Question - Studying Chess Books with Chess Software

It been over twenty years since I’ve opened a chess book to go over games. I want to start reading chess books again and go over the games inside, but I’m not sure what the best software to use is. I might buy ChessBase in the future, but for now I just want to make sure I still have the interest to study chess again.

Maybe I can just use ChessBase Light or ChessBase Reader? I’m an “old guy” so I’m not sure what the difference is between these two. Can someone explain?

Also, I enjoy going over games on the ChessBase web site, but often times they don’t have the “flip board” option. Can someone explain the best way (the process) of copying chess games/files off the internet and going over the games? Maybe I can do this using ChessBase Reader or ChessBase Light?

From ChessBase web site – “With the free ChessBase reader, you can open all standard file formats (.cbh, .cbf, .pgn), play through games on a stunningly rendered board, watch ChessBase training videos and much more."

I would like to hear how strong players (Ratings of 2000 and higher) study chess books using chess software.

I welcome comments and suggestions.

Thank you

I study chess games on a real board, but I'm very old school

That being said, any .pgn reader will do the job. I'm sure other members will point you towards good software.

Hi expand,

It sounds as if you recognize the advantages that studying games via software has over simply playing the moves on a real board.

You really should try all of the (free) software for yourself, to see what you prefer.  Everyone has their own preferences.

WinBoard, Arena, ChessBase light, Scid vs PC, Tarrasch, are just some of the free GUIs available.  They all have their advantages and disadvantages.

Although I'm old school... like hicetnunc, and although I do enjoy sitting down with an actual board and playing over the games like I did 30 years ago, I now usually use a GUI to play over the game.  With the GUI I can (1) ask an engine what it thinks of the postition, (2) step through an alternate line or two, and then very easily and very quickly go back to the main variation a the click of a button or two, (3) save the game if desired, etc.

Chessbase Reader might be a good choice if you don't need to change anything in a game file and then save the changes.

At one time there was Chessbase Light 2007, then there was Chessbase Light 2009. These programs were essentially "read only" versions of Chessbase. Now I can't find any links for these two programs, and Chessbase is now urging people to use Chessbase Reader 2013.

I haven't bothered trying out CBR 2013, but my guess is that it's just a newer version of the two older programs. It's probably great if you only need to read games. Of course, Chessbase is hoping that you'll eventually get the urge to save changes to games and then shell out $$$ for the "real" Chessbase programs.

Edit - Also, there were database size limits with the old Chessbase Light. I wouldn't be surprised if there were also size limits with CBR 2013.