Some questions on ChessBase 12 Mega package

Hello.

I have some questions relative to the ChessBase 12 Mega package (I'm not sure if it's the correct name).
It seems to be a pretty famous software so I hope some people here will have it and be able to answer my questions.


1. Does it act like a games database / opening explorer?
Exactly just like this games database: http://www.365chess.com/opening.php
And this one: http://chessok.com/?page_id=352
(of course if the answer to that question is no, then the answers to all the other questions will also be no, so I hope the answer to that question is yes)



2. Is it possible to customize the columns that are displayed?

For example here http://www.365chess.com/opening.php the columns are:
Next Move /// Number of Games /// Last Played /// Winnings percentage for White /// Draw percentage /// Winnings percentage for Black
While here http://chessok.com/?page_id=352 the columns are:
Move /// Eval. /// Games /// W/won /// B/won /// Draws /// W/ELO /// B/ELO /// Year

Because having a lot of useless columns really confuses me and make me waste a lot of time. I would only like to have 5 columns:
Next move /// Percentage of games that continues with that move /// White scores in % /// White's average rating /// Black's average rating
No other column. (the two last columns are not that important, I wouldn't care if there was no option to put these)
But the most important column that I want to have is the last one: how much White scores in %. This is not to be confused by the winning percentage of White. It's the winning percentage of White plus half of the drawing percentage.
I personally think it's much better than having 3 separate columns (W/won /// B/won /// Draws) because you can instantly compare how different moves score.



3. Is it then possible to sort the millions of games to only display games that were (for example) played between opponents no less than 1660 Elo and no more than 2325 Elo?


4. Is it possible to sort the games to only display games were Black was Karpov? (for example)


5. Could you also give me a few screenshots of the games database part of the software?


If the answers to the first 4 questions are all yes, than I'll buy it for sure!

Thanks in advance for your answers 🙂

I think you should go to chessbase.com or chessbaseuse.com and also a good site like chesscafe.com to find your answers. It seems like you are asking someone else to do your work for you.

Edit: The short answer is "yes". The database itself is just games. You normally use a database program such as chessbase, chess assistant, SCID, or a GUI such as Fritz or CA Aquarium to use it.

Marc Benford makes it even more obvious. He signs up just to post on the forums, not to play.

Originally posted by Paul Leggett
I think you should go to chessbase.com or chessbaseuse.com and also a good site like chesscafe.com to find your answers. It seems like you are asking someone else to do your work for you.

I'm not asking anyone to research these informations for me. I'm asking people who have already bought the product to answer by yes or no to each of my questions. There's a pretty big difference, since these people will already have the answers (since they own the product), so they won't do any research or any "work".
And I already did some searchs on Google before asking. I found a lot of things but the answer to my questions wasn't very clear. I even watched some Youtube videos on the product, and apparently the answer to my first question is yes, and concerning my second question there seems to be a column which displays how much White scores in % but I didn't found if it was possible to personalize all the columns. And I found nothing concerning question 3 and 4.

Originally posted by Sebastian Yap
Marc Benford makes it even more obvious. He signs up just to post on the forums, not to play.

And why would that be a problem? I didn't know we had to play games to post on the forums.
And actually, you're wrong, I did play one or two rapid games here two months ago.

Originally posted by Marc Benford
And why would that be a problem? I didn't know we had to play games to post on the forums.
And actually, you're wrong, I did play one or two rapid games here two months ago.

Using the site for simply forum posting is okay, but may be frowned upon, like this.
🙁

3. Is it then possible to sort the millions of games to only display games that were (for example) played between opponents no less than 1660 Elo and no more than 2325 Elo?

4. Is it possible to sort the games to only display games were Black was Karpov? (for example)

I don't have that Chessbase. But the answer will be yes and it fairly easy.
I cannot see them removing any of the features they have in DB 10.

I've no idea about it's opening displays and how to add to it's 'book'.
It's a feature I never use.

The DB can search for anything you want and give you a % of any opening
win, losses and draws played between anyone of any grade.

You can ask it to find a series of moves.
For example Bxh7+ and Ng5+ will give you all the Classic Bishops it has.
(it has a mirror feature that will find on the same search Bxh2+ and Ng4+)

It will find any position you can think of.
Recently I asked it to find R??xg7(p)+ and Bf8xg7.
That is Rook from anywhere takes a pawn on g7+
Black takes the Rook with a Bishop on f8.
That it how I found all those Rxg7+ games on a previous blog.

It's a good piece of kit.
There is nothing wrong with CB10. You can, or should be able to pick
it up quite cheap.
I cannot see what new feature the ChessBase 12 Mega package
may have that I could use or a bog standard chess player could need.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
3. Is it then possible to sort the millions of games to only display games that were (for example) played between opponents no less than 1660 Elo and no more than 2325 Elo?

4. Is it possible to sort the games to only display games were Black was Karpov? (for example)

I don't have that Chessbase. But the answer will be yes and it fairly easy.
I c ...[text shortened]... ChessBase 12 Mega package
may have that I could use or a bog standard chess player could need.

CB 12 has a "similar endgame" function that I think is worth its weight in gold.

It's an easy reference to find GM endgames very similar to your own, even if the pawns aren't exactly in the right spots. You just have to filter out what is and is not relevant. It's the next best thing to a tablebase, and tablebases are illegal for us anyway.

It also has new "similar moves" and "similar structures" which (to me) are sometimes awesome, and sometimes irrlelevant.

I've had every version since CB 9, and I consider 12 to be the biggest leap forward.

Thanks for your answers, but I have one last question: what's the difference between the "Bigdatabase 2014" which is in the "ChessBase 12 Starter Package DVD", and the "Megadatabase 2014" which is in the "ChessBase 12 Mega Package DVD" ?

Okay actually I think I found the answer by myself. I'll buy ChessBase right away! 😀

If you have any questions after it arrives, I'll do my best to help, or at least direct you to an online source who explains it better than I would.

Okay my ChessBase has arrived and indeed I have one question.
So I've succesfully installed the Mega Database 2014 (and the Correspondence Database), but I would like to have all the games of the Mega Database (5.7 million games) put in something that looks like that: http://www.365chess.com/opening.php if you know what I mean.
Thanks in advance for your help 🙂