My latest ChessBase Cafe column is mostly Q&A, and I thought I'd open up this forum as well for feature suggestions and comments. Not just about ChessBase stuff, anything you like. The good, the bad, what you'd like to see.
Something that would be very handy in ChessBase both for games and databases is a system of bookmarks/favorites. You could have a key to jump to the next, etc. Sort of like html anchors. You could create a bookmark in a game and jump right to that spot in the game a week later by clicking on a bookmark.
Okay, here is something that I have always wanted to have on Chessbase. (I am using 8.0 right now). I would like to be able to look through a game, and when I get to a point that I would like to look at more I could just right click on the board and select something like “open annotation board” and the exact same position that I was looking at would pop up on a new board. Then I could move all the pieces how ever I wanted and then just cancel it and the original game would remain unaltered. I know that I can just move the pieces on the original game and then cancel the changes, but it just feels better to not mess with my main data base at all. I know that there are ways to do this (like copying the game and opening it in another database) but I would really like a one click way to do it. Thanks, and if this is already possible please let me know!
I haven't bought some of the more recent training software from ChessBase put out in the last year or so, but do they have any training software with a "memory"? By that I mean a training CD (maybe on endgames or tactics) that not only has a lot of exercises/tests but also remembers which ones you get wrong and repeats them. I often wonder why more programs don't have that capability, because it you would think it is relatively easy to do and it is extremely useful.
If they put a training CD with memory/advanced training function and with a good selection of fundamental endgames (the equivalent in detail of say, FCE or Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual), I for one would be willing to pay more for that than the latest version of Fritz or even the latest version of ChessBase.
The "Tournament Dossier" feature is wanted, by me!
It would be like the player dossier, but, cover all details about a single tournament. The stats about opening choices the percentages of success and a special about the tournament winners choices a.s.o.
I would love more options for controlling the analysis/autoAnalysis/Blunder-check output.
I would like to see an opening training program for a Pocket PC. I realize the market is a little small for that but it would be great to be able to train oneself on lines while taking the train into work.
I have CB8, and waiting 6 for the 6 months of CB9 to be out so they can work out all of the bugs...
Nice features to add:
* Ability to reorder games within a DB
* Ability to put another set of medals/marks (best games, worst games, notes)
* Attach notes to medals/marks so with cursor it would highlight notes while in TOC
* Ability to create flash cards from a position with notes/comments - Current process could be print diagram to file, cut & paste into PowerPoint, add text/notes...
* Flash card player (new software package?) - PocketPC version!
CB 9 has the ability to reorder games. Just make sure you don't use replace with a board open after you have reordered...
Jim, do you mean manually define your own medals?
Yes, I mean manually put notes and medals. For instance, creating a database for Sicilian Poison pawn it would be nice to mark those of special interest/model games, or mark for further indepth study, and so on.
BTW, have most of the bugs been worked out. I had heard there were lots of issues, but am looking forward to upgrading.
Hi.
I want the possibility to build my own book database, and author database in CB. And I want to be able (in a simple way) to reference those books and authors in my annotations. And of course that should also go the other way, if looking at a book, I should get a list of all games, and positions that reference the book in some way. I use CB while reading chess books, so this would be useful to me.
Referencing other games in my annotations. Should appear as a link in the annotations.
I am not that good at chess so I occasionally make mistakes. I want to learn from my mistakes. If Fritz while analyzing games could find positions with clear tactical mistakes, and add them to a tactical training database that would be nice. Some tuning of thresholds, themes and the like would of course be in order.
Is there an API for accessing chess databases (other solutions than using PGN) ? Like the UCI for chess engines and ODBC for relational databases ?
Regards,
Kjartan
I would second the request to be able to link to another game, or to a different point within the same game. When creating a repertoire within CB, this would be invaluable in dealing with transpositions, so that when the same position occurs via a different move order, one can simply link and jump to the variation where you have done your analysis of that position. This must work not only within the same game, but across different games, (and possibly different databases) since transpositions can occur from completely different openings, and I would imagine that most people do not try and build their entire repertoire in a single game.
1. Remember the ECO line number when I replace a game. In the ECO box, I enter E59/07, and CB saves that information. But if I later add comments and replace the game, the ECO line number is forgotten.
2. Let me order the sub-variations. Currently I can specify a Main variation, and any number of alternate variations. If I promote the 3rd alternate variation, it becomes the Main. I would like to be able to specify the order of the alternate variations.
3. When I sort a database, give me all the same options that the "sort clipboard" has.
I'm (still) running CB 7.
Thanks,
Peter McKone
I recently purchased an AMD64 machine with a DVD drive. I am now in the market for Chessbase when I wasn't before for lack of a DVD drive in the old machine. A few days ago I read an interesting article at the chessbase.com site on Shredder with retrograd analysis feature. After waiting for so long, I thought maybe I should hold off a little while longer for the next Chessbase version with Shredder. There is another reason. Microsoft is releasing a 64 bit Windows version sometime in April. I now wonder if Chessbase will have a 64 bit version. With 64 bit support, it would be possible to load Chessbase into RAM, thus avoiding out the slow harddisk access.
So this is what I hope to see in the next release:
1. Shredder with retrograd analysis feature
2. 64 bit support
Maybe I want fries with that too.
What do you mean load it into RAM? The only thing the engine accesses on the hard drive are the endgame tablebases. Or do you mean a database? Quantity of RAM is what matters more there, not the 32 vs 64 bit access.
The retrograde analysis thing is basically intelligent hashtables in action.
Going to be a long wait for 64-bit CB, although there are already 64-bit engines like Crafty.
Mig,
Yes, I do mean the database. There is more address space in 64 bit Windows which means I can buy more RAM for my mobo. I've read of reports WinXP goes into fits if there is more than 2 GB of RAM in the system (Win98 can't handle 1 GB without tweaking- I tested it). RAM is decently cheap nowadays. Maybe that is unnecessary for chessbase? I guess I'll have to forgo 64-bit CB, but when is the next release, eta?
Actually, 64-bitness and RAM is just marketing ploy by AMD and Microsoft and I got suckered into it. It's insane to set up more than 2 GB of RAM because 99.999% of the time you don't need it. All that hype to create the illusion of need. I got excited over those 512 MB video cards too, and they aren't even at the production stage yet. Man, I gotta stop reading those tech sites.