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I just bought a premium account at chessbase.com, including full access to tools like the Live Database. I have to say, I'm a little bit disappointed by the features they provide.

My question is, is there a better online analysis/preparation tool that I can just open anywhere in a browser, or do I need to install the ChessBase program to get more features?

More specifically, this is one feature that I miss in the Live Database:

Find all games for a specific player, as either white or black, and for each position, see which moves they made (and the result of those games).

Basically, the possibility to filter the "Live Book" window on a specific player with a specific color.

I assume this can be done in the ChessBase program, although I have never actually tried the program.

I also wonder, say I go ahead and buy the ChessBase program. Is it still necessary to have the premium chessbase.com account, or is that all included when I buy the program?

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  • I used the ChessBase program without having access to the chessbase.com premium account. Even if it was an old version, I doubt they changed that.
    – Pablo S. Ocal
    Sep 12, 2017 at 3:43
  • Owning chessbase myself...i love it. However...the price point is ridiculous. In addition it isn't very useful without a reference database (Mega Database 202x). You are looking at at least $500 AUD to get that set up. oof. Chessbase 16 and 17 are identical imo and can still be easily sourced for significantly cheaper than official chessbase source.
    – Dheebs
    Sep 15, 2021 at 8:10

6 Answers 6

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Take a look at chesstempo. You can use their online database free up to so many moves and then they want you to pay to search deeper. I used to use chesslab.com which was great for searching positions, but it uses a vulnerable version of flash -- if you can deal with that it is a nice resource. chess-db.com claims the biggest database (which is not necessarily good, do you want the kids under 12 tournaments?). The site is fast and has a lot of features.

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  • I see your point about low quality games, but I think your answer is a little bit disrespectful to girls under 12. I know a few that play pretty descent chess.
    – Ropez
    Sep 13, 2017 at 13:22
  • chesstempo seems to do what I want
    – Ropez
    Sep 13, 2017 at 13:38
  • No disrespect intended. edited post. And there are great kids u12 too, but majority of games are not good for DBs.
    – Ywapom
    Sep 13, 2017 at 17:18
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Chessbase is by far the best preparation tool - almost all of the top players use it for a reason (as well as most serious players in general).

I wouldn't recommend using the online version though, for a couple of reasons. As you have found, a few features seem to be missing. In addition, having wifi access is required if you want to look someone up (which can be inconvenient if you're at a tournament and need to prepare for an opponent quickly).

The ChessBase program is the way to go. I've been using it for around 10 years now and it's been great. It's straightforward to look any player up in any database. The program also supports the top chess engines (like Komodo, Stockfish), and allows you to save your games in databases.

The normal version would be fine. The more premium versions give access to a few perks, but I think it's overrated.

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A really good preparation tool that I use is 365chess. Although it is not better than ChessBase since it offers less features and games, it is online and free, the only requisite to access their big database is to register an account. You can filter games by player, but searching by player and position is a bit awkward, you may need to first go to his games and play out the moves to reach the position you want.

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I have ChessBase 16. It has very helpful features but it is costly. If you like the GUI (Graphical User Interface) do not go for it. It is good if you are of the following levels;-

Intermediate, Advanced, Expert & Professional

ChessBase is for serious players who want to improve

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Chessbase by itself however is pretty useless. You need a decent reference database behind it eg; Mega Database 2020x. My Chessbase setup is the Mega Database 2021, Opening Reference Database 2021 and the Correspondance Database 2020 (which I reference the most). I addition to this I have a script to collect games of all titled players on Lichess and Chess.com that are 10 minute or above time controls. This gives me a comprehensive database for reference purposes. Storage is a bit of an issue that being said.

I utilise Chessbase to analyse every game I play, explore new opening ideas and I absolutely love it. That said, its an expensive set up. If you haven't got disposable income it effectively prices you out. I even have my own databases for Opening Repertoires , studies etc

Ultimately though Chess.com , Lichess have comprehensive databases that are sufficient for 90% of use cases in my opinion.

I can't ethically suggest to someone they should invest the $500USD to get chessbase set up properly , but if you take chess seriously want to improve and support the developers of the tool , I would say it a very good tool.

There are free-alternatives (SCID as an example) however you need to build your own databases which can be quite hard. There is a website called https://theweekinchess.com/ which is quite good for this , which if you are patient or a adapt scripter you could collect all their archives and build your own database. Just an idea.

Edit: Happy to write up a quick powershell script to help download all the twic archives if you'd like.

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Chess Assistant = cheaper, more package combinations, superior analysis functions. Chessbase = Easier searches+saving+use+flexible membership, not buggy+superior support, uploads newest games on starter package, on-line latest games on all. As and ex-2100 chess player I find TONS within CA I relish but actually struggle and become frustrated with, whilst wishing for CB to reach those multiple+individual depths, if far more comfortable from a more reliable and quality+workable fact.

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  • I'll respectfully disagree with the "not buggy" assessment.
    – Hack-R
    Sep 18, 2017 at 16:22
  • +1 And I disagree with "superior support". Cannot remember I ever received a helpful response or answer to a question. They mostly ignore customers.
    – René Pijl
    Oct 1, 2017 at 8:40

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