Hi wallred,
Chessbase should be able to recognize the PGN format with no problem.
These should be the steps:
Click on the Chessbase Application Button, click OPEN, and then change the Databases choices to PGN Files. (*.PGN). (You can find this in the lower right section of this dialog box.)
After that, navigate through your own folder structure to find the PGN file you wish to open. This PGN file can be a file that just contains one game, or a file that contains tens of thousands of games... or more.
As you're probably already aware, a valid PGN file is an ASCII text file and the data inside might look something like this:
[Event "Breisacher Memorial"]
[Site "Biel SUI"]
[Date "2013.07.22"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Nepomniachtchi,I"]
[Black "Bacrot,E"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[WhiteElo "2717"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[ECO "D35"]
[Opening "QGD"]
[Variation "exchange variation"]
[WhiteFideId "4168119"]
[BlackFideId "605506"]
[EventDate "2012.07.22"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 c5 7. Rb1 cxd4 8.
cxd4 Nc6 9. Bb5 a6 10. Bxc6+ bxc6 11. Nf3 c5 12. O-O Be7 13. Qc2 cxd4 14. Rd1
O-O 15. Rxd4 Qe8 16. e5 f6 17. Bf4 Qg6 18. Qd1 Ra7 19. Rc1 f5 20. Be3 Bb7 21.
Rd2 Raa8 22. Rc7 f4 23. Bd4 Rab8 24. h3 Bd8 25. Rc1 Ba5 26. Rb2 Bd5 27. Rxb8
Rxb8 28. Kh2 Qe8 29. Bc5 Rc8 30. Bd4 Bb4 31. a3 Be7 32. Ne1 Rxc1 33. Qxc1 Qc6
34. Qb2 Be4 35. f3 Bf5 36. Qb8+ Kf7 37. Qa7 Qc1 38. Bf2 Qxa3 39. Bh4 Qc5 40. Qd7
a5 41. Nd3 Bxd3 42. Bxe7 Qxe7 43. Qxd3 a4 44. Qd4 a3 45. Qxf4+ Kg8 46. Qa4 1/2-1/2
Creating a PGN file
Thanks for the help. When I copy the PGN information from a game I played on chess.com how do I convert that into a PGN format. When I save it to my desktop it is not a PGN formatted file but I opened it with Notepad. How do I convert that date to PGN format.
Rename it (after disabling "wordwrap") from .txt to .pgn.
sftac
I tried that but it still says the file opens under notepad and it would not copy into chessbase.
Windows sometimes tries to outsmart you and even when you type "Save As" in notepad with a filename like "foobar.pgn" it will really save it as "foobar.pgn.txt". Then the ".txt" is the *real* extension which makes it use notepad again. You might need to find some kind of setting in windows file exploder that lets you view all file extensions, once you can see this culprit extension, you can then rename it from ".txt" back to ".pgn".
Use ctrl-C to copy, open the board window in ChessBase and hit ctrl-V. That's how I do a single game frequently.
wallred, when you copy the game from chess.com, and you save it to your desktop, what does it look like? Can you paste it here? It's possible it's NOT a pgn formatted file (for whatever reason) and so that's part of the problem. All of these other steps from everyone won't work, because all of these steps are assuming it's a pgn file in the first place.
I could not paste the file here but it does not appear to be a pgn formatted file. I have to use notepad to open it and when I open it is has the notation inside but chessbase will not read it.
Well, if you can open it with Notepad, you should be able to paste it.
You should be able to just copy the data into memory, (CTRL-C) and then paste that data (CTRL-V) here into the chess.com forum box.
If it's not a pgn formatted file, it should still be an ascii text file and I'm curious to see what format it is in.
I made a video to show you two different ways to move a PGN file from Chess.com to ChessBase. I use ChessBase 11, but the process is essentially the same in every version of ChessBase.
Excellent video! Very nice!
By default, with my system, I previously set it up so that when I click on the GET PGN link from chess.com, Scid vs PC (currently my favorite interface) automatically (a) starts up and (b) opens the game for me.
(I previously told it this is what I want to done when I click on PGN files.)
Thus, I've eliminated the middle steps of (a) the file first being saved, and (b) then the step of having to open Chessbase (or in my case, Scid) and (c) then the step of having to open up the game from Chessbase. (Alas, I don't have a cool video to show this.)
Of course, with this method I don't have the pgn file yet saved on my computer. It's in memory in Scid and on my screen so I can step through the game and analyze it or whavter, but it's not yet saved.
So if I wish to save I then have to take the time to SAVE it to another file, from Scid, after I've opened it up.
So it's really six of one, half dozen of another... a matter of preference. You're autmatically saving the file first and then manually loading chessbase and I'm automatically loading Scid and the game and then manually saving it later. 
I hope wallred writes back because I really want to help him. Hopefully he will see your video.
Thanks. I have SCID on my computer, but I've never used it. I invested in ChessBase in 2003 and have never regretted the expense.
My posted video was the third effort. One bit of confusion in an earlier take was caused because PGN files on my computer are associated with Chess Informant Expert (you see that logo on the files in the video). In an earlier take, I double-clicked the file and it opened the file in CIE.
Not many folks use CIE, I suspect.
Awhile back I remember opening PGN files in TextPad (the equivalent of Notepad, but much better). And I found I was then opening up my GUI and then copying and pasting the data from TextPad into the GUI. At some point I realized I could eliminate those steps and save time and simply open the PGN file directly into the GUI.
I also have Chessbase (11) but over the past year or two I've become fond of Scid vs. PC.
I'm not sure I've ever even heard of Chess Informant Expert.
Chess Informant Expert is designed for Chess Informant publications, but also reads PGN files.
Windows sometimes tries to outsmart you and even when you type "Save As" in notepad with a filename like "foobar.pgn" it will really save it as "foobar.pgn.txt". Then the ".txt" is the *real* extension which makes it use notepad again. You might need to find some kind of setting in windows file exploder that lets you view all file extensions, once you can see this culprit extension, you can then rename it from ".txt" back to ".pgn".
Do NOT try to use 'save as'. Mouseover the file name, right click, choose "rename", ignore the warning about maybe that will cause the file not to work.
sftac
If you enclose the file name during 'Save As' in single quotes ('x')- example: 'abcd.pgn', Windows will actually change the extension of the file!
Hope that helps!
What GUI are you using?
The method will most likely be different depending upon the program you're using.
Ah. I don't use either. (I can't stand Arena.) I prefer Scid vs. PC.
However, lots of people use Arena so someone should be able to help you.
I am fairly new to chess.com and I have played a few games and had them analyzed. I was wanting to analyze them using chessbase but when I copy the PGN notation I do not know how to convert it to PGN file. I can open it with Notepad but Chessbase will not recognize it. Does anyone know how to convert the data to a PGN file so I can copy it into chessbase.