FAQs

1. Why bother? 

Every year in Australia tens of thousands of chess games and hundreds of tournaments are played. Most games are either lost forever or live on in private databases, ultimately disappearing when we shuffle off. This site seeks to preserve what it can from the past and capture current circumstances, while providing a platform for training the players of the future.

2. Why a Google-based address?

Google provides a free suite of tools with which the site has been built and a platform on which to store the games. The platform and tools are easy to use and there is no cost burden. Only a fraction of the storage capacity offered by Google has been used to date. But most importantly, the data can be transferred easily for maintenance by another person, through either sharing or direct transfer in the event that the current site author decides enough is enough or is unable to maintain the site. 

3. Is there are protocol for storing tournament information?

Yes and this will be apparent from the listing of tournaments (which is reflected in the file naming as well) and in the data then stored about the tournament and games. Wherever possible, uploaded games will have data stored for tournament name, tournament location, round numbers, category, start date, end date, game date, players, ratings, rounds, board numbers, etc. And then there's the notes .... 

4. Why are the players' names in full; use unusual spelling; have bracketed extensions; change over time; are not consistent across the PGNs or are different to other databases?

The 'original' games are all stored in a single database using ChessBase software and its Player Encyclopedia. To reduce the incidence of duplicate or misleading names and to cross-check, it is important that the players' names are consistently applied. Hence, it is the names contained in the Player Encyclopedia that are used. That said, alternative spelling, shortened or lengthened names can be stored in brackets after the players' names. So for instance:

• Salm, Max was the name in the Encyclopedia, then it became Salm, Maxwell and later Salm, Maxwell Charles. The author's Australian DB now has Salm, Maxwell Charles (Max) covering all circumstances.

• Fuller, Max used not to return an Encyclopedia entry, but Fuller, Maxwell does, hence Fuller, Maxwell (Max) is used. 

• Tanti, Joe does not return an Encyclopedia entry but Tanti, Joseph does, hence Tanti, Joseph G (Joe)

• Fu Yihe, Rebo does not return an Encyclopedia entry, but Fu, Yihe does, hence Fu, Yihe (Rebo)

Sometimes the Encyclopedia uses full names first, other times shortened names and of course it is regularly updated and therefore changes often. This can result in inconsistent naming across the files on this site, though not within the author's Australian DB, which is also regularly updated. 

FIDE adds about 10,000 names per month to its rating list and from about 2019 the list became too long to store in an Excel spreadsheet, exceeding the maximum permissible rows i.e. 1,048,576 !!). Complicating matters further, the FIDE ratings list and the ChessBase Encyclopedia do not use consistent names either.

5. What is the source for the annotations in the games?

The primary source for the annotations or notes is referenced in the annotator and source fields in the PGN and CBV, for each game. In addition, the document source or sources are often referenced at the top of the actual game. 

6. Why are there sometimes multiple sets of games within the same file?

Quite simply, I have goofed and left off a step in the process. When edits are made to a tournament uploaded previously, the process simply adds games to the existing file. It is then necessary to open the PGN and remove the old game versions. Sometimes I forget this step. In such cases, the last set of games in the file is the most current, with all preceding sets obsolete. Notifying me of the problem will help clean it up.

7. Are the games with 0-moves (or only a few moves counted) in the totals and why include them at all?

Yes, they are included in the total because its easier from this end! The reason for their inclusion in the files, apart from simply recording results, is that after conversion of the files to a ChessBase format, complete standings and crosstables can be produced, viewed and printed.

8. How do I download games, reports, crosstables and tables from Australian Chess?

Before downloading, you will probably find it easier to expand the table containing the games by clicking the arrow that appears when you hover in the top right corner of the table. Once expanded, you might see tiny black arrows in the top-right corner of some cells. These arrows are not visible unless the window is expanded. Clicking the small black arrows activates a cell note which gives more explanation about what is contained in the file.

There are four types of file stored on Australian Chess.

• PGN: stands for portable game notation and is a special file ASCII textfile format (suffix *.pgn) which is used for holding chess game scores and is  capable of being opened by most chess-related software programs. When a PGN file is uploaded, ChessBase automatically creates a *.ini file and sometimes a *.pgi file for configuration and indexing purposes. Normally, these files are deleted immediately after upload; however occasionally the author forgets to do so, finding them later and deleting them. The *.ini files and the *.pgi files do not need to be downloaded to run the PGN file and you can safely delete them if downloaded.

• Downloading PGNs: The answer is dependent upon the type of browser you are using. In most cases though, when you click the blue PGN link in the PGN column, a window will open with a download button. Simply click Download and the file will be placed in your default download folder. You may also find that after download, the file will automatically open in your chess software.

• CBV & 2CBV: CBV is a German ChessBase acronym. CBVs and 2CBVs compress the multiple ChessBase files into single files of much smaller size. Tournaments and games on this site are prepared in a ChessBase 17 2CBH format and originally were back-saved to CBH or PGN. The CBH files were then compressed to CBV (which can be opened by ChessBase 16 and before). There is some loss of richness back-saving e.g. scrambling of team data, loss of rating basis, loss of tournament finishes etc. which ChessBase hasn't fixed despite being up to v17.20 of ChessBase 17. From 27 January 2024 onwards, only 2CBV versions (opened only by CB17) are being saved If the option to download a 2CBV or CBV is available for a particular file, that should  be the format of download choice.

• Downloading CBV or 2CBV files: This can be a little tricky under the Google platform. Google currently does not recognise the CBV or 2CBV extensions, but it knows that they are compressed files and is capable of displaying what is inside the files. By default a new window opens, where an explanation for what is shown in that window is given in the diagram here: Options for Downloading CBV & 2CBV Files. The simplest thing is to click Download, usually located in the top-right corner of your browser. This FAQ has been prepared using Windows 11, ChessBase 17, Google Chrome (browser) and Google Sites (web). Other browsers may give different results

• PDF: stands for Portable Document Format which will open automatically in most browsers when you click the link. The file can usually then be directly downloaded.

9. Why isn't there a download-all button?

Quite simply there is too much additional work involved in maintaining a single file, bearing in mind that since site inception (early August 2022) there have been almost daily uploads of games from new tournaments or additions to existing tournaments ... and there are many thousands more to come. In addition, it also makes it too easy for commercial chess enterprises to capture the data and sell it! Instead, each page includes a link and instructions in the header area that will take you to the folder for the page, where you can then select and download all the tournaments on that page. 

10. Why are the games filed under Estonia and not USSR or Serbia and not Yugoslavia?

Many games filed on Australian Chess were played at a time when boundaries differed to those that exist today. Despite this, most of the republics (we are talking mainly of those in the USSR and Yugoslavia) existed but they were part of a larger entity. Australian Chess is interested in the games and where Australians played them, not the geo-political circumstances that existed at a point in time. The village, town or city in which the games were played has not changed, but the entity to which that conurbation belongs may have done so. For this reason and for the fact that the web page is simpler to run using the republics and not the larger (and in some cases, much larger) entities, the current countries are used to disaggregate games. Thanks to Ian Rogers for his input here, even though he may have preferred the alternative! 

11. Is this site just a duplicate of OzBase?

OzBase is a great site and has been an excellent source of information for many years. While there are some of the same tournaments on OzBase and the source for some of the games that will be uploaded will be OzBase, there are some key differences between it and Australian Chess. 

OzBase stores only Australian games. It does not always store tournament and game detail, nor annotations. It does not have a consistent naming protocol enabling quick searching across the site and it has not been regularly updated for many years. OzBase has largely complete tournaments, whereas Australian Chess focuses on games and thus few of the uploaded tournaments on this site have complete game records.

12. Can I make the tables on the event and locational pages larger and is there more information not initially visible?

Yes to both questions:

• To make the tables larger, click the arrow in the upper-right corner of the table, which will open it in a new tab. Close it when you are through to return to the previous tab.

• Cell notes are used to give additional information. These are identified by a small black triangle in the upper-right corner of a cell. Some pages have none, other have lots of notes. Hover on the triangle to see a pop-up of the note.

13. How does the sequencing of the various GM, IM, International and Masters events work?

Events across the years have had various names. Australian Chess attempts to standardise all names across all events, where possible. In addition, with major and norm events, a sequencing number has been allocated to trace the history of particular types of event. So sequencing numbers have been used for GM, IM and Australian Masters events. A table identifying various fields of information regarding these events (e.g. original event name, category, GM or IM norm score, overseas players etc.) has been prepared and can be accessed here: Sequencing of Major Events. Thanks to Ian Rogers for guidance on this set-up.