BRITBASE - British Chess Game Archive
Further Information & Links
Last Edited: Tuesday October 20, 2009 11:56 PM
ZIP FILES... Britbase downloads are 'zip files'. This means that the data has been compressed (or 'zipped') so that download times are minimised. First, you will need to install a compression utility (often referred to as a 'Zip program') on your computer to unpack the PGN downloads from the 'zip files'. Or at least you will if you are not working on the latest Windows operating system - such a utility is built into the Windows XP or later operating systems. If you don't have Windows XP or a compression facility, you can buy one (called WinZip) at http://www.winzip.com/, or perhaps get a freeware one from http://www.winplanet.com or http://www.nonags.com/nonags/ziputil.html. I'm sure there are lots of other places to get them - try entering 'compression utility' into the search engine of your choice.
PGN FILES... Most proprietary databases now allow you to import PGN (stands for Portable Game Notation) format files, so you should have little difficulty importing the files you find here. If you need some software to read the unzipped PGN file, then you should pay a visit to Eric Bentzen's excellent Chess Programs & Utilities page to find a suitable software program. ChessBase Light (a free, cut-down version of the famous ChessBase software) is a very suitable program to use. If you don't have any database software and cannot be bothered to get some, you can still open and read PGN files with a simple text editor (such as Notepad or the excellent Textpad), then print them off and play through the games on a three-dimensional board and set.
I am pleased to say that many other people worldwide are now collecting and making available chess databases on the web. Lars Balzer has set up an excellent list of chess database sites, which is an admirable attempt to log all the worldwide activity in this specialised branch of archivism and is highly recommended. Britbase has several overseas 'cousins' (see below) to which you will find links elsewhere on this page. National-based databases have an advantage over worldwide archives in that the archivists are 'closer to the ground' and can provide greater assurance that the data is accurate, names & identities correct, etc. Remember - quality, not quantity!
GAME VIEWERS... I have experimented with various game viewers over the past few years and I am sorry to say that I have yet to standardise on one at this site, or provide viewers for all downloads here. At some point I will go through the website and standardise on one viewer but I don't have sufficient spare time to do this at the moment. As of 2009, I am intending to standardise on the Chess DeLuxe viewer which adds functionality to Michael Keating's excellent MyChessViewer. For further technical details, click here. You will also find files here which can be viewed using ChessTheatre which is also very good.
'Korrection Korner' is an errata for British chess gamescores. Given the plethora of gamescores across the internet, this is an attempt to inject some accuracy into the equation. Contributions awaited from readers and users of Britbase ...
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many thanks to Adam Raoof, Adolfo Bórmida, Andy Ansel, Andy Borg, Angus Dunnington, Arthur Brameld, Barrie Oakes, Bernard Cafferty, Bill Frost, Bill O'Rourke, Bob Jones, Bob Wade, Brian Denman, Byron Jacobs, Chris Bird, Chris Jones, Chris Mattos, Daniel Gunlycke, David Anderton, David Clayton, David Walker, Doug Dean, Eddie Dearing, Eduardo Bauzá Mercere, Eric Bentzen, Henri Serruys, Howard Grist, Ian Pheby, Jack Goossens, Jack O'Keefe, James Pratt, Jeff Heath, John Henderson, John Knight, John Richards, John Thornton, John Weightman, Jon Speelman, Jonathan Gilbert, Jonathan Wilson, † Keith Brown, Keith Selby, Ken Clow, † Ken Whyld, Kevin O'Connell, Kevin Thurlow, Kieran Smallbone, Lara Barnes, Louie Z. Moreno, Luc Winants, Malcolm Armstrong, Mark Crowther, Mark Orr, Martyn Goodger, Maurice H. Carter, Max Devereaux, Mike Yeo, Neil Graham, Noel Griffiths, Osvaldo Orozco Mendez, Paul Dunn, Paul Dupré, Paul Harrington, Paul Headon, Peter Bevan, Peter Large, Peter Parr, Priscilla Morris, Ray English, † Richard Furness, Richard James, Richard Palliser, Richard Reich, Rob Appleby, Robert Bellin, Robert Parker, Rod McShane, Roger de Coverly, Roland Arbinger, Scott Freeman, Sean Hewitt, Shaughan Feakes, Steve Giddins, Steve Potter, Stewart Reuben, Tony Cullen, Tryfon Gavriel, Vladimir Soos and Zdenek Zavodny for their help in supplying games, making corrections and generally providing support and encouragement.
OTHER ARCHIVES
| English Chess Forum | An excellent chess forum featuring discussions on all aspects of the game in the UK. Database topics occur frequently. Rather than hosting my own forum, I would be happy to deal with any BritBase issues raised in a thread on the English Chess Forum which I read frequently. There is a ready-made thread here where you can post comments (once you have registered). |
| Lars Balzer Home Page | German enthusiast Lars Balzer is the 'King of the Links' when it comes to finding places to download chess games. He has compiled a list of places worldwide where you can do this and he keeps it up-to-date. This is an extremely good and valuable resource. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. |
| Argenbase | By Adolfo Bórmida and Julio Alberto González, this is an Argentinian cousin to 'Britbase'. Games are in zipped new Chessbase (CBH) format for which the reader will need Chessbase 6 or 7, or alternatively Chessbase Light (freely available from http://www.chessbase.com). |
| BrasilBase | Adaucto Wanderley da Nobrega has set up a Brazilian National Database. 12/12/02: URL changed |
| Canada (Montreal) Database | By Hugh Brodie: mainly Montreal but also many Canadian games available. |
| ChessLab | Chesslab is a 2,000,000 game database available online with built-in search facilities. Very much state of the art. |
| Czechbase | By Britbase contributor and chessfriend Zdenek Zavodny; it's in Czech. With photos, books and games. |
| Danbase | The admirable Eric Bentzen has set up the Danish cousin of 'Britbase'. It is part of the Danish Chess Federation pages. It's in Danish at the moment, but an English version is planned. |
| Dutchbase | Jack Goossens, a very helpful and generous contributor to Britbase, is in charge of the Dutch equivalent. This is an extremely important repository for chess information, given the tremendous contribution that the Netherlands has made to our game. Note (31 July 00): Dutchbase has moved to the 'Max Euwe Centre'. |
| Finnish National Chess Database | In Finnish, by Jarmo Sorvari. I confess I find the Finnish language impenetrable but there looks to be much excellent material available here. |
| Historical Games E-Mail List | Click on this link to send an e-mail to rudolf@stad.dsl.nl - the mail address of Michel Langeveld, who is putting together some very good archive material in Chessbase CBV format, and distributing it to subscribers to his list. |
| Irish Games | The Irish Chess Union has a downloadable collection of games from the early 19th century to the present. |
| Italbase | Francesco Gibellato has set up a national chess database for Italy. Particularly useful for the famous Reggio Emilia tournaments. |
| OlimpBase | Created in 2004, this site features downloads, results, etc, from the Chess Olympiads. Recently Continental championships and team championships have been added. This is a very impressive website which we can heartily recommend. By Wojciech Bartelski. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. |
| Ozbase | Ozbase is the Australian Chess Federation's games archive, which started in March 2000. |
| Rusbase (Part 1) Rusbase (Part 2) |
In English. Russian cousin to Britbase. It comes in more than one part for some reason. |
| Scottish Chess Association | Scottish game downloads. |
| UkrBase | Games from recent Ukrainian chess events. |
| Welshbase | Games downloads of recent Welsh championships and other tournaments, at the Welsh Chess Union website. |
Notes & Policies
- "British" - I have interpreted this in the broadest, geographical sense - England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, plus Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.
- I am quite aware that this list is far from exhaustive, especially for the later years. If you are aware of other obscure tournaments which have not already been covered by proprietary databases, and have any information on them, let me know.
- Policy on annotations: I intend to include strictly factual information such as 'won on time', 'time trouble', 'Fischer mistakenly touched his King so had to move it', etc (either as text or symbols) where they are fundamental to the understanding of the progress of the game, but will not be including annotations that might be interpreted as the annotator's intellectual property (e.g. 'Better is Qe4 (Topalov)' or 'Kasparov affixed his opponent with a baleful stare' [copied from a magazine]). Legally the actual moves of any game as played are considered to be in the public domain and not subject to any copyright laws.
- All materials posted here © 1997-2009 John Saunders