Im using Chessmaster - grandmaster edition, and that do 1. thing very well and fast. And it is possible to set up positions, but i cant tell how handy is that. For setting up positions, im using analysis bord from cess.com :)
http://www.chess.com/analysis-board-editor.html
I suggest you use SCID, together with Stockfish engine. Both free.
Plooka - thanks. I din't know that page existed.
rooperi - SCID was easy to download and I'm already trying to figure out how it works. I'm having trouble with the maintenance of the PGN files. They all show up as being "read only" - even games that I have put in myself. How can I change the properties to edit the database?
Plooka - thanks. I din't know that page existed.
rooperi - SCID was easy to download and I'm already trying to figure out how it works. I'm having trouble with the maintenance of the PGN files. They all show up as being "read only" - even games that I have put in myself. How can I change the properties to edit the database?
Ok, SCID uses it's own format, you have to convert the files to the Scid format.
If you have any problems, join this group:
http://www.chess.com/groups/home/scid-users
There's not much activity, but you usually get a response within a day.
{EDIT} If you want some pgn files sorted by opening variation, this is a great place:
http://www.pgnmentor.com/files.html
After working with this program for 24 hrs I'm getting a bit frustrated. I was looking for a program that would function as a sort of training notebook, so that I could enter in electronic form all the examples I come across and replay them quickly with the variations easily visible. I find this difficult to do from the page of a book.
SCID is obviously great for established databases, but editing your own is a nightmare. There is no "save" under the files menu. I've never come across this before in any windows program. So when you enter the database maintenance part of the program there's no obvious way to save your changes. When I wanted to delete one game out of a number that I had placed in a file there seemed to be no way to do it. Eventually in frustration I tried the "X" on the toolbar and the entire file disappeared. And no "undo" under "edit" 
I'm still looking for a user friendly program that will allow me to develop and edit my own library of PGN files.
(It doesn't have to be free)
After working with this program for 24 hrs I'm getting a bit frustrated. I was looking for a program that would function as a sort of training notebook, so that I could enter in electronic form all the examples I come across and replay them quickly with the variations easily visible. I find this difficult to do from the page of a book.
SCID is obviously great for established databases, but editing your own is a nightmare. There is no "save" under the files menu. I've never come across this before in any windows program. So when you enter the database maintenance part of the program there's no obvious way to save your changes. When I wanted to delete one game out of a number that I had placed in a file there seemed to be no way to do it. Eventually in frustration I tried the "X" on the toolbar and the entire file disappeared. And no "undo" under "edit"
I'm still looking for a user friendly program that will allow me to develop and edit my own library of PGN files.
(It doesn't have to be free)
chessdb is built on SCID. Some portions of the GUI are inferior, but over all the program is IMO superior to SCID (it should be, it's been published more recently)... chessdb doesn't have a Save option either (although it has a menu item called Save Database -- which pulls up a text box that explains why you can't save!)
The solution with either program is to create a NEW db (anytime you think you should save, take the db you are trying to save, and create it as a new db). This will let you do what you want to do. It's a little awkward at first but you'll get used to it.
After working with this program for 24 hrs I'm getting a bit frustrated. I was looking for a program that would function as a sort of training notebook, so that I could enter in electronic form all the examples I come across and replay them quickly with the variations easily visible. I find this difficult to do from the page of a book.
SCID is obviously great for established databases, but editing your own is a nightmare. There is no "save" under the files menu. I've never come across this before in any windows program. So when you enter the database maintenance part of the program there's no obvious way to save your changes. When I wanted to delete one game out of a number that I had placed in a file there seemed to be no way to do it. Eventually in frustration I tried the "X" on the toolbar and the entire file disappeared. And no "undo" under "edit"
I'm still looking for a user friendly program that will allow me to develop and edit my own library of PGN files.
(It doesn't have to be free)
I'm using it for exactly that purpose.Remember, most database programs are dynamic (is that the right word?) changes are added automatically, you don't need to save the database everytime. To add or edit games, you will find it under Games on the menu, not under File.
IMO, pgn is a great way to download files, and is compatible with most (all?) chess programs. But, to get real database functions, you have to convert it to the format of your software, no matter what that software is.
For SCID:
If you want to enter a new game in your DB, menu: game/save:add new game easily does that. If you want to edit a game, menu: game/save:replace game does that.
I suggest after adding games, menu: File/maintenance/ECO classify games.
Once you open any database, open the tree window, this will show you how many times a certain move has been played in the current position, and the results of that move.
Sadly, I don't know of any software (free or otherwise) which is totally intuitive and REALLY easy to use. For me, SCID is easier than Chessbase.
If you have promblems, message me, or post here, I'll see if I can help. I really am a fan of this program.
I am not familiar with SCID, but the development version of WinBoard seems to do what you want. You can step forward and backward through a loaded game there using the arrow keys. And from any point you can start entering new moves, which will then shelve the old line you were stepping through, and start a new variation on it. There are menu buttons to revert to the previous line, with or without adding the variation you are abandoning as variation in the PGN file. Available variations on your current line (because you just added them, or because they were present already in the PGN file you loaded) are displayed in a separate window with the comments; you can summon them up in the display by clicking on them.
When you are done with a game, you can save it to a file (where it will be appended).
A pre-configured version of the WinBoard development version is available at http://hgm.nubati.net/WinBoard-ICS.exe , as Windows installer.
It is not clear to me if you want an engine with it (to analyze and score the positions, and suggest moves). In the package mentioned above, there is no strong engine included, just a demo. There are packages available with Fruit pre-installed, but they contain the stable version of WinBoard, which does not support the variations. You could use that and replace the winboard.exe by a development version (e.g. http://hgm.nubat.net/winboard0526.zip ). But you probably would not be satisfied with Fruit anyway. You could of course install Stockfish yourself after installing the ICS package.
I'm looking for a chess program that will do two things
- Allow me to quickly go backwards and forwards to explore various trees in the openings (like Chess.coms game explorer)
- allow me to quickly set up positions (from my chess books) so that I can follow the logic of the explanations, again forwards and backwards.
A regular chessboard works forwards but it's difficult to backtrack.
Does rybka do this? Is this the best one to buy?