Request chess data base info

I hope to receive chess data base advice. As a chess coach at a small private school, I like to help my players prepare by having them study openings and defenses. I have a rough idea about the most common ones they face, but I'd like more precise statistics. I want to find out the most common openings and defenses used by players rated under 1600 (not by players playing on RHP, of course, but in regular tournament play in the entire chess world). I'd also like this info for all players 16 years old and under. I'd want to find out percentage of games each opening or defense was used in those parameters. For instance, Ruy Lopez, 8% of games. Sicillian Najdorf, 5% of games. Queen's Gambit Slav variation, 2% of games, etc.

My question is, would a data base such as Chessbase 9 be able to give me this info? If so, where is the best place to buy it? For that matter, is there a second-hand copy someone would sell me? Is there a competitor to Chessbase that I should consider? Finally, is there any online resource that might provide me this info for free?

I've never used a chess data base and I'd appreciate any help in this quest.

Thanks,
James Horton

I very much doubt Chessbase itself can help you with this. Chessbase itself is just a program for the manipulation and storage of databases. While Chessbase 9 does come with a pretty hefty standard database the games in it are master games. I haven't ever seen a database full of below 1600 rated games. I doubt I ever will. It wouldn't be very interesting to most people. The only way to have a good quality database of games of the level you are talking about would be to build your own. Of course you have to have the games to build it from in the first place.
I have played in competitions and tournaments around the level you are talking about and I can give you some ideas on openings to watch for. Send me a message if you want.

Finally, is there any online resource that might provide me this info for free?

Originally posted by James Horton
I hope to receive chess data base advice. As a chess coach at a small private school, I like to help my players prepare by having them study openings and defenses. I have a rough idea about the most common ones they face, but I'd like more precise statistics. I want to find out the most common openings and defenses used by players rated under 1600 (not ...[text shortened]... ever used a chess data base and I'd appreciate any help in this quest.

Thanks,
James Horton

Originally posted by James Horton
I hope to receive chess data base advice. As a chess coach at a small private school, I like to help my players prepare by having them study openings and defenses. I have a rough idea about the most common ones they face, but I'd like ...[text shortened]... d I'd appreciate any help in this quest.

Thanks,
James Horton

While that could be useful it's not quite what the poster is looking for. Those are from master games not 1600 or under 16 players.

I appreciate all of your help thus far. It's really nice to have a resource like you to draw upon. I have a question about Scid now. I downloaded it but it seems to have no games in it. An empty data base tool. Does anyone know how I can load it with a million or two games? It looks like getting games of only 16 and under or rated 1600 or less is impossible. So at this point I'll take what I can get.

James

In SCID you create a new database going like this:

FILE

NEW

Then you create a database...

The next step is to import the games in pgn format doing this:

TOOLS

IMPORT FILE OF PGN GAMES

That should get you started 🙂

This is a semi long shot but it might be worth trying if you really want under 1600 games. Go to the BCF (or USCF, or which ever country you are from) website, there will be a list of all the clubs and often an e-mail address for one of the people who run the club. Send them an e-mail asking if any of their members keep databases (almost all club players do save their games) and would they be willing to send them to you.

Another good place to get under 1600 games is open tournaments games that are records on websites, theres quite a few of these around, they arent advertisted as -1600 so you might not have come across them before.

Had a quick look on yahoo and turned up this one almost straight away.

http://www.colorado-chess.com/default.htm

Go to "Games from Recent Tournaments"

Then select a year etc

http://www.colorado-chess.com/games/2004_ColoradoSpringsOpen.shtml

and bingo (I hope)


This one doesnt give ratings next to players,( most dont) so you cant be sure they are under 1600, but looking at the chess, while some are 2000+ however a lot seem to be under 1600. It does give the openings tho so it should save you an age looking up all the ones you dont know :-)

Hope that helps some :-)

Statistics aren't really necessary. If you want to know what people play most, I can prolly tell you. I teach at a chess club full of 80 kids, and my chess team actually won the Greater Ohio Scholastic Chess Championship 2 years ago, with me at second board. The predominant opening by far is the Giuoco Piano, closely followed by the Scotch and all that. You can almost count on playing against 1. e4, and sometimes 1. d4 at the < 1600 level. Noone has the sophistication to play 1. Nf3 or 1. c4, and if they do, they will prolly play it wrong. Anything else isn't all that great. Watch out for the KG too.

Yeah that was my experience too. Last year our team won the South Island High school competition (New Zealand has two major islands). At board 4 pretty much constantly e4. When white I played e4 and only once did I get anything other than e5. A Rossolimo Sicilian.
Then we went to the North Island to play the winners there. We lost. Badly. Hell they're number one is the top rated NZ junior by 300 points or so.

This year I played board 1 (thanks to everyone but me leaving for uni), saw a much larger variation of openings. The thing was the strength of the opponents varied so much. There were about 4 people on board 1 who were really good (if I can include myself in that catagory 😛). I knew them and knew what they played so I prepared for it. The rest were unknowns and didn't know much opening theory. Traps work well (The QGA trap of d4 d5 c4 cxd4 e3 b5 a4 c6 axb5 cxb5 Qf3 +- on one occasion) but 99% of games were not won in the opening. They were won in the middlegame with tactics.

I guess it would depend on the strength of the competition.

If you are trying to get better at chess forget the opening, the way to really improve in chess is to do a long end game study.

Undoubtedly... The resources that everybody points out here are very good. In addition these are my two cents:

DATABASES TO DOWNLOAD PGNS

Chess Archaeology
GMchess
Grandmaster Corner

COUNTRY DATABASES

Britbase
Chathurangam
Danbase
Greekbase
PolBase
Schach!
UkrBase

If you are trying to get better at chess forget the opening, the way to really improve in chess is to do a long end game study.
It depends what level you are at. I'd say middlegame study is at least as important as endgame study for most players...probably more so.