Revised: 06-16-98
Mark Kaprielian
As of 07-11-99, this page is rather old but some of the comparison information may still be usefull.
I just checked the German ChessBase site and found information about the next
release of ChessBase.
Also, They've slashed the price of CB6 to about $100 and you get 300,000 games on CD with
that. My personal beleif is that once you get into searching for similar positions
your going to wish you had the mega database.
Version 7 is a full version and does not require Version 6. For those who have Version 6, you will be glad to hear that the dongle is no longer needed. They had too many people complain about it. I asked if they'd buy back the two I have. They gave me $10 off for each as long as I send them back when I get version 7.
The pricing information on the US site always lags the information and pricing on the German site, which is where the software originates from. The US site is at www.ChessBaseUSA.com the German site is at www.ChessBase.com
Check these pages out for info on the upcoming version 7.0 release.
News on Chess Base 7.0
http://www.chessbase.com/news.htm#cb7
Chess Base 7 Overview of upcoming features:
http://www.chessbase.com/products/cb70/index.htm
A few Possible Scenerios and what it will cost you. Keep in mind that their pricing is in flux and that I'm only doing a few scenerios to give you some ideas. If you find I'm off in pricing let me know and I'll update it. |
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| You buy CB6 and get the 300,00
games About $100 (German pricing) |
You don't want to dork around. You want to get the whole thing. 999 DM about $499 |
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| You really want to work on your openings so you buy the Encyclopedia CD. $99 | You really like finding games that are similar to
the one you just played but you wish you had more "hits". OR You
really want to analyse the games of one of the greats and then maybe move onto another
great. You realize you should get the Mega98 database CD. $249 |
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| You realize that you like this program
and that you want the new features and promised greater ease of use. Upgrade to 7.0, 199 DM or about $100 |
You realize that you like
this program and that you want the new features and promised greater ease of use. Upgrade to 7.0, 199 DM or about $100 |
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| You wish you now had the Opening CD $99 | |||||
| Total About $199 You don't have V 7 or a very large pool of games |
Total About $299 You don't have a very large pool of games |
Total About $349 You don't have V 7 or the Opening CD |
Total About $499 You don't have the Opening CD |
Total About $599 You got most everything but you got here the hard way. |
Total About $499 You got it all and you didn't mess around to get here. |
If your going to study openings then get the Opening CD. It's like having ECO or MCO on disk and searchable.
I would NOT recommend the game CDs that give you 900,000 games for $29. A lot of these games had clearly bad play at various points in the game. I found myself being unsure if the lines I found were sound or not. I have a hard enough time figuring out what good play is without wondering if my reference material is any good. I stopped using these games and now only use the Mega98 and Openings CD.
My personal philosophy regarding investments in things like this has been, for a long time, "If I can pay (and afford) to buy the top of the line or the version with all the features, even if I'm not sure I'm going to use them all, get the whole thing. I'll spend too much time kicking myself or wondering if I don't do it all in the first place. I'd rather think I wasted some money than think I messed up and cheated myself out of good stuff".