How much am I missing using only free software?

There is a menu item in both Chessbase and Rybka letting you switch back and forth between the two.  Chessbase 10 and Chessbase Light 2009 Premium are virtually identical as far as I remember.  You are of course welcome to use whatever program you like.  I was just trying to answer the original question.

First, I want to thank everybody again for all the answers - this thread has been very instructive to me.

Second, from all of the above I conclude the following: a good free software package such as SCID4+Toga2+public database(s) is at least very much in the "same league" as the best proprietary ones (like, say, CB10+ Mega2009), though the latter might have features which the former lacks (and vice-versa, I would add!).  The SCID GUI, in particular, is less than stellar and some of the best features of SCID are not always as well documented or easily accessible.

Clearly, at least some of the posters here are not fully aware of all the features of new version SCID which just goes to show that the one area in which proprietary software always has a huge advantage over its free competitors is a budget for advertisement and marketing.

I'd like to clarify things here a little.  Obviously there are some people who have a very strong attachment to SCID, and that's fine by me.  I was just trying to answer the original poster in as even-handed manner as I could.  I am always on the lookout for software that would make my tournament prep easier.  What features does SCID have that Chessbase/Rybka or ChessAssistant/Aquarium lack?

Excellent and free support, access to the source code, the right to legally share it with your friends, direct access to the folks who designed it and are maintaining it,it is truly multi-platform and runs on Windows/Apple/Unix/Linux machines, a database standart which does not lock you in with a vendor and other such advantages immediately come to mind.  Just kidding  - all these are inherent advantages of free software .

Seriously, I would say that Gonnosuke, xzxyz are better qualified that I to answer that.  From what they wrote I understand that SCID is faster and more flexible (allows you to oppose 2 engines in any position, creation of opening books, blundercheck, autoannotate multiple games, etc.) but I cannot confirm that myself since I only use Linux/BSD computers on which CB & Co. cannot run (unless I use an emulator like WINE).

I am mainly interested in the advantages from a chess player's point of view.  Chessbase can create opening books, and Rybka can blundercheck and play off two engines from an opening.  I thought you might have some particular chess-related features in mind.

Thanks for the tip!!  I will check it out.

where did you download them?

thanks!!!

Anaylyze with 2 engines at once.

Play against engine of choice from any position.

Option to "play tactical game" where you set the ELO of engine. 

Autoannotate. save/multiple games.

Add/replace games (about 4 games only) to large db quicker - not sure if others noticed this but it took a while to do this in chessbase big db for me.

I dont understand what chessbase/rybka is? Isn't that 2 products? So why are we comparing two separate products together with freeware scid?

If I have my a database of my own games in chessbase - I then need to switch to rybka to get the extra anaylysis functionality? Will it also open the same db?

I am not particularly attached to scid - I hated it at first but now that i am familiar with it I am amazed at what it can do.

Dont get me wrong there are a few things chessbase can do that scid cant , but I dont need most of them or can find equivalent in scid .

You can analyze with two engines in Chessbase.  You can play against an engine from any position in Rybka.  You can set the Elo of the engine in Rybka, and there are a lot of different modes for learners. You can auto-annotate games in Rybka.  Chessbase and Rybka are two seperate programs, both made by Chessbase the company.

I would be very interested to hear though if SCID does have any interesting or unique features.

The main thing I want computer software to do is:

1) let me store my repertoire and attach database games to it.

2) have a training feature for my repertoire, check how well I remember it.

3) let me do analysis of different plans in a given position. In most of my games I have thought of different courses of action and I want to see what the computer thinks for each one of them. An engine line saying this is best because it is x.yz centipawns betters than what you played doesn't really help me much and I have found it flawed in cases where e.g. I abandon some of my advantage to enter a technical endgame, which however I know how to win and is clear from any possible middlegame complexities (that is no counterplay for my opponent).

So TLDR: what I really want software to do is 1) help my openings preparation 2) help me analyze middlegame positions from my games. As much I like free software & respect people who devote time developing it, in chess at the moment commercial options seem to be the only products which do what I want.

Annotating a game and having an engine saying you should have played that, doesn't tell that much to me, unless it spots a blunder which I missed. A games database is also quite useless if I cannot correlate the information there to my repertoire.

Chess Openings Wizard and Chess Position Trainer are often used for straight repertoire training.  They handle transpositions well and can drill you on the parts of your repertoire that you have the most trouble with.  It is possible to store your repertoire in a single game, and use the Training tab in Chessbase, although I don't use it that way.  Chessbase also allows you to search any file for new games related to the database you keep for your repertoire.  In an article a while back, Mig Greengard explained how Garry Kasparov built his repertoire database using Chessbase.  I just use an opening key, and spend much of my time looking for holes and improvements.

Re. plans, Chessbase has an interesting feature called Piece Probability.  You select a group of games from a list, click on Piece Probability, and it will display a board with the squares that the various pieces are most likely to go to.  It is an interesting way to get a quick summary of a new opening for instance.

I know Rybka and chessbase will have all the features, but

I dont understand why you have to  add the features of Rybka to  chessbase so as to get the missing features available in scid.

[quote]3) let me do analysis of different plans in a given position. In most of my games I have thought of different courses of action and I want to see what the computer thinks for each one of them. [/quote]

I am sorry but there is no way that any software is going to think for you. I am  very curious to know what chessbase has that gives such information I have seen the piece tracker but I have no use for it though i guess others might. 

I like to play chess over the board and not prepare for it when I am not playing - I am no GM and dont plan on becoming one. I guess if you are really into heavy opening preparation and analysis then maybe chessbase is for you.

But there is no way chessbase is going to help you any more with your middle game than even someone with NO software.

I think the whole idea of auto-annotation is to pick out blunders so one can reach the point in the game where you went wrong.

For example:

" Toga II 1.2.1: Analysis reports blunder, with score change from/to:  +3.41 / +1.32"

That's significant and a clear sign that I made a blunder.

Now if you play relatively error free - then quick engine analysis is not that useful.

I think it would be useful if people start posting how exactly they use their software whether chessbase , scid or other in anaylyzing and preparation.

And by the way, I am in no way an advanced user or anything -- The link below helped me greatly in getting started with scid.

http://freeplannet.blogspot.com/2009/07/free-as-in-chess.html

I don't believe you are missing much as long as you have a database program to store/view your games and databases.  ChessDB can be found on this site and it's almost certinly the best free chess database program as it can create a nice way to study any opening for you, and you can add any engine to it that you can find online to help you with caclulating complicated positions.

is there are repertoire feature in CA 10?

well said.

I may be wrong, but I don't think the CA has the ability to import new games into your repertoire the way that Chessbase does, nor the drilling features found in Chess Openings Wizard and Chess Position Trainer.

By 'drilling' features, do you mean things like opening test? CA 10 has opening test and opening report, although, for the latter, I haven't really found a use for it yet.

It sounds like you know more about ChessAssistant than I do.

I just purchased CBL and I am more than happy with it! Adding critical positions to a repertoire is a 1-click process (vs scid's repertoire editor). An opening report also calculates all played plans for a given position, and adds info like who played each plan. If a more expansive report is required for each of the plans, this is again a 1-click process!

updating TWIC is also a 1-click process and generally, it seems like all the tasks I care about are a 1-click process. Managing, updating & studying a repertoire seems like a much faster & easier task now :)

For analysis I will wait for Aquarium 4/Rybka 4 as the interactive analysis there seems like an interesting way to have the engine evaluate your own plans & ideas instead of just providing a centipawn-engine line dump.