Chess Assistant 14, Professional Package

Great old recordings by Elvis.

Chess Assistant 14 Pro is a great deal for a very, very good Chess Database. Anybody playing chess knows that Chessbase is the King but if you cannot afford it...and it is quite expensive, you can get a very good professional level database from ChessOK. What you give up by choosing Chess Assistant vs. Chessbase is the cleaner interface of Chessbase...which will mean a higher learning curve as you come to grips with Chess Assistant. You also give up the tighter integration that Chessbase has with its Chess trainers, and Chessbase magazine, You do not have an online database available like in the newer Chessbase and some of the newer online and community features. That said, Chess Assistant has some features that Chessbase doesn't have for advanced users ( even more copious searching, CQL,classification and an amazing degree of customization). Where Chessbase power is friendlier, Chess Assistant is not...but might be deeper in some areas. Used to be Chessbase was also more stable, but having used both I would say it is about even in this department now. Chess Assistant is a Russian program and support has been very good when I have needed to contact them but when it comes to a manual, website or forum support, it really lags behind. The main appeal, is that you save a lot of money with Chess Assistant pro. CA comes with a Huge Database, a guru database and a Correspondence Database with an Opening encyclopedia and Player Database...all things that you have to either purchase separately from Chessbase or pay for the more advanced and expensive version of Chessbase to get. When you compare what you actually get with Chess Assistant 14 pro with Chessbase offerings, there is a huge cost savings. Chess Assistant also gives you a year access to the Lomonosov tablebases and automatic updates to the reference database, keeping you current on a weekly basis.So if you are the type that does not mind spending hours learning the more advanced or cryptic functions of Chess Assistant or is not bothered by having to contact support or search harder the web harder than usual, Chess Assistant is a great deal. You get a professional, advanced, amazingly customizable/flexible database for a great price If you want an off the shelf database that is slicker, has a friendlier UI and better documentation that has tighter integration with the most common and respected training programs Chessbase might be worth the extra cost...if you can afford it. If Chess Assistant ever comes out with a proper and current english in-depth manual and tutorials I will give it a 5th star...if it makes an effort to update the interface to the 21st century I will force Amazon to create a 6th star.