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Version: 1.01
Professional Opening Preparation: ChessBase by WGM Raluca Sgîrcea IM Renier Castellanos
Contents: Lesson 1. How to prepare against an opponent Lesson 2. How to use the filter list in order to search for specific games Lesson 3. How to study openings Lesson 4. How to create a database of your own games Lesson 5. How to create an opening repertoire
Introduction Using ChessBase (or any other chess-related software) has become a necessity in today’s chess practice. It is the most used method to study and learn openings, as you can easily have access to millions of games in a very short time. This means that what people used to discover in perhaps a week 20 years ago, you can now do in minutes. Powerful engines that help you to select the right moves can also check your opening preparation. Besides opening preparation, the program can be used to prepare specifically against an opponent by reviewing all of his latest games, the frequency of his opening choices and his style of play. Another common thing among chess players is creating an opening repertoire, which is, in fact, a collection of small databases on preferred openings. This way, the openings can be easily updated and new annotations can be added to the existing files. Finally, this program is very useful in order to keep track of your own games and review them anytime you want. For many starting players, not knowing how to use ChessBase properly could be a considerable disadvantage. This is visible not only during tournaments, but also in the speed of developing their own chess knowledge. In order to help you improve your ChessBase skills, we are going to show you how to work with this program: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
How to prepare against an opponent How to use the filter list in order to search for specific games How to study openings How to create a database of your own games How to create an opening repertoire.
All you need to have is ChessBase and Mega Database or any other updated database.
Introduction Using ChessBase (or any other chess-related software) has become a necessity in today’s chess practice. It is the most used method to study and learn openings, as you can easily have access to millions of games in a very short time. This means that what people used to discover in perhaps a week 20 years ago, you can now do in minutes. Powerful engines that help you to select the right moves can also check your opening preparation. Besides opening preparation, the program can be used to prepare specifically against an opponent by reviewing all of his latest games, the frequency of his opening choices and his style of play. Another common thing among chess players is creating an opening repertoire, which is, in fact, a collection of small databases on preferred openings. This way, the openings can be easily updated and new annotations can be added to the existing files. Finally, this program is very useful in order to keep track of your own games and review them anytime you want. For many starting players, not knowing how to use ChessBase properly could be a considerable disadvantage. This is visible not only during tournaments, but also in the speed of developing their own chess knowledge. In order to help you improve your ChessBase skills, we are going to show you how to work with this program: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
How to prepare against an opponent How to use the filter list in order to search for specific games How to study openings How to create a database of your own games How to create an opening repertoire.
All you need to have is ChessBase and Mega Database or any other updated database.
Lesson 1: How to Prepare Against an Opponent Let’s suppose you are paired in the next round against IM Renier Castellanos and you have white. First thing to do is double click on the Database you are using, and then select “Filter List”. In the window that opens next you will have to write your opponent’s name in the “Black” box, in our case Castellanos, R. Remember to deselect “Ignore colors”. This way you will only get the games he played with black. From a practical point of view, it’s useful to look only at the recent games played by your opponent (last two years at most):
Click “OK” and, after a short search, ChessBase will show you all the games of your opponent. You can see if he has games in the opening you are intending to play and what are his usual opening choices. In order to sort the games by date, just click on “Date” and you will have the most recent games first (see the image on the next page).
Another way to do this in ChessBase is going to the “Players” tab instead of using the filter and finding the name that is listed in alphabetical order. Then, right click and select “Preparation against Black” or “Preparation against White”. This feature is more complete, as ChessBase will provide you not only the games, but also a full tree with statistics.
Lesson 2: How to Use the Filter List You can use this feature of ChessBase for many purposes. The first and most common idea is to search for a player’s games, as we previously showed. However, it has more uses – to search for a specific position, for games with a certain pawn structure or material correlation. First of all, you double click on your main database and you click on the “filter list” icon you can find above:
First, let’s look for a specific position. You should select the “Position” tab:
In order to set the position you are interested in, you should now drag the pieces on the right into the board. Once you are done, you can see that the “Position” and “Filter activated” boxes will be automatically selected. Also, you can use the “Copy board” icon to insert a position you have already open. It will immediately copy itself into the search filter. Let’s move on to the “Material” tab:
Here, you are able to search for almost anything you want to, from doubled pawns to connected pawns. You just need to select the characteristic you are interested in. Under both white and black material you can specify whether doubled, passed or connected pawns may or may not be present. The exclamation mark means that the selected criterion is not present in the game. Remember to deselect “Ignore colors” if you are looking for a certain structure for one side specifically.
For example, if you click on “Opposite bishops” and also on “Doubled pawns” for white, the search will return all the games with the features you selected. The “Manoeuvres” tab:
It is used to find games where a specific movement of pieces has occurred. For example, you can search for games in which the manoeuvre Nd4-b5-a3 has appeared on the board. In this case, you should click on “Insert/New”, select the color (“W”, “B” or “WB”), the piece (N), enter the squares and then repeat the process until you complete the manoeuvre you are looking for.
Your search box will look like this:
You can always combine the search parameters by check marking the boxes below (“Game data”, “Position”, “Material”, etc). The box “Include lines in search” will return games where the criteria you selected show up in commentary as well as in the main game.
The further you advance in your variation, the more specific your opening report will be. For example, if you add some more moves in the line we are dealing with, such as 9…Nd7 10. h4 Nb6 11. Bb3 Na5, the opening report will now be reduced to this exact position. It will begin with white’s possibilities after 11…Na5. Another way of studying an opening is to do the opening research on your own, by entering the variations you want to learn and running the search engine. Then, you can select all the games of your search result and merge the most relevant games (for this, you can sort the games by ELO, as we previously showed). In order to do this, you first select the games you want to merge, then right click on your selection and click “Merge Selected Games”.
To create an opening tree, you can do the same selection and click “Selection to Book”. The merge action will show all the games you selected as one big annotated game. This way, when you play over the game, you will see all the possible deviations and moves for each side. Now, you can delete and promote the annotation as you wish, by right-clicking on the variations and selecting “Promote Variation” or “Delete Variation”. You can also make the lines smaller by clicking “Delete Remaining Moves”.
Here is what you should expect to see:
This way, you can clean the file from any unnecessary or useless annotations and make your selection more personal. Once you have done this, you can click on “Save as” and keep the game for future preparations.
The further you advance in your variation, the more specific your opening report will be. For example, if you add some more moves in the line we are dealing with, such as 9…Nd7 10. h4 Nb6 11. Bb3 Na5, the opening report will now be reduced to this exact position. It will begin with white’s possibilities after 11…Na5. Another way of studying an opening is to do the opening research on your own, by entering the variations you want to learn and running the search engine. Then, you can select all the games of your search result and merge the most relevant games (for this, you can sort the games by ELO, as we previously showed). In order to do this, you first select the games you want to merge, then right click on your selection and click “Merge Selected Games”.
To create an opening tree, you can do the same selection and click “Selection to Book”. The merge action will show all the games you selected as one big annotated game. This way, when you play over the game, you will see all the possible deviations and moves for each side. Now, you can delete and promote the annotation as you wish, by right-clicking on the variations and selecting “Promote Variation” or “Delete Variation”. You can also make the lines smaller by clicking “Delete Remaining Moves”.
Lesson 5: How to Create an Opening Repertoire Besides studying openings and preparing specifically against an opponent, most players have a repertoire. This can be a group of smaller database files containing games only on the variations that you have decided to play. For example, let’s say your choice of repertoire as white begins with 1.d4. Then, in order to work deeper in your opening preparation, you should create the separate database files against each of the black’s possible defenses. Let’s assume that your repertoire as white includes the following variations: Slav Defense. White plays 3. Nf3 and 4. e3 Queen’s Gambit Accepted Benoni Defense. White plays 7. Bf4 This means that you have one or two databases for each of these variations with the games you consider significant and your own analysis and ideas. This way, it is easier for you to update your theory and to do research for novelties in critical variations. First you must create the repertoire databases manually (one for each variation). Then, right click on each database, select “Properties” and select the symbol you want to show on your repertoire database. In the picture below, we have selected the “Repertoire” icon. Now you can find and copy into the database those games you’d like to keep. Your databases should now look like this:
You can do this for every opening that you decide to work on. Also, you can opt for creating a bigger database instead of smaller ones. For example, you can have only one database for the Slav Defense instead of two. This depends on the amount of games you feel comfortable working with.
Lesson 4: How to Create a Database of Your Own Games Keeping a database with your own games you played in tournaments is something essential for any player who wants to make progress. Having quick access to your own analyzed and annotated games will help you improve your play. First step is creating a database. You can do this by accessing the application menu and selecting “New” and “Database”:
Now you must select the location where you want your database to be saved, keep the .cbh extension selected by ChessBase as default, name it “My games”, for example, and click “Create new”. The icon of the new database will appear on the main window of ChessBase. You can assign a personal symbol to the icon created, by right clicking on it, selecting “Properties” and choosing “My games” from the default symbols ChessBase has.
Your database should appear like this:
To start entering games in your personal database, open a new board, enter the moves, the open the ChessBase menu, select “Save Game As”, find the database you just created (“My games”) and click on “New/Open”. It will look like this:
Here you can enter the details of the game, such as name, dates, tournament, ELO, round and result of the game. Once you are done, just click “OK” and the game will be saved in your database.
To annotate the game, you can just enter variations and, in the dialog box that will show up every time you make a move out of the main game, select “New Variation”. For example, in the image below, the main line is 5.0-0, but you want to introduce 5.d3 as a side line. When you enter the move, the box in the image below will show up:
You can also add symbols and enter text notes before or after each variation by right clicking on the moves and choosing from the list.
If you want to annotate your games with colored arrows and squares in order to point out any ideas, weaknesses and plans in a position, you can do it by using the following key combinations: For the yellow color, use Ctrl + Alt + Click on the square to color the square. If you want to create an arrow, drag the mouse from one square to the other. For the red color, use Alt +Shift + Click on the square to color the square. If you want to create an arrow, drag the mouse from one square to the other. For the green color, use Alt + Click on the square to color the square. If you want to create an arrow, drag the mouse from one square to the other. For example, you can make it look like this:
By following the steps we presented above, you now have a complete database of your own games ready to be reviewed and replayed any time you want.
Lesson 5: How to Create an Opening Repertoire Besides studying openings and preparing specifically against an opponent, most players have a repertoire. This can be a group of smaller database files containing games only on the variations that you have decided to play. For example, let’s say your choice of repertoire as white begins with 1.d4. Then, in order to work deeper in your opening preparation, you should create the separate database files against each of the black’s possible defenses. Let’s assume that your repertoire as white includes the following variations: Slav Defense. White plays 3. Nf3 and 4. e3 Queen’s Gambit Accepted Benoni Defense. White plays 7. Bf4 This means that you have one or two databases for each of these variations with the games you consider significant and your own analysis and ideas. This way, it is easier for you to update your theory and to do research for novelties in critical variations. First you must create the repertoire databases manually (one for each variation). Then, right click on each database, select “Properties” and select the symbol you want to show on your repertoire database. In the picture below, we have selected the “Repertoire” icon. Now you can find and copy into the database those games you’d like to keep. Your databases should now look like this:
You can do this for every opening that you decide to work on. Also, you can opt for creating a bigger database instead of smaller ones. For example, you can have only one database for the Slav Defense instead of two. This depends on the amount of games you feel comfortable working with.
The picture below shows an example of a bigger database where you have already added games and analysis of your own:
To keep the database updated, you can copy and paste new games into it. To print your selection of games and variations as a repertoire, you must first select and merge the games you want to print. As we showed before, you will get one big game with many variations. Now, you should go to the ChessBase application menu and select “Print”, “Print Repertoire”.
Your file will be printed similar to any openings encyclopedia. The print preview will look like this:
By showing the main features of ChessBase employed by the majority of chess professionals, we hope to have helped those who are still strangers to this software. A proper use of this program will drastically increase the speed of your progress as a chess player and will arm you with enough weapons to be well prepared in your tournament games. There are plenty of other things that ChessBase can do, but the uses mentioned here are the most important as far as chess training is concerned.
