Looking for Resource

I'm still a novice when it comes to online chess resources. Can someone point me in the direction of some site (or free download) where I can plug in various chess positions for analysis? Thanks!

Originally posted by basso
I'm still a novice when it comes to online chess resources. Can someone point me in the direction of some site (or free download) where I can plug in various chess positions for analysis? Thanks!

http://www.chesslive.de/

Originally posted by basso
I'm still a novice when it comes to online chess resources. Can someone point me in the direction of some site (or free download) where I can plug in various chess positions for analysis? Thanks!

oh i know what you mean.. wink wink 🙂
i "study" with a free version of crafty i got from CTart.. i think theres also a build in one at a DB site but forget which one..
anyway since this... learning.. ive improved 400 points, and now know all the pieces names! 😀
-j

I'm quite a novice as well. So far, I like Arena best for analysis and for stepping through pgns... and if I want to play against an engine, I imagine it would be my preferred. I like "ChessDB" for creating pgns from notes out of books that are in older notation such as 1. P-K4, P-K4.

Originally posted by Ice Cold
http://www.chesslive.de/

Thanks, Ice Cold. I went to the site (chesslive.de), and it is a site to behold! But what to do?! How do I set up the pieces? How do I learn the ins and outs of using the site? Thanks a bunch.

OK, now I've gone to Arena. Again, what to do? I'm not a techy. How do you guys learn to use this sort of site. I'm lost. Thanks.

Update: I still don't have a clue about Arena, but I clicked on their Shredder link and went to their "endgame database." I used that to set up a particular position for stepping through it for the purposes of following the discussion in a new chess book I just picked up. This worked well, but I don't think I saved any time over setting up an actual board, which was the whole point. Unless I can figure out a quicker way to set up a board than the way Shredder allows for -- dragging the pieces to the desired square -- I may just opt for an actual board. May not be such a bad thing. Thanks for the help, guys.

Originally posted by basso
Thanks, Ice Cold. I went to the site (chesslive.de), and it is a site to behold! But what to do?! How do I set up the pieces? How do I learn the ins and outs of using the site? Thanks a bunch.

You recreate the game move by move, then click search when you reach the desired position. The seach results can then be grouped by, wins for white, wins for black, highest rated player with white/black etc.
This form is a database, and is legal to use in games that are in progress.

I go to chessgames.com

Originally posted by Ice Cold
You recreate the game move by move...

I don't even know how to get started. How do you "recreate the game move by move"? Aside from that, what I am looking for is to just set up a position mid-game, like I would find in a chess book, which the author uses to illustrate a point. Often the position will be played out for a few moves. But how to set it up in the first place? Shredder can do it. Maybe I needn't bother with finding another way.

So there are two questions here:
1) How to set up a position mid-game?
2) How to "recreate a game move by move" for analysis?

Well, a third question comes to mind:
3) How to learn to use this online database?
Thanks.

Originally posted by basso
I don't even know how to get started. How do you "recreate the game move by move"? Aside from that, what I am looking for is to just set up a position mid-game, like I would find in a chess book, which the author uses to illustrate a point. Often the position will be played out for a few moves. But how to set it up in the first place? Shredder can do it. ...[text shortened]... ll, a third question comes to mind:
3) How to learn to use this online database?
Thanks.

you punch in the moves you want to see, and then look at as many games you want to see in it, see what happens when certain moves are played..

you can use links from rhp if you want of fen board position, or that other kind (forget)

but yeah thats a good site

Originally posted by basso
Update: I still don't have a clue about Arena, but I clicked on their Shredder link and went to their "endgame database." I used that to set up a particular position for stepping through it for the purposes of following the discussion in a new chess book I just picked up. This worked well, but I don't think I saved any time over setting up an actual board, w ...[text shortened]... may just opt for an actual board. May not be such a bad thing. Thanks for the help, guys.

There are two disadvantages of using the Shredder endgame database:

1) You have to be online to use it.
2) It only works up to 6 pieces at most. (That's for both sides, and you include kings and pawns in the piece count.)

Other than that, it's a great resource.

For offline use, I prefer to use either Arena 1.1 or Scid (Others like ChessDB. Scid and ChessDB are similar.)

For complete games, if you have a pgn file, you can import the pgn file into Arena or Scid (ChessDB), and then analyse the entire game, if that's your desire.

For a particular position, if you have a FEN file, you can import the FEN file into Arena or Scid. Of course, with a FEN, you only have that one position to analyse.

If you have to enter a game or position, it's easy to do, except for the manual toil involved.

If you need help to download any programs or import any files, just holler.

Originally posted by Mad Rook
There are two disadvantages of using the Shredder endgame database:

1) You have to be online to use it.
2) It only works up to 6 pieces at most. (That's for both sides, and you include kings and pawns in the piece count.)

Other than that, it's a great resource.

For offline use, I prefer to use either Arena 1.1 or Scid (Others like ChessDB. Scid an oil involved.

If you need help to download any programs or import any files, just holler.

2) It only works up to 6 pieces at most.

I'm surprised to see this. are there any completed 7 men tablebases? I was expecting the answer to be yes only in 5-10 years or so.

Originally posted by Mad Rook
There are two disadvantages of using the Shredder endgame database:

1) You have to be online to use it.
2) It only works up to 6 pieces at most. (That's for both sides, and you include kings and pawns in the piece count.)

"6 pieces at most"? Well, I didn't know that, so I went ahead and tried to load quite a few more pieces than 6 per side -- more like 12 or so -- and had no problem. Hmmmmm.

Originally posted by basso
"6 pieces at most"? Well, I didn't know that, so I went ahead and tried to load quite a few more pieces than 6 per side -- more like 12 or so -- and had no problem. Hmmmmm.

Well, OK, when I said that it only works up to 6 pieces at most, I meant that it only returns tablebase information up to that many pieces. Sure, you can add more pieces to the board, but then you don't get any tablebase info.

I guess you could move the pieces around manually, but you get no analysis over 6 pieces, and the board will let you make illegal moves, etc. If that's all you want to do, I guess it will work. But Arena, Scid, or even ChessPad will give you lots more capability with less effort.

Edit - And it's not 6 pieces per side - It's 6 pieces total (for both sides).