I am looking to buy a database and am wondering about the relevant merits of ChessBase and ChessAssistant. Can anyone shed any light on this?
Thanks.
Welcome, Matthew.
I am not a database expert (I'm a computer dummy) and so I'm in the same boat as you. I have an archaic CA database which I deleted (somehow the games were corrupted) and now use the CB Light version that comes with all CB chess engines.
I've asked serious chess players for their advice and they just state the obvious facts:
CA is faster for searches and less expensive. So that alone ways heavily in CA's favor.
But most chess players record their games in CB (cbv) format. In order to exchange games with friends using a CB database, you'll probably need to convert their cbv games to pgn in order to use in CA. At least, that's what I needed to do with my old CA. But back then, that stripped the game(s) of its annotations.
The problem with the CB database that comes with CB engines is its limited functionality. And when I delete games (e.g. duplicates and games with few to no moves), the database instead deletes other games and strips annotations and headers away from legitimate games. Not good!.
I recently asked a serious CB database user (a fellow correspondence chess player) his impression of the latest CB system that he uses. Although he saw improvements over previous versions, he still considers the CB database "buggy" (read: flawed) and unstable. He didn't give me any details though.
So I'm thinking about purchasing the latest CA database but would appreciate assurance from other CA users that conversions of cbv games to pgn will no longer strip away data. If so, then that's the obvious choice.
All the best,
Steve
Via Fritz 10, I have saved games as pgn and it did not strip comments. As far as mass export of games to pgn, it works.
I haven't done that with games that had extra info in them.
I am happy with SCID plus free engines. Try it out first before throwing that money. Chessbase is very expensive and Chess Assistant is cheap but not easy to learn.
alpha123 wrote:Try SCID, its freeware and very nice.
You might also consider ChessDB, it is based on SCID and similar in features and interface.
Peter
Chessdb has not been updated since 2007, whereas scid has been updated even this week. Thus, I recommend staying away from chessdb unless it is more actively worked on.
Regarding chessbase vs aquarium/Chess assistant:
1. Chess assistant is less actively worked on than aquarium, hence I recommend looking at the latter for comparison.
2. Chessbase is perhaps far more popular, CA may be a little harder to use but has more power user functions. Refer to Stephen Ham's post for a detailed feature comparison.
Finally, Scid is worth considering but might require some prior of chess database software, though there is a large set of tutorials available.
If I were you, I would be very careful investing any money in ChessBase. The German based company does not respect international laws or its own policies. I have documented staff members behaving unprofessionally, and diminishing services you paid money to use. You are better off looking to another company whose product does the job just as well and hold their customers in high regards.
alpha123 wrote:Try SCID, its freeware and very nice.
You might also consider ChessDB, it is based on SCID and similar in features and interface.
Peter
Thanks, Peter.
I briefly examined the SCID website. My perception is that SCID does not handle/accept cbv games, which is what my present database is. Does that mean they all need to be converted to pgn? If so, will data (e.g. annotations) be stripped away in the conversion process as happened with my old CA database?
I am looking to buy a database and am wondering about the relevant merits of ChessBase and ChessAssistant. Can anyone shed any light on this?
Thanks.
Welcome, Matthew.
I am not a database expert (I'm a computer dummy) and so I'm in the same boat as you. I have an archaic CA database which I deleted (somehow the games were corrupted) and now use the CB Light version that comes with all CB chess engines.
I've asked serious chess players for their advice and they just state the obvious facts:
CA is faster for searches and less expensive. So that alone ways heavily in CA's favor.
But most chess players record their games in CB (cbv) format. In order to exchange games with friends using a CB database, you'll probably need to convert their cbv games to pgn in order to use in CA. At least, that's what I needed to do with my old CA. But back then, that stripped the game(s) of its annotations.
The problem with the CB database that comes with CB engines is its limited functionality. And when I delete games (e.g. duplicates and games with few to no moves), the database instead deletes other games and strips annotations and headers away from legitimate games. Not good!.
I recently asked a serious CB database user (a fellow correspondence chess player) his impression of the latest CB system that he uses. Although he saw improvements over previous versions, he still considers the CB database "buggy" (read: flawed) and unstable. He didn't give me any details though.
So I'm thinking about purchasing the latest CA database but would appreciate assurance from other CA users that conversions of cbv games to pgn will no longer strip away data. If so, then that's the obvious choice.
All the best,
Steve
Via Fritz 10, I have saved games as pgn and it did not strip comments. As far as mass export of games to pgn, it works.
I haven't done that with games that had extra info in them.
Hi Charles,
I agree. Many of the games in my database were originally in pgn format. Saving them to my Deep Fritz 10 database converted them to cbv.
But exactly as you stated, the big question is a mass conversion from cbv to pgn. Many of my games are annotated and I don't want to lose that additional information. Any thoughts?
Someone will certainly correct me if I'm overlooking something, but PGN files support annotations, and exporting from CB preserves them. CB-specific stuff like board annotations (arrows, colored squares) or tactical questions won't be, of course, but the raw text should be preserved.
I agree. Many of the games in my database were originally in pgn format. Saving them to my Deep Fritz 10 database converted them to cbv.
But exactly as you stated, the big question is a mass conversion from cbv to pgn. Many of my games are annotated and I don't want to lose that additional information. Any thoughts?
All the best,
Steve
I have converted from cbv (or more precisely cbh) to pgn before. You lose only the arrows in the commentary. I personally did not care much for arrows in commentary. Most of the other symbols were preserved fine (or at least the conversion was good enough for me).
If you use chess assistant (or aquarium), you must first convert cbv to cbh using chessbase software and then chess assistant can import cbh.