Annotated Games

[David Dahlem]

Where can i download databases of games (humans or engines) in pgn or .cbh format with high quality human annotations?

Thanks

[Kirk]

Where can i download databases of games (humans or engines) in pgn or .cbh format with high quality human annotations?

Thanks

Some good commercial ones are from Everymanchess

http://www.everymanchess.com/catsearch.php?area=ebook

Some free ones:

http://www.angelfire.com/games3/smartbridge/

[David Dahlem]

Where can i download databases of games (humans or engines) in pgn or .cbh format with high quality human annotations?

Thanks

Some good commercial ones are from Everymanchess

http://www.everymanchess.com/catsearch.php?area=ebook

Some free ones:

http://www.angelfire.com/games3/smartbridge/

Great resource! Thanks

[jdart]

I recently discovered this site:

http://www.endgame.nl/

[David Dahlem]

I recently discovered this site:

http://www.endgame.nl/

Nice!!

Thanks Jon.

[Albert Silver]

Where can i download databases of games (humans or engines) in pgn or .cbh format with high quality human annotations?

Thanks

Really the best by far is MegaDatabase by Chessbase. It contains tens of thousands of commented games, including thousands of games commented by grandmasters including greats such as Kasparov, Carlsen, Anand, Korchnoi, Short, and the list goes on. To give you an idea, there are no fewer than 263 games signed by Anand.

Here is an example:


[Event "PCA-World Championship"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "1995.09.25"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Kasparov, Garry"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B85"]
[WhiteElo "2725"]
[BlackElo "2795"]
[Annotator "Anand"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "1995.09.??"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "18"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1995.12.01"]

1. e4 {The World Championship had begun with 8 draws. The absolute record - 17
consecutive - still belongs to Karpov vs Kasparov from Moscow 1984. Anyway the
next six games had five decisive results!} c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 {Neither player wanted to blink first.} e6 7. O-O Be7 8. a4
Nc6 9. Be3 O-O 10. f4 Qc7 11. Kh1 Re8 12. Bf3 {Our discussion of the
Scheveningen Variation continues into my fifth White. I had tried 12.Qd2 in
the first game and then 12.Bd3 3 times. But Garry had managed to find a
solution to 12.Bd3 so it was time to switch.} Bd7 {He had played 13...Rb8
consistently in the matches against Karpov, but then switched to this move
against Van der Wiel in Amsterdam (Optiebeurs) 1987.} 13. Nb3 Na5 14. Nxa5 Qxa5
15. Qd3 Rad8 16. Rfd1 $1 {A recommendation of Van der Wiel. Almost all the
interesting games in this line were played by Van der Wiel - against
Polugaevsky and against Kasparov himself and his notes were a good starting
point for my preparations.} (16. Qd2 Rc8 {Van der Wiel-Kasparov Optiebeurs 1988
}) (16. g4 {Van der Wiel-Polugaevsky Haninge 1989}) 16... Bc6 (16... e5 17. f5)
17. b4 Qc7 18. b5 Bd7 (18... axb5 $2 19. axb5 Bd7 20. Na4 $16) 19. Rab1 $1 $146
{I was surprised to discover later that this move was an improvement over 19.
Ne2 (Kuijpers-de Boer). This is clearly stronger of course.} (19. Ne2 Rc8 20.
bxa6 bxa6 21. Qxa6 Ra8 22. Qd3 Rxa4 23. Rxa4 Bxa4 24. Nc3 Bc6 25. Nb5 Bxb5 26.
Qxb5 Rb8 27. Qa4 Rc8 28. Rd2 Nd7 29. Qd4 Rb8 30. g3 Nb6 31. Be2 Qc6 {1/2-1/2,
Cuijpers-DeBoer, 1988}) 19... axb5 (19... Rc8 20. e5 dxe5 21. fxe5 Qxe5 (21...
Nd5 22. Bxd5 exd5 23. Nxd5 Qxe5 24. Bf4 $16) 22. Bd4 Qc7 23. Bxf6 (23. b6 Qb8
24. Bxf6 Bxf6 25. Qxd7 Re7) 23... Bxf6 24. Qxd7 $16 {Because Black hasn't
exchanged the a-Ps yet, White will create dangerous passed pawns.}) 20. Nxb5 $1
(20. axb5 {Now this is less strong since the a-Ps are no longer there.} Rc8 (
20... Ra8) 21. Na4 Qxc2 22. Qxc2 (22. Nb6 Qxd3 23. Rxd3 Rc7 24. e5 dxe5 25.
fxe5 Nd5 26. Bxd5 exd5 27. Nxd5 Bf5 $1 28. Nxc7 Bxd3 29. Nxe8 (29. Rd1 Rd8)
29... Bxb1 30. Nd6 Bxd6 31. exd6 Bf5 $10) 22... Rxc2 23. Nb6 $44) 20... Bxb5 {
This surprised me since I was expecting 20...Qa5.} (20... Qa5 $1 21. Nxd6 {
Anything else allows Black to play Bc6 with a fine position.} Bxa4 22. Bb6 (
22. e5 Bxd6 23. exd6 Nd5 24. Bxd5 Rxd6 25. Qa3 Rxd5 26. Rxd5 exd5) 22... Rxd6
23. Bxa5 $1 (23. Qxd6 Bxd6 24. Bxa5 Bxf4 (24... Bxc2 $2 25. e5 $18) 25. Rxb7
Bxc2 26. Rd8 Rxd8 27. Bxd8 Bxe4 $1 (27... Nxe4 28. Bc7 g5 $1) 28. Rb4 Bxf3 29.
Rxf4 Bd5 30. Bxf6 gxf6 31. Rxf6 $10) 23... Rxd3 24. cxd3 Bxd1 $14 {White keeps
a slight advantage due to his ^^s and Black's weak b-P.}) 21. Qxb5 (21. Rxb5 $5
{Possibly even stronger than the game continuation.} Nd7 (21... Rc8 22. Rdb1
Qxc2 23. Qxc2 Rxc2 24. Rxb7 $16 d5 $140 $2 25. e5 $18) 22. Rdb1 Nc5 23. Qc4)
21... Ra8 22. c4 e5 23. Bb6 $1 {A fine move forcing Black's Q to go to c8.} (
23. fxe5 $2 dxe5 24. Bb6 Qc6 $1) 23... Qc8 (23... Qc6 {Now this fails because..
.} 24. Qxc6 bxc6 25. c5 $1 $16) 24. fxe5 dxe5 25. a5 Bf8 26. h3 Qe6 27. Rd5 $1
Nxd5 $4 {An inexplicable move. Black should just wait and make some useful
moves on the >>. White remains with the better position but has to find a way
to break through.} (27... h5 $5) 28. exd5 $18 {Now White just has to push his
pawns.} Qg6 29. c5 e4 30. Be2 Re5 (30... Be7 31. d6 (31. Qb3 e3) 31... Bf6 32.
d7 Rf8 {Black threatens Be5 with some chances, but...} 33. Bc7 $1) 31. Qd7 $1
Rg5 (31... Qg3 32. Qxb7 Rg5 33. Rg1 $18) 32. Rg1 $1 e3 33. d6 (33. Qxb7 Re8 34.
d6) 33... Rg3 34. Qxb7 Qe6 35. Kh2 $1 {This gave me my first win in a WC match
and my first win against him (in a tournament game) after Reggio Emilia 1991.
I was ecstatic. Needless to say, the rest of the week was a cold shower.} (35.
Rf1 Rb8 $1 36. Qxb8 $140 Rxh3+ 37. Kg1 Qe5) (35. Rd1 $1 Rb8 36. Qd5 $18) (35.
Kh2 Re8 36. d7 $18 (36. Rf1 $18)) 1-0

[jdart]

Agree, Megabase is good. But not exactly cheap. If you're willing to pay, chesspublishing.com has a lot of annotated games, with a focus on opening analysis. And of course there is Informant.

[Albert Silver]

Agree, Megabase is good. But not exactly cheap. If you're willing to pay, chesspublishing.com has a lot of annotated games, with a focus on opening analysis. And of course there is Informant.

It's true, you pay a 100 Euro premium for the 80,000+ annotated games, but... that is a lot of commentary by world-class players for 100 Euros. The premium also gives you a one-year subscription to the update service which automatically updates your database with around 5000 games a week.

As to Chesspublishing, it is a very good site, but it is very different. The focus is on openings, specific ones according to your subscription plan, not on plain games, which is what the thread was about.

As an aside, though on the subject of great commentary, I would strongly recommend Glenn Flear's "Practical Endgame Play - Beyond the Basics". A book though, not electronic.

There are hundreds upon hundreds of game excerpts, all in the simplified middlegame to endgame transition, and organized by material balance. A modern masterpiece.

[David Dahlem]

Where can i download databases of games (humans or engines) in pgn or .cbh format with high quality human annotations?

Thanks

Really the best by far is MegaDatabase by Chessbase. It contains tens of thousands of commented games

I suspect a large percentage of these comments are not in the English language, right?

[Albert Silver]

Where can i download databases of games (humans or engines) in pgn or .cbh format with high quality human annotations?

Thanks

Really the best by far is MegaDatabase by Chessbase. It contains tens of thousands of commented games

I suspect a large percentage of these comments are not in the English language, right?

No, though I don't have specific stats, based on experience I would say at least 90% of text comments are in English.