Anyone here use Chess Assistant?

[Fguy64]

Greetings, I have an old version of ChessAssistant. 6.1 to be exact. I could use a little advice on how to update the main large database. Primarily I want the trees to be updated, and also the "show list of games" function. But it's not clear to me from the help menu how to accomplish this, I think there is more to it than just importing the games. I'm a little leery of breaking my database, because I don't think I still have the install key to re-install the program.

Probably I will use the TWIC weekly pgn files to update my database.

[Dann Corbit]

If you are cautious about your main database, I suggest the following course of action (assuming the 9.1 menu system is similar to 6.1, I have not used a version that old for a long time):
1. Main menu item Base choose menu item Convert bases...
2. Click on the Add button and navigate to your TWIC download folder
3. Click checkbox "Convert all bases into a single new base" and give it some memorable name like "CaTwic"
5. Add items to the list of bases to convert until you have as many as you want to process in one pass (I try to keep the limit below 1 GB of PGN, as I sometimes experience problems with large PGN operations).
6. Run the process.
7. After it is done grinding, then run a duplicate search on the resulting ChessAssistant file called CaTwic.
8. This process will create two datasets under CaTwic. One will be called "Essential dataset" and the other "Discardable dataaset" or something like that.
9. Select all of the games in the discardable set and delete them.
10. Remove the duplicate games from CaTwic using Base Operations.

Now you have a nice, clean TWIC CA database. Play with it a bit and make sure that you are happy with the quality of it. Once you are convinced that the data is sound, do a convert bases operation and merge this base with any other bases that you like to create a new combined target base (I never convert on top of the bases that come with the package).

Is it clear?

P.S.
CA has a similar data distribution project like TWIC, but you can collect their data already in CA format. That seems simpler to me.

Maybe you want some other kind of information so I apologize if I do not understand your request.

[Fguy64]

Thanks Dan, your instructions are clear. Can you say whether or not the Trees are updated to reflect the added games? That's the main thing, I use that function all the time

Anyways, I have doing additional investigation of the online help, and the instructions for deleting and re-creating the tree for the current database are there, so I suppose as long as figure out which are the key database and tree files to back up, I'll be ok. I guess I will create a practice database and play with that until I resolve all the questions.

I really like Chess Assistant, for me the interface is a lot easier to use than ChessBase, and it has all the functionality thatt I'll ever need.

I;ll check out the CA distribution project, that would save a lot of time.

[Albert Silver]

Greetings, I have an old version of ChessAssistant. 6.1 to be exact. I could use a little advice on how to update the main large database. Primarily I want the trees to be updated, and also the "show list of games" function. But it's not clear to me from the help menu how to accomplish this, I think there is more to it than just importing the games. I'm a little leery of breaking my database, because I don't think I still have the install key to re-install the program.

Probably I will use the TWIC weekly pgn files to update my database.

The CA update is by far the most complete one available, and at one point was on average over the double the games offered by TWIC.

The real issue you may encounter with importing TWIC games to the Hugebase is that it will still create many duplicate headers even if the actual game duplicate count is low.

As to the tree based on the base, you will need to rebuild it everytime you include new games, since new moves invalidate the previous tree.

Albert

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Greetings, I have an old version of ChessAssistant. 6.1 to be exact. I could use a little advice on how to update the main large database. Primarily I want the trees to be updated, and also the "show list of games" function. But it's not clear to me from the help menu how to accomplish this, I think there is more to it than just importing the games. I'm a little leery of breaking my database, because I don't think I still have the install key to re-install the program.

Probably I will use the TWIC weekly pgn files to update my database.

The CA update is by far the most complete one available, and at one point was on average over the double the games offered by TWIC.

The real issue you may encounter with importing TWIC games to the Hugebase is that it will still create many duplicate headers even if the actual game duplicate count is low.

As to the tree based on the base, you will need to rebuild it everytime you include new games, since new moves invalidate the previous tree.

Albert

Annoying to say the least
So ChessBase 9,which I have installed on my pc,is several light years ahead in many aspects....
Dr.D

[Henrik Dinesen]

Annoying to say the least
So ChessBase 9,which I have installed on my pc,is several light years ahead in many aspects....
Dr.D

True, CA is annoying if you don't know your way around it. If you do, you consider Chessbase as "light".

I use both good programs, but when the task gets advanced I go CA. Amd sometimes that requires some patience to figure out "how to", but when the solution is found it's usually eminent.

[Albert Silver]

Greetings, I have an old version of ChessAssistant. 6.1 to be exact. I could use a little advice on how to update the main large database. Primarily I want the trees to be updated, and also the "show list of games" function. But it's not clear to me from the help menu how to accomplish this, I think there is more to it than just importing the games. I'm a little leery of breaking my database, because I don't think I still have the install key to re-install the program.

Probably I will use the TWIC weekly pgn files to update my database.

The CA update is by far the most complete one available, and at one point was on average over the double the games offered by TWIC.

The real issue you may encounter with importing TWIC games to the Hugebase is that it will still create many duplicate headers even if the actual game duplicate count is low.

As to the tree based on the base, you will need to rebuild it everytime you include new games, since new moves invalidate the previous tree.

Albert

Annoying to say the least
So ChessBase 9,which I have installed on my pc,is several light years ahead in many aspects....
Dr.D

Well, bear in mind CA6 is from 2001.... As to building trees, CB is light-years behind CA, even CA6.

Try taking the full reference database and building a complete, positional tree and see how much time each take and how much space the respective trees occupy.

[Dr.Wael Deeb]

Greetings, I have an old version of ChessAssistant. 6.1 to be exact. I could use a little advice on how to update the main large database. Primarily I want the trees to be updated, and also the "show list of games" function. But it's not clear to me from the help menu how to accomplish this, I think there is more to it than just importing the games. I'm a little leery of breaking my database, because I don't think I still have the install key to re-install the program.

Probably I will use the TWIC weekly pgn files to update my database.

The CA update is by far the most complete one available, and at one point was on average over the double the games offered by TWIC.

The real issue you may encounter with importing TWIC games to the Hugebase is that it will still create many duplicate headers even if the actual game duplicate count is low.

As to the tree based on the base, you will need to rebuild it everytime you include new games, since new moves invalidate the previous tree.

Albert

Annoying to say the least
So ChessBase 9,which I have installed on my pc,is several light years ahead in many aspects....
Dr.D

Well, bear in mind CA6 is from 2001.... As to building trees, CB is light-years behind CA, even CA6.

Try taking the full reference database and building a complete, positional tree and see how much time each take and how much space the respective trees occupy.

At least I know that CA one will occupy less space and will be created faster,but still....
Anyway,I'll dig deeper in the CA database features when I have the time,who knows....maybe I'll divorce the ChessBase 9
Dr.D

[Fguy64]

Greetings, I have an old version of ChessAssistant. 6.1 to be exact. I could use a little advice on how to update the main large database. Primarily I want the trees to be updated, and also the "show list of games" function. But it's not clear to me from the help menu how to accomplish this, I think there is more to it than just importing the games. I'm a little leery of breaking my database, because I don't think I still have the install key to re-install the program.

Probably I will use the TWIC weekly pgn files to update my database.

The CA update is by far the most complete one available, and at one point was on average over the double the games offered by TWIC.

The real issue you may encounter with importing TWIC games to the Hugebase is that it will still create many duplicate headers even if the actual game duplicate count is low.

As to the tree based on the base, you will need to rebuild it everytime you include new games, since new moves invalidate the previous tree.

Albert

OK thanks, that's the point I was trying to clarify.

As for the CA vs CB discussion, I'm really not an advanced user. CA is what I started with , and I never switched. Like I say I prefer the user interface of my CA to versions of CB I have tried, my preference really has nothing to do with advanced functionality.

[Albert Silver]

Greetings, I have an old version of ChessAssistant. 6.1 to be exact. I could use a little advice on how to update the main large database. Primarily I want the trees to be updated, and also the "show list of games" function. But it's not clear to me from the help menu how to accomplish this, I think there is more to it than just importing the games. I'm a little leery of breaking my database, because I don't think I still have the install key to re-install the program.

Probably I will use the TWIC weekly pgn files to update my database.

The CA update is by far the most complete one available, and at one point was on average over the double the games offered by TWIC.

The real issue you may encounter with importing TWIC games to the Hugebase is that it will still create many duplicate headers even if the actual game duplicate count is low.

As to the tree based on the base, you will need to rebuild it everytime you include new games, since new moves invalidate the previous tree.

Albert

OK thanks, that's the point I was trying to clarify.

As for the CA vs CB discussion, I'm really not an advanced user. CA is what I started with , and I never switched. Like I say I prefer the user interface of my CA to versions of CB I have tried, my preference really has nothing to do with advanced functionality.

I use both, but be warned I'm prejudiced (Help --> Credits) too.