID distribution called pgnscid. What you do is take all of the games that you want to make into a database, assuming that you have them all in pgn format, and put them all into one big file, called let's say: master_games.pgn. Then in a DOS window, you do:

pgnscid master_games.pgn

You'll have three new files after you run this command:

master_games.si3, master_games.sg3, master_games.sn3

Then you start up SCID, and just open up the mastergames.si3 file using the File->Open menu choice. All of your games will be in the current database, and you can edit, search and annotate them to your heart's content.

I agree that the display is not as practical as chess.com's explorer, but it's a free program

Fritz, or rybka + aquarium may have nicer arrangements, I'm not sure, as I don't own either one.

You use the "import one pgn game" if you just want to view some random game you've downloaded. You can then add the current game to the database using Game->Save:Add New Game (or with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+S).

In my opinion, the top two Mac chess annotation software are Gambit and Vektor3. Gambit sounds like more to your liking, but Vektor3 is just beautiful!

Tools >>Import File of Pgn games >> SELECT ALL the Pgn you want imported (multiple select) .. Finished. All the pgns you want is imported.

Well it’s Sunday and you know what that means… Bumping!!

I use ChessQuid a DB on Windows or Linux Ubuntu or Mac. The price is 99 Euros and licence cover all updates of this DB. A version 2 is for April. In that DB there are 2 db:Elite players and All players. You can create yours... and add games in PGN format then analyse with Stockfish.