SCID Help

Hi,

I recently downloaded SCID vs PC, and I have a couple questions to ask about it.

1. What are some large non read-only downloadable chess databases (or any that come with it that I am not aware of)?

2. Could anyone explain how the "search positions" works?

3. Are there any main uses to it besides creating databases?

I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions!

1.You can find large databases in SCID format at http://icofy-blog.de/icofy-base/

2.Search positions looks for games where a specific position happened in the currently open database

3.You can use SCID to analyse games with chess engines. There are some preinstalled engines but you can add any UCI or X-Board engine (I like Stockfish 3 - it is more recent than the version which comes with SCID vs PC). Press F2 (or choose the engine from Tools menu) and find the "Annotate" button. After setting preferred parameters the current game will get analysed with the engine and annotated (blunders marked with ?!, ? etc and best moves suggested as variations)

You can use SCID to play on FICS (though I prefer Babas for that purpose)

You can play against a chess engine

You can arrange engines tournaments

You can paste a position from chess sites which offer FEN option and analyse it with an engine

Thank you!

not to hijack the thread but is scid really worht the hassle or should i f it and just get chessbase?? i mean is it really like the same, or is it worth as an amateur player who likes to play around with databases and learn from the pros to get chessbase??

SCID is well worth the hassle, but I would recommend SCID vs. PC.  It's a better overall experience.  In my opinion, having used both extensively, Chessbase products are not really worth it unless you can get them very cheaply.  SCID vs. PC provides excellent chess database functionality and is completely free.

cool pig gorgonian

@Gpod What's a "non read-only DB?" Technically I think any chess DB is "read only" since it's not an executable file, or am I missing something here?

To learn how to use SCID you should learn the basics of using search engines (which is invaluable for looking up lots of other stuff as well). I use ChessBase and so have had no incentive to learn about SCID but CB aint free and SCID is, so you have an incentive to start learning it on your own! I have looked SCID over and it definitely looks like it's worth the effort to learn. One thing I noticed is that it uses a "proprietary" game format (not pgn) so any DBs in pgn format will have to be converted to whatever format SCID uses.

http://sourceforge.net/p/scid/wiki/GetHelp/

http://www.monash.com/spidap2.html

Sorry, I tried the link and it doesn't appear to work. Is there other ones?

I think ChessBase only offers a more complete database (mega database) but as a software is not better than SCID vs. PC. I find SCID operate even faster than CB on some databases.

I have used SCID since 2004 and think this is the best chess database program available. If you are not preparing against an opponent whose games are only available in mega database then you can stick to SCID and spend your money on Houdini 3 - it works perfectly with SCID

hi bro

When you load a large .pgn file in SCID it is treated as a database but you cannot simply add games or even annotate games.

With databases in SCID format you are able to edit the games, remove duplicates, add new games etc. All the things you are able to do with .cb files in ChessBase

Which link are you referring to? Under http://icofy-blog.de/icofy-base/ I can see a table with available databases.

When you click "Download" in the last column (SCID) you get a packed database in SCID format. All you need is the 7-zip packer utility (http://www.7-zip.org/) which extracts the database from the archive.

You can then use the extracted file with SCID vs. PC

Oh, ok. I was selecting the "open with"  as scid. I will eventually try that. When I used the open method, some error message popped up.

isnt scid like really complicated to use or is it easy to master??

It's very simple once you understand the concepts.

Sorry, but I still can't get it to load properly. Could someone please give me an alternative database option?

http://www.filefactory.com/file/2q7bhsafrvm5/n/TWIC.zip

scroll to the bottom and click slow download (you'll probably have to wait on a timer or something)

Who know how to export scid games in one single html file for use with a website. I use 4.2.2 and when exporting it makes a file for every single game.

If you open those files in your browser, you'll see that you can access every game from every page. I think it's necessary for each game to have it's own page. It actually works very well.

I think other editors also make multiple pages. It's really no big deal,