The following is a bit off topic, but I think may be worth mentioning.

If you search for "Chess Club" using Google, the
http://www.pitt.edu/~schach/ URL (University of Pittsburg Chess Club)
comes up number three behind www.chessclub.com (Internet Chess Club)
and www.ex.ac.uk/~dregis/DR (Exeter Chess Club).

This excellent ranking may be due to the archive of games Matt just
mentioned. My guess is there are a lot of links to this URL for this
reason.

Now compare this to the USCF's ranking.

I found www.uschess.org/clubs/ on the 19th *page*. With 10 entries per
page, that ranks the USCF's club in 189th place.

Admittedly, the USCF isn't a "chess club", but it is (or at least
should be) a gateway to help people find chess clubs where they can
play.

One key (if not the key) in getting an early listing in Google searches
is to have many websites linked to a site. Two ways to do that is to
ask Webmasters to link to a site. The other is to create great free
content so that Webmasters will add links to it on their own.

Google searches (I posted some results in a different posting on rgcp)
might suggest how well the USCF has succeeded in this area.

Yes I know, just staying alive has been both a struggle and the primary
focus for the USCF for many years now. But, perhaps if the good
financial performance, that we have seen under the Marinello
admininistration, can continue under the next administration (whose
will it be?), perhaps the USCF Website can receive the extra attention
I think it needs and deserves.

Best regards,

George John

I just want something that doesn't freeze up my computer every time I try to
use it. If it's free, all the better.

"Mike Nolan" wrote in message
...
Paul Rubin writes:

"Matt Nemmers" writes:
This is kind of confusing. What exactly are you looking for, Angie? A
database of PGN files? Not quite sure....

I think he's looking for software, not game scores.

I think he's looking for FREE software.
--
Mike Nolan

I am trying one last thing to get CB to work properly. I've purchased a GB
of RAM to go with the 512 MB I already have. Some time ago it was suggested
that CB eats up a lot of memory. On my machine it does use up a good deal of
my 512 MB, and CPU as well. I don't know why it should do this, since it's
not doing much of anything while I'm scrolling through games. Most of my
problems in fact occur during file maintenance, like saving games, renaming
files, etc.

I wish ChessBase would address these problems. I've had them with every
version of CB I've ever purchased and complained to them numerous times. The
German school of customer service involves sending an email asking some
trivial question about my setup, then just letting it drop.




wrote in message
oups.com...
Does anyone know of a non-ChessBase database that reads CB files and can
use
the Shredder engine for analysis?

So, you're giving up on getting your copy of CB to run properly
Angelo? Well, we've been over that before.

I don't think there is any other program which will read CBH format
files and allow analysis by Shredder. If you want an alternative,
you're going to have to make some compromises. Here's one idea: there
is a full-featured FREE database program called SCID. You can find it
he

http://scid.sourceforge.net/

SCID will not read CBH files but it can handle PGN (it comes with a
tool for converting PGN to its own SCID format). So, you can first
convert your CB files to PGN. In CB, just go CONTROL/X and give the new
database a file extension of .pgn. You can then drag other databases
into it to convert them. Then import them into SCID and convert them
again. I would not recommend trying this for a very large database but
for a few hundred games it should be OK. If you want a big million-game
reference database, the SCID site may offer one for sale in that
format.

As for engine analysis, my guess is the Shredder engine will not
work with SCID, though you could try it and see. The SCID web site
gives links to a number of free engines (like Crafty), which while not
as strong or full-featured as Shredder, can still be used to help
analyze your games.

I still think it would be simpler just to get your CB working
properly but if you are determined to give up, the above information
may be of use to you.

Regards, Hal Terrie

George John wrote:

Yes I know, just staying alive has been both a struggle and the primary
focus for the USCF for many years now. But, perhaps if the good
financial performance, that we have seen under the Marinello
admininistration, can continue under the next administration (whose
will it be?), perhaps the USCF Website can receive the extra attention
I think it needs and deserves.

Best regards,

George John

I am annoyed that Chess Politico George John, whose burning ambition is
to become USCF President, keeps giving the "Marinello Administration"
credit for things that have nothing to do with the Marinello
Adminisration.

In this case, if the Marinello Administration truly deserved credit,
then improvement would have started from the moment Marinello became
president.

However, it did not happen that way. After Marinello became president,
things continued downhill. Imrovement did not start until after
Goichberg became Executive Director.

Sam Sloan

Angelo DePalma wrote:
I just want something that doesn't freeze up my computer every time I try to
use it. If it's free, all the better.

Freeze up your computer? What OS are you running?

Best regards,

George

samsloan wrote:

[SNIP]

I am annoyed that Chess Politico George John, whose burning ambition is
to become USCF President,

This is simply not true. I have stated elsewhere that I think
experience on the USCF Executive Board is highly desirable prior to
someone becoming the USCF President. The more recent the experience
the better. Two years of experience is ideal, but in a pinch I would
accept one.

I have no experience on the USCF Executive Board, and therefore, should
I be elected, I would not accept the position of President except in an
emergency.

If elected, I would accept the position of USCF Secretary, and that
includes, if necessary, editing COPIES (this is for Don's benefit
-grin-) of the audio recordings to remove the closed session portions
so that they can be timely posted to the USCF Website (as required by
the current Bylaws).

keeps giving the "Marinello Administration"
credit for things that have nothing to do with the Marinello
Adminisration.

Many people contributed to the success of the Marinello Administration.
They all deserve our thanks. But, the fact remains, anything that
happened, good or bad, since Beatriz Marinello became the USCF's
President, happened during the Marinello Administration.


In this case, if the Marinello Administration truly deserved credit,
then improvement would have started from the moment Marinello became
president.

Critical decisions were made and implemented early in President
Marinello's term. They saved the USCF from bankruptcy, and started the
turnaround.


However, it did not happen that way. After Marinello became president,
things continued downhill. Imrovement did not start until after
Goichberg became Executive Director.

I think there are many who would disagree with this assessment. Bill
Goichberg was a member of the Marinello Administration who came on
board a few months into her term. While he certainly contributed to
the turnaround of the USCF, to give Bill Goichberg credit for
preventing the bankruptcy and initiating the turnaround does not give
credit to those who deserve it. I believe he would disagree with Sam
Sloan's assessment, too.

Best regards,

George John

George John wrote:
samsloan wrote:

[SNIP]

I am annoyed that Chess Politico George John, whose burning ambition is
to become USCF President,

This is simply not true. I have stated elsewhere that I think
experience on the USCF Executive Board is highly desirable prior to
someone becoming the USCF President. The more recent the experience
the better. Two years of experience is ideal, but in a pinch I would
accept one.

I have no experience on the USCF Executive Board, and therefore, should
I be elected, I would not accept the position of President except in an
emergency.

Best regards,

George John

So, if you pinch him really hard and twist his arm to the point of
breaking George John will finally consent to becoming USCF President.

But, the last time George John ran, which was on the Redman Slate, Bob
Holiman, a member of that slate, posted on this group that if elected,
George John would be the next USCF President.

I did not read George John advancing such scruples at that time.

Sam Sloan

samsloan wrote:
George John wrote:

samsloan wrote:

[SNIP]


I am annoyed that Chess Politico George John, whose burning ambition is
to become USCF President,

This is simply not true. I have stated elsewhere that I think
experience on the USCF Executive Board is highly desirable prior to
someone becoming the USCF President. The more recent the experience
the better. Two years of experience is ideal, but in a pinch I would
accept one.

I have no experience on the USCF Executive Board, and therefore, should
I be elected, I would not accept the position of President except in an
emergency.

Best regards,

George John


So, if you pinch him really hard and twist his arm to the point of
breaking George John will finally consent to becoming USCF President.

But, the last time George John ran, which was on the Redman Slate, Bob
Holiman, a member of that slate, posted on this group that if elected,
George John would be the next USCF President.

I did not read George John advancing such scruples at that time.

Sam Sloan


How can you ever get the USCF to run again, when the OS freezed so
frequently?
The computerguys thinks it's time for the americans to buy themself a
new federation "comp" - with another interface. A sound one that doesn't
crossposts in the NG.

Good luck

"Angelo DePalma" wrote in message
...

Does anyone know of a non-ChessBase database that reads CB files and can
use the Shredder engine for analysis?

Thanks.


If there is one, it won't be able to read *corrupt* CB files. You need
either to fix the files and the problem that is causing them, or just export
them to some other format and buy a database that can read them.

Regards,
Arfur

Does anyone know of a non-ChessBase database that reads CB files and can use the Shredder engine for analysis?

Chess Assistant (you have to buy Shredder seperately but Shredder 9 is
worth it, www.shredderchess.com is the website I think)

I have Chess Assistant 7 set up that way (using Shredder 9 UCI as the
analysis engine)

Has anyone used Chess Assistant 8 yet? Any opinions?

Also, has anyone tried the new tactics training CD "Chess Combinations
Encyclopedia" (or some name like that), also from Convekta (= Chess
Assistant)

(Chess Assistant Website is www.convekta.com I think, Pickard's website
www.chesscentral.com is one good place to buy among several)