It’s been a while since my last blog post. Things have been very busy on all fronts. The good news is that – we have opened a branch of Golden Chess Centre at Adambakkam to cater to the Chess aficionados of Adambakkam, St. Thomas Mount, and Alandur.
Adambakkam is well connected to St. Thomas Mount, Alandur, Nandambakkam, and Meenambakkam, so it makes sense to have a branch that would be a big help to the residents of these areas.
Golden Chess Centre at Adambakkam will be focusing on the use of technology to accelerate chess learning.
It is an innovative idea to implement and has been going on in my mind for quite some time now.
The inspiration came from many directions especially after seeing how technology has eased our lives compared to say 10 years ago (not so long ago eh?).
I am planning on introducing the learners to the online chess arena, for playing with other chess players.
This will be a good idea to implement especially on those days when the energy level of the children is low đŸ™‚
For those students who are coming from far-off areas, we have proximity to the St. Thomas Mount Metro and Suburban Railway station from where it is just half a kilometer distance.
Most importantly the centre is spacious and air-conditioned to give maximum comfort to the avid learners.
For those of you who are looking for a quality chess training academy in Adambakkam – do pay a visit.
Make sure you enroll early as seats are filling fast at the Golden Chess Centre at Adambakkam and you avoid missing the bus!
After all, we are focusing on quality rather than quantity.
Photos will be added soon so stay tuned!
When I first got introduced to Chess, back in the 80’s, there was a lack of chess training resources and even now it looks like not many people have a clue about chess training.
When I come across parents and hear stories about how they got introduced to chess,
I feel that the current generation is blessed to have so many resources for learning any skill or subject.
All one needs is a Mobile phone to enquire online about chess training needs. And there are a plethora of choices that one can take.
How did we start the Golden Chess Centre at Adambakkam?
Adambakkam is a locality that is both busy and quiet at the same time.
Busy market places are always crowded – as though there is no sleep time and people are always rushing to god knows where!
Then there are the residential areas where nothing much seems to happen.
When many school kids started enquiring at our Nanaganallur Golden Chess centre, we decided on setting up an alternative Chess centre at Adambakkam.
What is the Mission of Golden Chess Centre at Adambakkam?
The main mission is of course to teach chess. Using technological means and imparting modern-day tools for the uber kids!
Apart from that, we started the Adambakkam centre as it was an experiment in using computers in the much-needed chess training centre in this part of Chennai.
During these Pandemic times, all our classes are currently online.
There are Chess classes for all levels of chess players from the ages 5 to 18.
Chess in the Digital Age is an enchanting 356 pages guide that explains almost all aspects of using ChessBase.
Let us start with the basics first.
What is ChessBase?
ChessBase is an amazing chess database software mainly used by top professionals and by amateurs. It has evolved constantly from a very basic chess data reference tool to a full-blown chess database software.
Much like the Swiss knife of Chess
What is the book about?
For those who have been using the ChessBase Software (and I am pretty sure at least 75% of chess players around the world have used it at one point in time or the other) for straight forward game collections and annotations or for mundane tasks like viewing a game or playing a game online, this book will show what ChessBase software is actually capable of doing.
Here a small caveat – though the author has done a very good job explaining the key features with real-time case studies, it can by no means be labeled as ‘complete’. However, that does not take any credit away from the utility value of the book which is a path-breaking one.
Why this book?
I am sure most of you would have by now figured out a few basic functions in Chessbase, but a lot of the nerdy stuff features are not obvious unless you see them in the true perspective of results.
You may argue that there is a user-manual in the program as is the case with all software, and pretty much is explained in there, but it’s written more with an eye for technicality, than the utility point. The how is explained, but not the why and when and what if.
When one opens Chessbase it appears as a mysterious piece of software that appears easy to operate but you get a gut feeling that it has some secrets that are hidden deep inside waiting to be unraveled.
After going through this book you will realize that you have been actually right all along. There were many functions that you did not even have an inkling of.
In other words this book is like the hitch-hiker’s guide to the Chessbase galaxy!
How does the book deliver?
Showing hundreds of helpful screenshots from the program, Jon Edwards explains the following tasks with ChessBase:
Effective Opening preparation is de-mystified with suitable examples.
How to get a collection of important games in any opening, middlegame position type, or even endgame positions
How you can install and see what engines think about any given position.
How you can perform an analysis and see where you and your opponents erred.
How you can publish your games in a book or the web/Facebook
What about practical examples?
What the author Jon Edwards has done is to take pains explaining 14 general features (aptly called ‘scenarios’), such as training and teaching, position searches, opening preparation, playing on the Playchess server using ChessBase, etc, and explains clearly how to go about accomplishing these activities.
The fact is that this book is a ready-reckoner because Chessbase is one life-saving utility for 99% of today’s chess professionals.
Do we need to have the Chessbase software?
The book is full of screenshots, which are helpful so that the program need not be open in front of you (though that would be highly recommended) and he does not miss anything major.
So is Chess in the Digital Age a complete reference manual?
Though every little function is explained to the point, I should add that this book is not a complete reference manual. The author merely elucidates how he uses the various features of Chessbase for his specific purposes (scenarios).
That said however if you are a serious chess player, this book should be in your collection of essentials. And although the book was written with Chessbase 12 in mind, it still works with the latest release of Chessbase 16.
The only sore point in Chessbase Complete Chess in the Digital Age is that the images used in the book could have been good quality color images to better illustrate and engage the reader’s eye. Hence my half-star less in the rating. It has nothing to do with the content – which is 5 star!
The new ChessBase Reader conveniently displays all installed databases and training titles – with a modern menu ribbon look. With the free ChessBase reader, you can
Open all standard file formats (.cbh, .cbf, .pgn),
Play through games on a stunningly rendered board,
It is not possible to save a chess game in a database (.cbh or as a .pgn) in chessbase reader. You can use SCID Chess (free) to do this then transfer this .pgn into Chessbase Reader. Reader allows one to use Chessbase products for training but to analyse game I suggest using Arena or SCID.
I would also recommend ChessDB which is quite powerful for a free program with the ability to download from TWIC from within the program. Also import from a player’s ICC history is a good tool. You can hook up to UCI engines to assist your game analysis.
Most importantly you can save your games into a PGN database (but you cannot import Chessbase format). It has good search capabilities for a free program like player reports and search for games with exact position match. I will be explaining all that in a separate article.
