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Mega Database 2003
Best represented players:
Kortschnoj Viktor, 3954 Gligoric Svetozar, 3101 Hort Vlastimil, 3083 Timman Jan H, 3028 Karpov Anatoly, 2969 Uhlmann Wolfgang, 2912 Portisch Lajos, 2857 Miles Anthony J, 2797 Farago Ivan, 2753 Westerinen Heikki MJ, 2730 Ivkov Borislav, 2725 Jansa Vlastimil, 2713 Smyslov Vassily, 2711 Tal Mihail, 2554 Csom Istvan, 2456 Larsen Bent, 2433 Andersson Ulf, 2401 Taimanov Mark E, 2329 Geller Efim P, 2326 Spassky Boris V, 2321 Romanishin Oleg M, 2291 Beliavsky Alexander G, 2291 Sax Gyula, 2278 Kasparov Garry, 2253 Tukmakov Vladimir B, 2251 Kholmov Ratmir D, 2251 Gheorghiu Florin, 2173 BYE , 2150 Bronstein David I, 2149 Balashov Yuri S, 2101 Petrosian Tigran V, 2075 Alekhine Alexander, 2075 Lukacs Peter, 2072
Chessbase Mega Database 2003
Reviewed on 05/28/03
Chessbase has released their yearly update to Megadatabase, which is the largest reference database that they offer. It contains more annotated games (over 50,000) than any other competing product on the market. It also comes with the latest update to the Chessbase player database. This particular database has about 150,000 players in it, along with about 14,000 photos.
The difference between this and last years version is about 300,000 games, so you can draw your own conclusions about whether the update is worthwhile or not. The latest games to appear in this version of Mega are from November of 2002.
It is always surprising to me to see which players are best represented in the database, and Mega 2003 is no exception. I ran some statistics on the base, with the results shown in the sidebar to the right. While it is not too surprising to see the Kortschnoi is near the top, there are some other players on this list that I am surprised to see (Ivan Farago, for instance).
I've seen many people ask why you need a product like this if you can download new games off the internet for free. Well, it all comes down to what your time is worth. If you've got the time to correct game scores, make sure tournament location names are consistent, along with player names, etc, then downloading might be a viable option. If however, you have better things to do with your time, then buying a yearly database update is your best option.
While it is not mentioned that often, this game collection also includes a number of keys that can be used with Chessbase. These include endgame, tactical, and strategic keys, which can not now be purchased separately (the only way to get them is with one of the large game collections).
If you want more information on the player database and mega 2003, then visit the Chessbase website.
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