what is the best interface for chess analysis of games

Discussion of anything and everything relating to chess playing software and machines.

Moderators: hgm, Rebel, chrisw

Uri Blass
Posts: 10444
Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2006 12:37 am
Location: Tel-Aviv Israel

what is the best interface for chess analysis of games

Post by Uri Blass »

I bought chessbase17 because a chess teacher asked me to buy it and he claims that everybody use it but I wonder if it has advantages relative to free tools.

I practically mainly used arena and banksia
I understood based on reading posts that it is possible to use Chess Scid for database of games.

I know that chessbase has let is check that is based on input of users but I see that often Fritz and not Stockfish is on the top and they seem to order the lines based on engine time and not based on engine quality(I prefer analysis of stockfish for 1 minute and not analysi of Fritz for 10 minutes).
User avatar
Sylwy
Posts: 4609
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 4:19 pm
Location: IASI - the historical capital of MOLDOVA
Full name: SilvianR

Re: what is the best interface for chess analysis of games

Post by Sylwy »

ChessBase 17 is OK. Try Chessquid PRO. I like a lot.

Image
Odd Gunnar Malin
Posts: 297
Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2006 9:59 pm
Location: Norway, Vads?

Re: what is the best interface for chess analysis of games

Post by Odd Gunnar Malin »

Uri Blass wrote: Sun May 05, 2024 1:54 pm I bought chessbase17 because a chess teacher asked me to buy it and he claims that everybody use it but I wonder if it has advantages relative to free tools.
I'm sure he wasn't talking about analyzing with engine.
Take a look at this:
Werewolf
Posts: 1888
Joined: Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:24 pm

Re: what is the best interface for chess analysis of games

Post by Werewolf »

Sylwy wrote: Sun May 05, 2024 3:30 pm ChessBase 17 is OK. Try Chessquid PRO. I like a lot.

Image
Where is v.2? It was supposed to come out in March. I think the project is dead.
chesskobra
Posts: 254
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2022 12:30 am
Full name: Chesskobra

Re: what is the best interface for chess analysis of games

Post by chesskobra »

By Chess Scid you mean either scid or scid vs pc? In scid vs pc you can analyse games or epd files. I have done it only a few times, so I don't remember everything. But with epd, it is very simple. Open an epd file, from tools click analyse, and it gives you option to choose engine, time per move, if you want to annotate the file or not, etc. If you want to go over a game, stop somewhere, start an engine (or multiple engines) on a position of interest, then scid vs pc can do it easily. I am sure scid can also do all this.

Other option is to use some python scripts by Ferdinand Mosca. They are easy to use. Usually as simple as

Code: Select all

python <script name> -e <engine executable name> --engine-options <threads, hash, etc> --input <pgn/epd file> --output <pgn/epd file> --movetime <time> 
I prefer command line options, when available, because I often find it difficult to search in a GUI what I want.
User avatar
Sylwy
Posts: 4609
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 4:19 pm
Location: IASI - the historical capital of MOLDOVA
Full name: SilvianR

Re: what is the best interface for chess analysis of games

Post by Sylwy »

Werewolf wrote: Mon May 06, 2024 1:16 am Where is v.2? It was supposed to come out in March. I think the project is dead.
Probable. Anyway, I like the existing version a lot. A resurrection is always possible. Main developpers are here:
============
https://www.chessquid.com/about-us/
============

Image
User avatar
towforce
Posts: 11817
Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2006 12:57 am
Location: Birmingham UK

Re: what is the best interface for chess analysis of games

Post by towforce »

Good video by Gotham Chess in which he demonstrates playing a game in Chess.com then clicking the "analyse" button to step through an analysis of the game just played:


The simple reveals itself after the complex has been exhausted.
swami
Posts: 6651
Joined: Thu Mar 09, 2006 4:21 am

Re: what is the best interface for chess analysis of games

Post by swami »

Uri Blass wrote: Sun May 05, 2024 1:54 pm I bought chessbase17 because a chess teacher asked me to buy it and he claims that everybody use it but I wonder if it has advantages relative to free tools.

I practically mainly used arena and banksia
I understood based on reading posts that it is possible to use Chess Scid for database of games.

I know that chessbase has let is check that is based on input of users but I see that often Fritz and not Stockfish is on the top and they seem to order the lines based on engine time and not based on engine quality(I prefer analysis of stockfish for 1 minute and not analysi of Fritz for 10 minutes).
Nothing comes close to Chessbase.
There's a reason why it stands out, as it's been continually developed for so many years.

As for free alternative, Scid vs PC is good but it lacks the flexibility/convenience compared to Chessbase.
CornfedForever
Posts: 643
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2022 4:08 am
Full name: Brian D. Smith

Re: what is the best interface for chess analysis of games

Post by CornfedForever »

swami wrote: Tue May 07, 2024 3:42 am
Uri Blass wrote: Sun May 05, 2024 1:54 pm I bought chessbase17 because a chess teacher asked me to buy it and he claims that everybody use it but I wonder if it has advantages relative to free tools.

I practically mainly used arena and banksia
I understood based on reading posts that it is possible to use Chess Scid for database of games.

I know that chessbase has let is check that is based on input of users but I see that often Fritz and not Stockfish is on the top and they seem to order the lines based on engine time and not based on engine quality(I prefer analysis of stockfish for 1 minute and not analysi of Fritz for 10 minutes).
Nothing comes close to Chessbase.
There's a reason why it stands out, as it's been continually developed for so many years.

As for free alternative, Scid vs PC is good but it lacks the flexibility/convenience compared to Chessbase.
+1. I use it every single day. Best by test as Fischer might say.
Dann Corbit
Posts: 12625
Joined: Wed Mar 08, 2006 8:57 pm
Location: Redmond, WA USA

Re: what is the best interface for chess analysis of games

Post by Dann Corbit »

ChessAssistant is also nice, and Aquarium is not bad.
I use Arena a lot just because of familiarity and what I use it for (Epd analysis and game contests)
Scid has a compact game format, but even though they keep extending the capability it runs out of steam if you throw hundreds of millions of games at it.
Too bad Mattias' GUI is no longer developed. It had some nice features.
There are some others that are good for high speed contest games and other things.
I don't feel like any of them really meet my needs, so I put my data into SQL Server and use SQL queries to learn what I want to know.
Taking ideas is not a vice, it is a virtue. We have another word for this. It is called learning.
But sharing ideas is an even greater virtue. We have another word for this. It is called teaching.