The exciting new features of ChessBase 15
On 13th of November the latest version of ChessBase software - ChessBase 15 is going to be released. You can pre-order it from the ChessBase India shop making using of the currently ongoing Diwali Sale. But why should you order ChessBase 15? What are the new features? In this article, the co-founder of ChessBase and the brain behind the ChessBase software Matthias Wullenweber tells us all about the new and exciting features of ChessBase 15. While the search functions have improved, the real game changers according to us are the features of "Plans Explorer" and "Replay Training". With ChessBase 15 you can take your training to the next level and this is your chance to own the best chess software that is available out there!
At the Batumi Olympiad 2018 I interviewed many of the top players of the world including Vishy Anand, MVL, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Kasimdzhanov and many others. At the end of my interviews I would ask them the question - how has ChessBase made an impact on your chess career? And the answer usually would be - "We have been using ChessBase softwares for so many years now that we cannot really imagine the present day chess without them." Here is what some of the best players in the world have to say about ChessBase:
The first version of ChessBase was released in the 1980s. Every couple of years a new version would come up with improvements and new features over the previous one.
It doesn't come as a surprise that the new version of ChessBase is looked forward to with great enthusiasm and excitement by the entire chess community. On 13th of November 2018 the latest version of ChessBase - ChessBase 15 will be released. You can now pre-order it from the ChessBase India shop. But what are the new features of ChessBase 15 as compared to the previous version? In this article by Matthias Wüllenweber, co-founder and the brain behind the ChessBase software, tells us all about the intricacies.
New features of ChessBase 15
By Matthias Wüllenweber
Replay Training
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. – Confucius
What is the principal application of a chess software? Replaying games. Since the very beginning of computers, replaying games has always been the same: You press a key and a piece moves on the board. Also, you could fire up an engine to evaluate the position. This is comfortable but dangerous because it can lead to cognitive passivity. The machine does all the work.
ChessBase 15 introduces a new and completely different approach to replaying games: You choose a side and then you guess and enter all moves for that side on your own. Guessing a series of grandmaster moves to replay a game? This sounds challenging, but with ChessBase it is not. ChessBase 15 gives you automatic hints for every move. The level of the hints is just the right measure above triviality that you have to think about every move. On the other hand, the hints are strong enough that you can find most good moves on your own. And if it is possible to detect the best move by easy calculation, the program will tell you, so that you can work it out on your own.
Together with a point and grading system, this leads to a playful and easy training experience. It lets you grasp the inner logic of a game much better as if you would just replay it passively. You simply learn a lot more when you are forced to think a bit about every move.
The training tab is clicked and you can guess the moves in the position. The point system keeps you motivated! If you can play like Spassky, you can be sure that you are on the path to chess mastery!
Fast Reference Search, Fashion Index and Endgame Index
New search technology
The reference search is the central tool to study openings. ChessBase 15 introduces new search technology which yields instant search results on modern machines. Even in early positions, where there are millions of games to scan, the result is immediately available. The new search technology provides additional information about opening variations, which lead to surprising insights:
Fashion Index
The Fashion Index plots the popularity of the current opening variation over time. This can show you how an opening evolved historically.
Queens Gambit Exchange Variation: Bullish for ten years!
Endgame Probability:
One tabbed window in the reference search displays the probability for given endgame types in the current opening variation. Below you see the endgame probability after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bd3 Bd6 4.Nf3 Ne7:
French players (especially in chess server Blitz) know this well: The French Exchange Variation often leads to Knight vs Knight endings. Nearly six percent of all games are Knight endings. This is statistically significant. The reason is simple: Rooks get traded off in the open e-file and Black exchanges the dangerous white squared bishop with Ne7 and Bf5. This suggests an unconventional strategy against the French: Sweat knight endings and play the Exchange variation.
Instant Evaluation Profile:
It was invented for engine testing in Fritz and later became the standard to visualize the drama of a chess game: The Evaluation Profile. ChessBase 15 introduces Instant Analysis, which immediately creates an evaluation profile for any loaded game. Modern machines with fast processors make this possible. A useful guide to unannotated games. It just takes a few seconds and one core of your computer and works smoothly without touching the game notation after loading.
See a typical Tal game above: (Tal-Pasman, Latvian Championship 1953): Tal played a sharp and incorrect attack which Black defended to a decisive advantage around move 26. At move 32, Black gets lost in the complications and soon finds himself mated.
Single Line Search Input:
For most database searches (filters), a single statement is sufficient. You can enter this now as a single text which will be interpreted in the right way.
Plan Explorer:
Have you ever asked yourself: “Which rook should go to d1 in this position?” or “Where does my knight belong here?”. The ChessBase 15 Plan Explorer gives you the answers even if the opening book does not. The plan explorer shows for each piece where it will most probably go to in the future. Check out the following position from the Queens Gambit Exchange Variation after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 Be7 6. e3 O-O 7. Nf3c6 8. Qc2 Nbd7 9. Bd3 Re8 10. O-O Nf8:
Not a single game contains 11.b2-b4, because it simply drops a pawn. So in this position this move is invisible to you in reference search or live book. However the Plan Explorer shows top scores for White’s b2-b4-b5-bxc6, the so called “Minority Attack”, a standard plan in this position.
Another example from the Slav Defence main variation:
The Plan Explorer clearly shows that here your knight belongs on c6. Black has to regroup with Nd7-b8-c6. But in the current position Nd7-b8 loses to 15.Ng5!, so the book would not show this important plan.
Search for Combinational Themes
The new Eldorado of tactics training: ChessBase 15 can find games containing all common combination motifs:
This is part of the new and extended Manoeuvre search. Just open the search mask, click the “Manoeuvre” tab, click on a motif and hit Enter to start the search. The following position can be found in Mega 2018 if you search for the motif “Trapped Piece”.
Also the Tactical Analysis now makes use of ChessBase’s new understanding of tactical motifs.
Ray Tracing 3D board (64 bit only)
ChessBase 15 introduces new 3D boards based on “ray tracing” technology. Ray tracing takes a lot of computing power but produces perfect shadows and reflections for a given scene. This leads to breath taking renderings of chess positions. You have to allow a minute or two of calculation time, but the result is strikingly realistic. A tool to easily create beautiful chess illustrations:
Search Mask: Material and Manoeuvre Search with Examples
The material and manoeuvre parts of the search mask were always a bit difficult to understand. Both have now been enhanced with a long list of samples, containing relevant motifs:
The material search has been simplified significantly: You just enter a search position and the program will automatically deduce all search logic from it: Material, pawn structure, etc.
Search Attack and Defend patterns:
ChessBase 15 lets you search the database using a different approach. Assume you want to search for a pattern which involves a pawn being attacked by Queen, Rook, Bishop an a knight, but is defended by a pawn and the king. You can specify this:
Chess Movies (64 bit only)
By clicking on a Board Window, and then Menu, File -> Publish, you can now publish a game in these formats:
• Game as GIF (for Twitter, What’s App, etc)
• Game as MP4, either 2D, 3D or ray traced.
The raytraced movie might take a while ( up to many hours, depending the quality and resolution settings), the movie will have sound added for the moves. The 3D versions will automatically change the camera perspective to create a striking movie of your favourite game.
Extended Statistics
The statistics function in the game list has been enhanced by three new data mining tools:
• Endgame probability
• Time distribution
• Piece survival probability
Further improvements:
• Combination themes in Tactical Analysis
Pre-order your ChessBase 15 now with the Diwali Sale!
Just like every year, this year too we have the ChessBase India Diwali Sale on 2nd and 3rd of November 2018. As the number of products in the ChessBase India shop keep increasing (now over 400 products) ranging from chess softwares, books, accessories and more, the sale becomes all the more interesting! And this year to take things a notch further we have the launch of ChessBase 15!
How does the Diwali Sale work?
If you buy between
Rs. 1 to Rs. 1,000 you get 5% off
Rs.1001 to Rs. 5,000 you get 10% off
Rs. 5001 to Rs. 10,000 you get 15% off
Rs. 10,001 to 20,000 you get 20% off
Rs. 20,001 and above you get 25% off
The amount of discount depends on your sub-total which is before GST.
Introducing hard copies!
Since the inception of ChessBase India we have been selling products in soft copies/ downloadable format. Once you place an order with us we would send you the setup file and serial key. While all of this will continue, with ChessBase 15 we have introduced the concept of hard copies. For an additional Rs.500, you will get the product in hard copy and delivered to your doorstep anywhere in India.
Let's say you would like to buy ChessBase 15. Once you go to the ChessBase India shop, you will have an option where ChessBase 15 is available, whether you want to buy it in downloadable format via email or you would like to buy it in hard format and get it delivered to your home address.
Different ways to get ChessBase 15:
If you have bought ChessBase 14 from us, you can buy ChessBase 15 for a discounted price from us. This would mean you have to email the serial key of ChessBase 14 to us.
If you are buying ChessBase for the first time from our store then the cost is Rs.3149 + GST.
We would recommend you that you should go for ChessBase 15 + the biggest and the best database in the world of chess - the Mega Database 2019, which not only has 7.6 million games, but also 72,000+ annotated games by some of the best players in the world including Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand, Garry Kasparov and many others.
For all our trusted users who had bought the ChessBase 14 + Mega Database 2018 combo from our shop, you can now buy the ChessBase 15 + Mega Database 2019 upgrade at a very huge discounted price:
To buy the above you must mail us your CB14 + Mega Database 2018 key to chessbaseindia@gmail.com
You can of course get the Mega Database 2019 on its own. But if you did buy Mega Database 2018 from ChessBase India, then you get the new version for as little as 2/5 the cost!
By mailing us the serial key of Mega Database 2018 to chessbaseindia@gmail.com you can now get the Mega Database 2019 at 2/5 the cost:
This year we have also introduced the Big Database 2019, which has all the games of Mega Database 2019 but not the annotated ones. You can check out the Big Database from here.
Launching the all new - ChessBase 15 mega Pack!
The mega pack has everything that a serious player needs for preparation. The ChessBase 15 Mega Pack includes:
1. ChessBase 15
2. Mega Database 2019
3. ChessBase Premium Account
4. ChessBase Magazine (6 issues)
The total cost of all the four would come to Rs.3149 + Rs.4999 + Rs.1499 + Rs.4194 = Rs.13841 +GST
However the ChessBase 15 Mega Pack helps you to save huge amount of money (Rs.4842 to be precise!) as it costs you just Rs. 8999 + GST. It is an offer not worth missing!
Note:
ChessBase 15, Mega Database 2019 release on 13th of November 2018. You will get the soft copies by 15th of November 2018 and those who have ordered hard copies, your DVDs will be couriered to you on 15th of November and you should receive them within a week.
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