Chessbase 12 came out back in November.
You could check out under the notation pane when you open a game. If you click on a certain move it will bring up games with that move played. Also, look at the statistics, if you're studying from the black side and white has an overwhelming winning percentage, do not choose that move.
I opened your most recent loss in CB 11, and opened the reference database (I have Big Database 2011, but you may have something else). After following the main line Spanish for seven moves, you opted for the fifth most popular eighth move as White. Before playing such a move, I would have looked at some high level games that followed from the move. If the middlegames seemed confusing, I would play something else.
I use Chessbase to study whole games, starting from the opening. You might want to read http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2012/03/problems-in-english-opening.html, which illustrates one way that I use ChessBase 11 (and other versions) while playing correspondence chess. The databases tag will link to other posts that discuss CB 11 and similar products.
Thanks guys.
Ziryab, I see where you're coming from. I didn't realise you were allowed to use Chessbase while playing correspondence chess!? I shall begin immediately! I can see you're a strong player in live chess as well as online, which came first?
Funfuntime, I will have to get Fritz one of these days!
Thanks guys.
Ziryab, I see where you're coming from. I didn't realise you were allowed to use Chessbase while playing correspondence chess!? I shall begin immediately! I can see you're a strong player in live chess as well as online, which came first?
Funfuntime, I will have to get Fritz one of these days!
OTB came first. I played club chess and postal in the late 1970s, then did not play more than a few games with family and friends for more than a decade. When I returned to active chess, it was OTB, then correspondence, then online blitz. The online blitz began in 1998 and grew rapidly over the next several years. I've played more than 70,000 games online. My personal database excludes bullet, but contains slightly more than 53,000--most of my online play from three minutes per game up to ten days per move.
On chess.com, I started with Online (correspondence-style), which I've played on various sites since 2003. About that time I gave up on postal chess.
Now, if you're using a 5 million game database and searching for the Ruy Lopez, you are going to be overwhelmed. Better to set up a more recent games database from the last 5-10 years by filtering by date and copying the results into an empty database.
For popular openings you may want to filter again by rating, Nadjorf Sicilian games with both players over 2500 will still yield many thousands of results.
In Chessbase you can set up as many smaller databases as you wish, so if you want to have one for each opening you are trying to learn, you can.
Yes, the feeling of being overwhelmed is familiar! So I could make a database for each variation of each opening, and sort by rating. I can see that would be useful. Thanks! Would there be any value in studying lower rated games, or should I limit the bases to 2000+ for example?
With ChessBase, you can make your own opening books that resemble ECO in format.
Hi all. Where do I start with Chessbase 11?? It's so massive! Specifically I want some help with transitioning from openings to middle-game. I find I'm not too bad tactically, but sometimes I have put myself in such terrible positions by the time the middle game comes, I'm defending the rest of the game. I know beginners shouldn't study openings too much, so I'm trying to stick to just a couple: the Sicilian and King's Indian defences as black, and Ruy Lopez and queen's gambit as white. How can I use chessbase to most efficiently get a grip of these openings? Thanks for any advice in advance.