Recommendations for the big Mid-year ChessBase India Sale 2021
by Sagar Shah - 27/06/2021
The ChessBase India Online shop is humongous as there are a lot of products available. We have everything from someone who is a complete beginner to a Grandmaster in chess. But sometimes it can become a daunting task to look for things in the shop. This is the reason why IM Sagar Shah has come up with an article which speaks about some of his favourite products in the ChessBase India shop. By no means is this an exhaustive list and the entire list of products is given at the end of the article. However, this article will give you a push in the right direction. Make sure that you use the Mega Mid-Year sale (25,26,27 June) to buy your favourite products.
Upto 25% off on 25th, 26th and 27th of June 2021
The Over the Board tournaments are slowly resuming across the world. AICF is conducting the online national events. More players are getting motivated to prepare themselves. It is a good idea at this point to invest in some good chess softwares that can help you become a stronger chess player. Like every year we have the mid year sale! And this time it is held for from the 25th to the 27th of June. This is how the sale works:
If you buy:
Rs. 1 to Rs. 2,500 you get 5% off
Rs.2,501 to Rs. 7,500 you get 10% off
Rs. 7501 to Rs. 20,000 you get 15% off
Rs. 20,001 to 50,000 you get 20% off
Rs. 50,001 and above you get 25% off
The amount of discount depends on your sub-total which is before GST.
We understand that the ChessBase India shop has hundreds of different products and hence shopping is not at all easy. That's the reason why I would like to give my suggestions on a few personal favourites that you can shop for based on the three phases of the game. I have also made a section which is the essentials which I believe are the most important softwares that one must possess.
Essentials:
If you are serious about chess then I would highly recommend you to work with ChessBase 16. It is your personal software where you can save your games, analyze, organize material, prepare openings, improve tactically, positionally and so much more. All the videos with game analysis that I do on the ChessBase India channel are games that are analyzed on ChessBase 16. It is by far the most useful chess software out there for any ambitious chess player. Please note the word ambitious here. It is not a software, where you will be fed everything ready made on the platter. You will have to work on it, learn the features. But once you are set it becomes your lifetime companion. In many ways I would compare it to Adobe photoshop or Microsoft Excel - a complex program with a lot of features to learn but very useful in the long run.
There are many different variations in which ChessBase 16 is available in the ChessBase India shop
If you just need the ChessBase 16, you can go for this:
You can imagine ChessBase 16 as the skeleton in which you will structure your chess preparation. If you want blood and muscles in it, it's the Mega Database. With a database of over 8.4 million games out of which 85,300 of them are annotated by masters, it is the most powerful chess database out there. What's more - you get to update the database on a weekly basis with a few clicks and get all the latest games happening all around the world. ChessBase 16 and Mega Database are powerful companions and that's the reason why we have a special combo created in our shop for exactly those two products.
Another product which is extremely useful is the ChessBase Premum Account. It is a browser based solution where you do not need to download anything. Just access the ChessBase Account website and you get 12 features: Playing online, solving tactics, following live games, over 5000 training videos, live database access, play against an engine, learn openings, save your games on cloud, Player database, solving studies, chess quizzes and the ChessBase news portal. The ChessBase Premium account is one of the most affordable chess portal memberships out there with a yearly account costing you just Rs.1499+GST and the three monthly membership costing you Rs.499+GST.
We realized at some point that people wanted to have both ChessBase 16 + Mega Database 2021 along with a yearly membership of ChessBase Account. Although it must be borne in mind that ChessBase 16 serial key does come with three months of ChessBase Premium Account as well! We came up with the ChessBase 16 Mega Pack. This is what it contains along with the savings that you can make:
ChessBase 16 (Rs.3149) + Mega Database 2021 (with one year weekly updates) - (Rs.4999) + 1 year of ChessBase Premium Account - (Rs.1499) + 1 year of ChessBase Magazine (6 issues of CBM) - (Rs.699*6 = 4194) + 250 Ducats- (Rs 2000). The actual cost of all of this is Rs.14041. However, the cost of CB 16 Mega Pack is Rs.8999+GST Therefor you save: Rs. 6842
If you are looking for more products in one pack together, you can try out the Premium Pack: ChessBase Premium Pack includes: ChessBase 16 -Rs 3149, Mega Database 2021-Rs 4999, 1 year of ChessBase Premium Account)-Rs 1499, 1 year of ChessBase Magazine (6 issues of CBM) - (Rs.699*6) = Rs 4194, 250 Ducats - Rs 2000, Fritz 17- Rs 2899, Opening Encyclopaedia- Rs 2999. Actual cost: Rs.21,739 + GST. However, the cost of CB 16 Premium Pack is Rs.14999+GST. What's more, you also get a T-shirt worth Rs. 599 free with this product! (The t-shirt is only for orders from India). Total saving of Rs. 7270!
A lot of people are worried about whether they will be able to make the best use of ChessBase 16 and Mega Database 2021. Don't worry, for that we have a video on YouTube that will take you through all the intricacies and make sure that your money is well spent.
All the features of ChessBase 16 and Mega Database 2021 explained. You can also download the PPT of features.
If you have been looking for an engine with which you can play at different levels, then I would recommend Fritz 17. The entire GUI is made in a way where you can enjoy the experience of play against the Engine, and do a lot more like attack training, defence training, checkmate training etc. You can also play against an engine in the browser with the ChessBase Premium Account, but if you want to make in-depth use of an engine for playing purpose, then Fritz 17 is recommended. It also comes with 6 months of ChessBase Premium Account.
Make sure you get the most out of Fritz 17
High quality combo packs
There are three things in the ChessBase India shop that I would recommend to a series student of the game:
1. Powerplay series by Daniel King. Vol.1-28
Daniel King's powerplay series covers a huge number of important aspects of the game starting from attacking chess, mating patterns, positional play, endgames, openings, tactics and much more. If you have the financial viability to buy all his products, 28 of them and the patience to go through them, it is sure to boost your chess understanding by leaps and bounds. I have gone on record and mentioned about how these lessons of Daniel King have made a deep impact on my chess. And the wonderful thing about it is that King doesn't stop. His 28th volume was released just a few months ago!
2. Endgame series by Karsten Mueller vol 1-14
If you are looking to overall improve your endgame play, then Karsten Mueller's Chess Endgames Vol.1-14 is where the gold lies. The no nonsense approach of the German GM ensures that not even a single minute of yours is wasted when you are working on your endgames.
3. Master Class series vol.1-13
Have you always wanted to learn about the games of the old masters of the past? Well, the master class series is a very exciting idea by the ChessBase team. Four master players come together to dissect the play and style of a legendary chess player. Lets say for eg. The first Master Class is related to Bobby Fischer. In it you get to know all about Fischer's openings, the strategies he used in his games, some of the best tactical ideas and also the Endgames. It is truly an innovative way to know about some of the masters of our sport.
Openings:
Openings is something very personal and usually you have buy differing products for different openings. However, if there is one product which can really change the way you look at all the openings in the game of chess - it is the Opening Encyclopaedia 2021. You would not believe the amount of power that is packed into it.
1. 1200+ Opening articles thoroughly analyzed by GMs and IMs
2. 22 hours of video content with 60 different videos by Vidit, l'Ami, Shirov, Sokolov, Marin and many world class GMs.
3. All Openings covered for beginners in detail
4. 39200+ games database
5. 7000+ opening surveys with 349 of them revised in 2021
The features of Opening Encyclopaedia 2021 explained
For all those who would like to learn all the openings at a fundamental level - the fundamentals of chess openings by Qiyu Zhou is a very good place to begin.
You can get an idea of how Qiyu Zhou teaches from her YouTube video with Sagar Shah:
IM Sagar Shah with WGM Qiyu Zhou on certain basic openings of chess
Tactics:
A good tactical player almost always trumps over a good strategic player. The reason is simple - strategy is a long term plan in the position, while tactics is what happens on every move. If you are not careful about the tactics in the position, it is quite likely that you are completely surprised every now and then by your opponent and you lose! In order to improve your calculations, I would definitely recommend you books by Aagaard and Dvoretsky. But for that you need to be ready to grind. Also the Aagaard and Dvoretsky books are relatively tougher and I can recommend to players above the FIDE Elo of 1600 (or online Elo 2000). For all those who would like to strengthen their foundation with regards to tactics, the following three products can be very ideal.
For all those interested in Dvoretsky and Aagaard books, here you go:
Most of the Aagaard books from the Grandmaster Preparation series are out of stock, but you can find the final one of the series, and the most personal one written by Jacob here:
Positional Play:
While there is amazing content on Positional and Strategic Play on ChessBase India, I would highly recommend the Powerplay series by Daniel King (mentioned above) and the Reassess your chess by Jeremy Silman. Reassess your chess is a book that helped me tremendously to improve at my game by understanding the concept of imbalances. I have made two video playlists on ChessBase India's YouTube channel which would hone your skills on the imbalances along with the books!
Apart from the Karsten Mueller's endgame series that was mentioned above, we have some books on endgames that can be very useful. I have always mentioned the following way of approaching the endgame - You can begin with Silman's Complete Endgame Course, then go to 100 endgames you must know (unfortunately currently out of stock) and then Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. I think these three books are enough to make you really strong is theoretical endgames.
If you are looking for something much more advanced in the endgame, then this combo of six books can surely be of help:
Accessories
One of the things that we kept in mind when starting with ChessBase India accessories is that chess players must feel proud about being chess players! Hence, all the t-shirts have a chess element to them. We have over 10 different designs and all of them quite interesting. One thing you should definitely know that the clothes are of the highest possible quality and can be used for a long term purpose. Comfort of the players is something that we kept in mind while designing.
The best part about ChessBase India t-shirts is that they are all made with highest quality material
These DVDs are useful for your overall improvement of chess with topics like best games of players, or calculation, or pawn structure or classics, these products can help you improve all three phases of your game - opening, middlegame and endgame.
If you want to know the World Champions better, then Master Class is a wonderful series to indulge in. You can buy your favourite world champion's DVD or you can go for the entire combo pack!
This section deals with mainly the tactics in the opening. Like Tactic toolbox in Benoni deals with all the intricate traps and tricks in that particular opening!
Power play is one of the best series to have come out of ChessBase. Daniel King's smooth erudition, combined with meticulous preparation provides you with amazing value for money. You can go for the entire combo which gives you a serious discount already. Combined with the sale, it would be a great buy.
If endgames is on your mind, look no further. Chess Endgames by Karsten Mueller is what you need. Karsten Mueller is world's leading endgame expert and he has created 14 DVDs which is the most comprehensive course on the final phase of the game.
What is ChessBase Magazine? If in a few hours, you want to be up to date with the latest in the world of chess, get top players' analysis, endgame section, tactics, strategy - in short it's a complete training pack for you, then you should check out one of the CB Magazines! You can also go for a yearly subscription and save substantial money.