Chess Lab press review

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Winnipeg Free Press. Cecil Rosner. Jan, 1999

"The gift-giving season is over, but if you didn't get the chess present you were hoping for, there's a wonderful new product you can use absolutely free. Well, it's not entirely free. you will need a computer and an Internet connection, but once you have those you can visit a site called ChessLab at www.chesslab.com. It's one of the most valuable chess resources I have yet seen on the Internet, and for the serious student it alone could justify the leap into cyberspace. ChessLab is a database of two million games. In this respect it is similar to many CD-Rom databases than can cost $100 or more. But the great advantage of this Internet database is that it is updated weekly, providing all the important new games as they are played. As with other databases, you can arrange a position and search for games with that same setup. You also can search by player name and date. As a test, I searched for Abe Yanofsky's games, and found 185 of them going all the way back to 1939. There are hundreds of games involving local players as well. As a bonus, the site will analyse any position for you, providing a recommended move and citing variations for a number of candidate moves. There is an interactive chessboard to display the moves, but your browser must support Java to use it."

The New Zealand Herald

March 03, 1999 http://herald.co.nz/nzheraldnew/story.cfm?theStoryID=3456

"ChessLab www.chesslab.com Gary Kasparov, move over - budding grandmasters have never had it so good. This free Web database contains the moves of over 2 million chess games played since 1485. Its Java-powered engine lets you analyse your position and make your move with a 'Play It' button. Cornered? Chess rats can go to 'Search Games' and locate similar positions in other matches, then click their way out of the trap. The Sleuth says: find a mate on the Web…"

www.zdnet.com May 28, 1999

Today's Incredibly Useful Site: ChessLab.com

Play Chess "Whether you want to be the next Bobby Fischer or you want to figure out how the knight moves, ChessLab's interactive chess database can help. Set up a chess game on the Java board here, then search for a matching game from the 2 million game database to see how someone else (including chess geniuses such as Fischer, Karpov, and Kasparov) would've played it. You can also just hit the analyze button to have the ChessLab computer tell you what move to make. You'll be checkmating in no time." http://www.zdnet.com/yil/stories/useful/0,4921,2266726,00.html

The Chess Lab

NETSURFER DIGEST Volume 05, Issue 05
Thursday, February 18, 1999

http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/nsd.05.05.html

"Chess Lab will likely make any chess game you already have seem antiquated. Its free Web database - updated every week - contains the moves of about two million chess games played since 1485. ... With a Java interface, you can analyze your next move and click a "Play it" button to spare yourself the bother of moving the piece manually. The site's most powerful feature is "Search Games", which lets you find similar games based on the positions of the pieces in an ongoing game. You can restrict your search by game result. Will budding grandmasters benefit from Chess Lab? If so, will they ever need mentoring from a meat-based grandmaster again? "

Netlife "Your move, cyberpunk"

electronic Telegraph www.telegraph.co.uk March 4, 1999

"Chess players can improve their skills in the Chess Lab, a site that enables you to draw on the combined knowledge of 2 million games, some of which were played as long ago as 1485. The clever Java board enables you to set up a position and then search the database for a game that matches, enabling you to find out what move the grandmasters would have played next. A perfect site to have on your side should you ever play chess online - just hope that your opponent isn't using it as well"

The Vancouver Sun March 04, 1999 Hot Sites http://www.vancouversun.com/newsite/hotsites/hotsites-c.html

"A data base of two million chess games played, it says in the site's intro, since 1485. You can analyse, play along (if your browser has its java activated) and even learn to play from an online chess tutor."

Sioux City Journal April 4, 1999 'Making your chess move on the Web' http://www.trib.com/scjournal/ARC/1999/APR/Apr_4_99_Sun/living/hightec.html

"This deceptively simple-looking site is packed with a database containing more than 2 million games that you can download and analyze at your leisure. The games database contains games dating back to 1485! You'll need a
Java-enabled browser to access this site, and the chesslab Web master recommends Netscape 4.0 or higher or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher. (The updated Netscape Communicator suite can be downloaded from:
www.netscape.com/. Microsoft's Explorer 5.0 can be downloaded from www.microsoft.com/.)
This free site is a gift to mediocre players like me who are trying to get better because it allows you to set up a game board that analyzes all your moves. Whether you're a novice or expert, this site definitely belongs in your bookmark file."

de Volksrant March 12, 1999

"Meer dan twee miljoen partijen, waarvan sommige al vijfhonderd jaar geleden werden gespeeld, belooft de schaak-site Chesslab. Dankzij Java-techniek is het mogelijk een stelling in te voeren waarna de databank op zoek gaat." (http://www.volkskrant.nl/dynamic/9350000.html)

The Gazette March 13, 1999 Quick clicks (http://www.montrealgazette.com/WEBPAGE/990313/2370458.html )

.Net Magazine (issue 57 Quick Hits section) http://www.netmag.co.uk

"The Chess Lab is a free Web database that is updated weekly and contains the moves of about two million chess games played since 1485"

UExpress Roadside Attractions by Dave Farrel. April 19, 1999 http://www.uexpress.com/ups/computers/ra/

"ChessLab.com. This deceptively simple-looking site is packed with a database containing about 2 million games that you can download and analyze at your leisure. The games database contains games dating back to 1485! You'll need a Java-enabled browser to access this site, and the chesslab Web master recommends Netscape 4.0 or higher or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher. This free site is a gift to mediocre players like me who are trying to get better because it allows you to set up a game board that analyzes all your moves. Whether you're a novice or expert, this site definitely belongs in your bookmark file."

Internet News with Charles Bowen 'The Chess Lab' April 23, 1999 http://www.netnewstoday.com/shows/week2b/w2bs10.htm

"Chessplayers have always been at home on the Web. Some of the first sites online were devoted to this grand old game. But no matter how many chess sites you've visited over the years, I bet you've never seen one like Chess Lab. I'm Charles Bowen with the Internet News. Today's report: Chess in the new millennium. Chess Lab is an amazing research tool. It's free, it's updated weekly and, for your researching pleasure, it has moves from more than two million chess games played since 1485. A Java interface lets easily you analyze moves. And use its "Search Games" feature to find similar games based on the positions of the pieces. This is a chessplayer's dream system!"

News.24.com * Hot Sites June 5, 1999

http://news.24.com/English/Sci-Tech_News/Computers/ENG_58065_419845_SEO.asp

"I'm sure even Big Blue (may he rest in peace) could have picked up a few useful moves here. But you don't have to be a Fischer or a Spassky to enjoy this amazing chess site and learn a lot on it. ChessLab has a database with an incredible two million games. No, you don't have to play them. You can set up a game on a board on the site and then see how someone else would have played it."

KlubKasparov November 10, 1999

http://www.clubkasparov.ru/news/digest/digest008_e.htm

"Today the best on-line database of the "chess laboratory" offers its visitors more than 2 million games. Its searching possibilities are rather wide (for an Internet database): one may find any necessary game by positions, players’ names, etc. ...I’d like to mention that the "chess laboratory" has not only got extremely rich contents, but the mere fact of its existence is extremely valuable. Such an enormous database with free access stimulates major chargeable database producers – Chessbase in the first place – to reduce their prices and to make free offers of "light" versions of their products."