How good is Chessbase?

I am currently downloading a free one (chessbase light 2009)

but i was just wondering, how good is chessbase, what is it? i have never heard of it or seen it before.

It's the standard commercial database software for PCs. And very good, if a bit pricey.

Chessbase is considered the expensive "industry standard" for personal and collection (GM/Master games etc.) database management and seems almost necessary for playing at the higher levels.   If you're going head-to-head with Expert+ players who REALLY book up their openings and catch up on even the slightest developments of opening theory on a daily basis, you NEED this tool (or a tool like this) because that's what THEY are using as well.

However, if you're under ELO 2000, I'd say get a free clone (SCID, www.scid.sourceforge.net ) to manage your personal game database and work on your game which evidently needs more work than just a million games at your fingertips.

Hope this helps!

Shivsky

What can chessbase do that I can't do with my ChessDb? (it's built on SCID, with some added functions).  What is chessbase doing for those GMs Chessdb can't do for me?

First download the free demo of chessbase light 2009 the prime limit on the demo is any database is limited to about 35000 games.I have around 20 free data bases as there is a lot of very good free ones to download in the 25 to30000 size range as with the total of 20 data bases add up to around 350000 games not bad for a free demo.by the way as its free scid is also very good total free program with no limitations.Also try compo chess 2.5 also good an free database. this year i play to buy the full version of chessbase light 2009 along with rybka 3 as it should be cut in price soon as rybka 4 should be out soon.I have fritz 11 an rybka 2.3 now was able to get a very good price on both as  if you buy them just before the new product line comes out you get a lot of bang for your dollar.

Nobody seems to have an answer to my question, but I'm not trying to be snotty, I'd really like to know... is there anything the how much is it, $100? chessbase does that my free ChessDb program can't (does chessbase come with Rybka? I use Toga II as my engine ... is Rybka included in the chessbase price?)

I cant stand chessbase light 200. I can't even keep my own database of games in it.. Except just opening pgn files and a nice looking board...  it doesn't compare to SCID version 4 or the slightly older chessdb. Chessdb still has automatic download of twic and importing a whole directory of pgn files which SCID 4 doesn't have. Other than that i think SCID 4 is better because its board/pieces is more customizable

People get Chessbase because everyone else is getting it and since they think they need to emulate what GMs do. But I see no function in chessbase that scid/chessdb does not have

I can't live without the auto download TWIC function which ChessDb has... and it seems a bit more stable than SCID (on my system anyway)... but I'd like to combine some feature with SCID...  SCID let's you search for a position from a game in a small db, in a big reference database without having to actually copy the game into the big reference database first. Chessdb doesn't do that -- annoying in that it creates extra steps. Another fault with chessdb is deleting games from a db should be easier, all the data grooming functions in chessdb feel a bit clunky, I wonder if chessbase handles that stuff better.

Chessbase has a whole bunch of different theme keys that give you quick access to your archives of games organized by player, tournament, site, opening, endgame, tactical themes, etc.  You can sort these lists with one click, and don't need to create a seperate search to find particular types of games.  Chessbase also has a very convenient "Find Novelty" function and a "Reference" pane in each game window giving you quick access to a list of games in the same opening line which you can sort to your liking.  You can build your own opening keys organizing them the way that you think about openings, so that you can move directly to a list of games having key positions that you want to look at.  I found using SCID a lot more work.

From the tone of the conversation: Chessbase is necessary when you are grounded into the game. For my 1100 rating would you recommend Fritz or another program?

I would recommend chessbase for when you reach 15-1600, but it doesnt hurt to get it at 1100