CORRESPONDENCE CHESS BOOK REVIEWS
Including Books, Periodicals, and Software
(All Reviews by John Knudsen Unless Otherwise Indicated)
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Reviewed in 1999
Review of Mega Corr - Chess Mail, Ltd.

"The search for correspondence chess database perfection - and more" could be the subtitle for this superb product just released by Timothy Harding and Company, Chess Mail Limited. There is so much ground to cover in this review that I have divided it up into two sections: the database portion and the extras section. Potential producers of cc database CDs should be on notice that, unless you can exceed the very high standards of this effort, it will be a waste of your time!

CC Game Database

The database features over 270,000 different cc games, in PGN (184 MBs!), old Chessbase (*.cbf, *.cbi) and new Chessbase (6.0 or higher - *.cbh) formats. An especially nice touch is a separate directory splitting (a forerunner of) the PGN file into 34 separate files, each containing 8,000 games or less. This is particularly useful for you tightwads that are still using Chessbase Light (which has a 8K limit) or some other freeware chess database program. In the main database, over 20,000 of the games contain notes or annotations, and many of these are annotated by Grandmaster strength players, often the players themselves. Serious cc players will find the annotated games extremely valuable for their own purposes and the development of their own chess playing "muscles".

A bit of prior history of cc database CDs is interjected here to put things into perspective. Chessbase released a CD containing 100,000 cc games several years ago, which sold for a ridiculous price of $99 or something like that. Then, a few years later, the author of these lines released "The Big CC Disc" which contained about 235,000 cc games and sold for $30. This release was sold out in time and now the next generation is here. The reader should realize that Harding's CD contains over 20,000 games with annotations or notes. This is the radical difference between the old and the new.

It is plain that much work went into the construction of Mega Corr. Harding was assisted by a team of capable volunteers and helpers, and it shows in the quality of the end product. Has it reached the level of perfection? No, of course not. Yes, there are some over the board games included by mistake. There are also probably some duplicates, but I would bet a fair sum of money that the problem games are in the area of 2% or less, well under my personal standard of 5% for a database containing hundreds of thousands (or millions) of games. Those who have not "lived" with databases containing many games have no idea how difficult it is to achieve perfection in this business. Mega Corr comes closer than any product has in the past. For that reason, it sets the standard for any that might follow it.

Extras

The intriguing thing to me about the entire Chess Mail Limited product line is how an effort is made to give valuable extras with every offering. In some ways, these may be of more value than the game scores themselves - it depends on your point of view. Here is a quick look at the extras included in Mega Corr.

Chess Mail Magazine - all issues from 1998 in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. What can I say? Chess Mail continues to be the one and only premier english language magazine devoted to correspondence chess. I like the idea of having the issues available in one place, on the CD, especially since my printed copies are all over the house.

There are two complete tournament books included in Mega Corr. The first is the CNEC 15 (Algerian Jubilee) tournament book and the second is the Bohatirchuk Memorial tournament book. They are published for the first time here. This innovative (and economical) idea of publishing correspondence chess tournament books in Adobe Acrobat electronic format is sure to catch on and the possibilities are truly exciting. The tournament books are of the highest standard - in them Harding shows off his typesetting and editing skills for the benefit of all. If this is the future of cc tournament books, there is no doubt that he will be the "Grandmaster" of correspondence chess book publishing in no time at all. Heavily annotated games, color photographs, it is all there. And, you can print them out if you want to. Bravo - the new dawn of cc publishing is upon us! Finally, there is also issue 158-9 of APA Magazine, in Spanish and English.

One of the most worthwhile extras is the "HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) Web of 100 Classic CC Tournaments". Correspondence chess historians will have an easier time of it in the future due to this interesting feature. The "web", as Harding calls it, requires a browser to utilize it but it can all be viewed off-line, so, it is really an electronic book, or an off-line web site. In addition to the obligatory crosstables, photographs add a nice touch here, along with links to PGN files from the tournament in question. A great research aid and interesting read which should not be missed.

Summary

Priced at under $50 USD, this CD is an extremely good buy and should be acquired quickly before it is sold out. No one, past or present, is even capable of achieving the high standards that Harding has set with Mega Corr. If you are a serious cc player, chess historian, or simply interested in correspondence chess, the "whether or not" you will obtain this product is a foregone conclusion - you will.

Information on how to order Mega Corr can be found at the Chess Mail website: http://www.chessmail.com.

John C. Knudsen
August 21, 1999