How does a database help me study?

Hi,

I am a new-ish chess player and am looking to improve my study.

A senior member at my club has mentioned databases -- such as Chessbase, Chess Assistant, etc, as being essential tools.  However, I don't really understand what exactly it is that they do?

I understand that they offer a large collection of games that you can step through and study.  But how do they differ from pgn files and shredder?  What advantages do they offer over using chessgames.com or a similar site?  The reason that I ask is, primarily the cost, and also I run Linux, and these top teir databases are only for windows (I can boot vmware but it's kind of a PITA).

What am I missing out on by not using Chessbase/CA and using say chessgames.com instead?

You could use SCID or Chess DB which are free and have Linux variants. What you are missing is the ability to search games for particular positions and see where the games go from there. As such, the main use of a database is researching openings. Essential? Not sure. I don't use one of those fancy database packages because they don't run on a Mac but I do use Sigma which has some database features. For openings I am likely to use chessgames.com or the Opening Explorer on chess.com.

Thanks Sharukin I guess what I was wondering is how much am I missing not being able to have the advanced search capabilities.  I am far from the point where I need to study openings beyond what is in MCO.  I guess I will skip databases for now and just keep studying annotated games and playing.

Do you have a website about your astronomy modeling?  I think that's really cool.

A good place to start is www.artcompsci.org Jun Makino and Piet Hut are doing much the same as me but with globular clusters and they do it professionally.

It doesn't look like you've played games on chess.com so I can't judge your playing strength except from the statement that you're a new-ish chess player.

If your heart is set on using a database and you don't want to abandon Linux, consider the Scid chess database. It's a popular alternative to the commercial programs and it's FREE! 

How to use a database program to improve one's play is a topic for debate and discussion. In my opinion, the best use of a chess database for improvement is to create a database of your own games. Then turn on a chess engine while you review your games to see where it finds a better move than yours or even a killer move that's far superior or even wins immediately (I call this a blundercheck). That's how I use a chess database.

A general comment on chess improvement at your level. I agree with NM Dan Heisman in his book Back to Basics: Tactics when he says "of all the skills in chess, the one that correlates highest with how good you are is your tactical ability. Especially among beginning and intermediate players, the one who is the better tactical player almost always wins" and "I learned from the Russians that repetitive study of basic tactics is probably the single most important thing any beginner can do to improve at chess". In that vein, I suggest that you practice tactics. I use the chess.com Tactics Trainer. Even as a free member, you can do 3 tactical exercises per 24 hour period. That works out fine for me. Gives me my daily dose of tactics so that I don't get too rusty.

Alright, that's my 2 cents on how to use a chess database for chess improvement and my tip for studying tactics. Good luck!

Yes I have been doing very extensive study of tactics.  What I am using is the Polgar 5334 book and emrald as well as reviewing Morphy and Capablanca's games.

I don't really have a good idea of my rating either but I would guess around 1400.  I just registered on chess.com.

What does Scid, etc offer over Shredder or equivilent in terms of analyzing and cataloging my own games?  This is what I dont really understand.

Thanks for the help.

I think there's some crossover in functionality between chess database programs and chess playing programs. Chess databases programs are primarily databases, with some chess engine functionality. Chess playing programs are primarily chess engines with some database functionality.

For me, I almost never play against computer programs. Therefore, Shredder, Fritz and the like don't really interest me. But I still can utilize a chess engine's tremendous strength to analyze my games. That's why I've gone the chess database route.

What you are missing out on 

One you are probably fine

but database programs like chessbase offer a lot of functionality. You can search games by position, elo players, years etc. You can merge a series of games together in the same opening and study  the merged games to get a better idea of it. You can create your own opening book(say load all of kasparovs games into a ctg file and then load your newly created book into an engine and play against that book. Or you could just create an opening book in one line of the sicilian etc  and play against that for practice. You can see scoring percentages in different lines and how many games have been played. Stuff like that. You can also look for games with annotations by the players so if you wanted to study annotated grandmaster games without going out and buying  a book you have that possibility.

Fun and interesting buy probably not necessary for improvement.  I find the database on chess.com to be pretty extensive but with less funcionality. 

I think concentrate on tactics is the best advice out there.