ChessBase or ChessAssistant

[mb138]

Hi

I have just joined Talk Chess.

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.

[Graham Banks]

Hi

I have just joined Talk Chess.

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.

There are many free databases around. I guess it depends on what you're intending to do.

Cheers,
Graham.

[Fguy64]

Both systems have lots of functionality. I much prefer Chess Assistant because of usability, I find the user interface visually more intuitive. There are freeware versions of both available, so you can test drive them to see which you prefer. As far as I know, the freeware versions are full-featured, they are just limited in the number of games they can store in a database.

[Stephen Ham]

Hi

I have just joined Talk Chess.

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

[swami]

Chessbase, far ahead than the rest. Simple, easy to use and yet effective.

SCID for freeware is also great I've heard.

[beachknight]

Hi

I have just joined Talk Chess.

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 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.

All the best,
Steve

Just a technical note:

Latest CB10 Update,ie SP3, is supposed to fix all the bugs
mentioned by CB10 users:

http://fritzserver.org/updates/cbm/c10.exe

[10.56MB 20091111]

On the other hand, I dont know about CB 2009 (Premium).

Best,

[beachknight]

You might want to see new Aquariums at:

http://www.chessok.com/

There are discounts when purchased with CA10.

Best,

[beachknight]

Both systems have lots of functionality. I much prefer Chess Assistant because of usability, I find the user interface visually more intuitive. There are freeware versions of both available, so you can test drive them to see which you prefer. As far as I know, the freeware versions are full-featured, they are just limited in the number of games they can store in a database.

I agree.

CA 7 Lite version:

http://chessok.com/demo/ca/setup_calight7.exe

CB 2009 Lite version:

http://fritzserver.org/download/CBLightSetup.exe

Best,

[beachknight]

You might want to see new Aquariums at:

http://www.chessok.com/

There are discounts when purchased with CA10.

Best,

Aquarium Demo version:

http://chessok.com/demo/Aquarium/AquariumDemoSetup.exe

[alpha123]

Try SCID, its freeware and very nice.
You might also consider ChessDB, it is based on SCID and similar in features and interface.

Peter