ChessBase GmbH is a German company that markets chess software,

maintains a chess news site, and operates a server for online chess.
Founded in 1986, it maintains and sells massive databases, containing most
historic games, that permit analysis that had not been possible prior to
computing.[1][2] Databases organise data from prior games; engines
provide analyses of games and perfect play in some endgames.[3][4]

Contents [hide]
1 The company
2 The database
3 The engines
4 Playchess server
5 News site
6 Other publications
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
The company[edit]
The company is located in Hamburg, Germany. ChessBaseUSA markets their
products in the United States, and some products are released in
partnership with Viva Media (USA).

The database[edit]

Image of ChessBase 8.0 running under Windows XP (year 2008).

The company hosts an extensive online database. As of 28 August 2010,
this contained 5.2 million games.[5] This online database can be accessed
directly through their database programs.

It used to be possible to utilise the functionality of this database from

Chessbase's Pocket Fritz 2,[6] which runs on PDAs, but some of this
functionality was reduced in early 2006. ChessBase is also the name of a
popular commercial database program produced by the company for storing
and searching records of games of chess. The first version was built for
Garry Kasparov under Atari ST in January 1987[7] and later for Microsoft
Windows. ChessBase uses a proprietary format for storing games, but can
also handle games in portable game notation (PGN). The proprietary format
uses less hard drive space and manages information that is not possible in

PGN. The software converts files from PGN to ChessBase format, or from
ChessBase to PGN.

The program permits searches for games, and positions in games, based on
player names, openings, some tactical and strategic motifs, material
imbalance, and features of the position. The ChessBase database software
integrates chess analysis engines, such as Fritz, Junior, Shredder (all
Chessbase products), and several non-commercial engines, including Crafty
written by Professor Robert Hyatt, Comet, and Anaconda.

The current version of the ChessBase program is ChessBase 13.

The last version of ChessBase to use the old style (pre "ribbon") interface is
ChessBase 10. ChessBase 11 adopted the ribbon interface. The last update
to ChessBase 10 was Service Pack 6 ('SP6'), dated December 19, 2011. As of
September 2014, it could still be downloaded at the following url:
http://www.fritzload.com/updates/c10_sp6.exe

The engines[edit]
The ChessBase company produces or markets the Fritz family of chess
engines (Rybka, Shredder, Junior, Chess Tiger, NIMZO, and Zap!Chess) along
with their integrated graphic user interfaces (standard across the family).
Some of these are sold (apart from ChessBase) in versions designed for Mac
OS X. (See, for example, Rybka site.) Evgeny Bareev said, "I find the ideas?
No. Fritz finds the ideas."[8]

Playchess server[edit]
Main article: Playchess
News site[edit]
Chessbase also maintains ChessBase News, a web site containing chess
news, as well as information on their products. The site is available in
English, German and Spanish.[9]

Other publications[edit]
ChessBase produces many CDs and DVDs, including monographs on famous
players, tactical training exercises, and training for specific opening
systems. They publish ChessBase Magazine six times per year, which comes
as a thin printed text and accompanying CD with multimedia chess news, as
well as how to donate to ChessBase, articles on opening novelties, database
updates (including annotated games), and other articles. All these are

designed for viewing within their database software, but many have a more
up-to-date version of ChessBase Light than the free version available from
their web-page.

See also[edit]
Chess engines
Fritz (chess)
Chess Assistant
Chess Informant
Playchess
Frederic Friedel
References[edit]
Jump up ^ John Watson, Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy: Advances Since
Nimzowitsch (London: Gambit Publications, 1998), 8.
Jump up ^ Karsten Muller and Frank Lamprecht, Fundamental Chess
Endings: A New Endgame Encyclopedia for the 21st Century (London:
Gambit Publications, 2001), 9-10.
Jump up ^ Muller and Lamprecht, 400-406.
Jump up ^ Tim Krabbe, Chess Records
http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/records/records.htm#list.
Jump up ^ "Chess Online Database - Chesslive.de". Retrieved 2010-08-28.
Jump up ^ Chess software - Pocket Fritz 2
Jump up ^ Kasparov and ChessBase
http://en.chessbase.com/home/TabId/211/PostId/4007229
Jump up ^ Christian Kongsted, How to Use Computers to Improve Your
Chess (London: Gambit Publications, 2003), 104.
Jump up ^ Chess News, Chess Programs, Databases - Play Chess Online