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Chessgames.com:
Frequently Asked Questions

For help with premium membership features, please consult the
Chessgames Premium Membership FAQ.

  1. What is Chessgames.com?
  2. Is Chessgames.com free?
  3. Who is Chessgames.com?
  4. How do I find a chess game?
  5. What are the rules of chess?
  6. What does this strange code like "17.Rac1 Rxc1+" mean?
  7. Why do games end even though nobody is checkmated?
  8. What is PGN?
  9. What is kibitzing?
  10. How do I register, so I can kibitz?
  11. How do I put colors, links, and chess symbols in my messages?
  12. How do I put a little graphic (avatar) next to my messages?
  13. How do I ignore a user?
  14. I forgot my password.
  15. What is annotation?
  16. What's an "ECO code"?
  17. What is the "Tournament Index"?
  18. What are "Notable Games"?
  19. What are "Notable Tournaments"?
  20. How do I search for a tournament?
  21. What is a "Chessgames Biography"?
  22. What are "WCC History Pages"?
  23. What does "Find Similar Games" do?
  24. What are "Game Collections"?
  25. Where do you get your games?
  26. Help! I can't see the games!
  27. Is there software that will help me use this site?
  28. What are the differences between the Java viewers?
  29. How can I flip the board, so that Black is on the bottom?
  30. Can I download the games in one big PGN file?
  31. I found a mistake in your database that requires correction.
  32. What is the ChessBookie Game?
  33. What is Child-Friendly Mode (Quiet Mode)?
  34. How can I learn to play stronger chess?
  35. I have a question not on this page.
What is Chessgames.com?
Chessgames.com is an online database of chess games. Our easy interface allows you to search a vast library of historic chess games for educational and entertainment purposes. It is an excellent tool for intermediate and advanced players, and even the novice will find much value in seeing how the world's best players play the game.

If you came here to play live chess, please see our list of free chess sites where you can play. If you want to improve your chess by studying the games of the great masters, and discussing them with other participants, you will feel right at home at Chessgames.com. Enjoy!

Is Chessgames.com free?

Yes, it is 100% free to register an account with Chessgames. A free Chessgames account will allow you to kibitz, create game collections, participate in special events like the Chessgames Challenge, and much more.

You also have the option to support Chessgames financially by purchasing a Premium Membership that gives you all of the normal features plus some extremely powerful extras, for only $39/year. For more information on the benefits of premium membership, please see the Chessgames Tour.

If you are not interested in becoming a premium member at this time, we accept tips of as small as $1US through our "tip jar" below.


Every little bit helps us continue to provide our service to the worldwide internet chess community. We appreciate your support.

Who is Chessgames.com?

Chessgames.com is the kibitzers. Without them, we'd just be an online chess database.

The software and conceptual design that makes this possible is a combined effort among several south Florida chessplayers, including Daniel Freeman, Alberto Artidiello, and the talented staff at 20/20 Technologies.

To contact Chessgames, please email chess@chessgames.com.

How do I find a chess game?

The best way is to fill out the Advanced Search form on the homepage, and push the button labeled Find Chess Games. You don't have to fill out every field; in fact, most people only fill out one or two.

For example, suppose you are looking for all Fischer-Spassky games in 1972. First type "1972" into the year slot. Then fill out one player as "Fischer" (either use the pulldown, or type 'Fischer') and the other player as "Spassky." Press Find Chess Games and you will get the list.

There are many kinds of searches that produce interesting results. Would you like to learn the Taimanov variation of the Sicilian? Take a lesson from Taimanov himself: type "Taimanov" as the first player (or find his name in the pulldown list), then select "Sicilian, Taimanov" as the opening.

Some find it enjoyable to review games with a small number of moves. First pick your favorite Grandmaster or opening, and in the "Number of moves" line, set it to "no more than 20." Voila, miniatures! Or perhaps you want to review some endings? Try setting it to "at least 60."

We could go one providing examples forever. In short, just tell us what you do know about the games you want to see listed, and the parts you don't know about (or don't care about) should be left blank.

HOT TIP: The search line at the very top of the homepage is called the EZ Search. It is ideal for very simple queries. If you want to find a game between Capablanca and Reti from 1922, simply type "Capablanca-Reti 22" and the search engine will return the game you asked for. For more information, see our EZ Search Help Page.

HOT TIP: If you're not particular about what chess game you want to see, try clicking on the random game link found on the home page. You'll be whisked away to a game between (usually) world-class players, selected randomly from our database.

Chess looks fun. How do you play?

If you don't know how to play at all, or if you're shaky on some of the rules, here are some sites that will be much more instructive for you than Chessgames.com:
  1. Teaching Chess to Kids from ChessKid.com
  2. So You Wanna Learn How to Play Chess? from SoYouWanna.com
What does this strange notation like "17.Rac1 Rxc1+" mean?
That is chess notation: a method of describing moves played on the chessboard. Of the several forms of chess notation popular in the world today, we use what's known as the English Algebraic notation. Understanding how to read this will greatly enhance your ability to read and understand chess analysis. If you do not know how to read chess notation, here are some resources to help you:
  1. Understanding Chess Algebraic Chess Notation from about.com
  2. Keeping Score - by the US Chess Federation (Adobe Acrobat required)
Why do games end even though nobody is checkmated?
Newcomers to chess sometimes assume that games are played until one player is in checkmate, or stalemate. While this occasionally happens during grandmaster games, it is usually not the case. Among strong players, the game usually ends when one player realizes the hopelessness of the situation, at which point he or she will resign. This is indicated on the score sheet as 1-0 (Black resigns) or 0-1 (White resigns).

When you play in person, a resignation is usually is indicated by tipping your king on its side, and/or by extending your arm for a handshake.

What is PGN?
PGN stands for Portable Game Notation. It is a method for storing chess games in simple text format which can then be imported into various software. Because Chessgames does all of its PGN processing automatically "behind the scenes", you don't need to understand anything about PGN to enjoy Chessgames. However, if you use software that can import from PGN, Chessgames.com offers several ways to download this data to your computer. Please see How do I download PGN files? from the Chessgames Premium Membership FAQ for more information.

External links:

  1. PGN from Wikipedia
  2. PGN Specification and Implementation Guide (technical)
What is "kibitzing?"
Kibitzing is a Yiddish expression, popular among chessplayers, that means "to overlook somebody's work while offering unwanted or meddlesome advice." At Chessgames.com, however, kibitzers are very much wanted, for they are our most valuable resource. Each game on this site contains a "Kibitzer's Corner" where users of this site can exchange comments. Games in our database with kibitzing are denoted with this symbol:

We have discussion forums on all major chess topics: the players, the tournaments, the openings, and of course, the games. If you have a question, or advice, or anything to say about matters related to chess, the procedure is simply to locate the appropriate page then scroll down to the Kibitzer's Corner where you can engage other chessgames users in discussion. This approach of community-learning allows everybody to be both a student and a teacher in the wonderfully rich world of chess.

Posting Policy
Please observe our guidelines.
  1. No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language.
  2. No spamming, advertising, or duplicating posts.
  3. No personal attacks against other users.
  4. Nothing in violation of United States law.

Chessgames.com reserves the right to delete messages that are deemed inappropriate, distasteful, or off-topic.

There are also kibitzer corners for chess players and openings. Users are encouraged to post commentary, ask questions, and share URLs to other sites that may be of interest.

The homepage will always list the most recent kibitzes, so that you can see the topics that have been recently discussed. Our Recent Kibitzing page gives you an even more detailed view of recent discussions.

If you see a post that violates Chessgames.com policy, you may report it by clicking on the "Blow the Whistle!" link found at the bottom of the kibitzing area.

What not to use the kibitzing areas for:
  • Do not write about subjects not related to the page's intended topic. We offer over one million discussion forums, so if you post something to the wrong page you will bury your message where its intended readers will never find it, and dilute the intended content of the page. If you want to write on subjects not specifically covered in the database, you can always use the Kibitzer's Café.

  • Do not play correspondence chess in the kibitzing areas, except in Chessforums. Such posts are instrinsically off-topic on any player page, game page, tournament page, etc. In Chessforums such games are not only allowed but encouraged, provided that the owner of the Chessforum permits it.

  • Do not ask for general help with the site on the discussion areas to games, players, tournaments, etc. For example, the post "Can somebody tell me how to post links to games in the database?" would best belong on the Chessgames.com Chessforum or the Kibitzer's Café.

  • Do not make casual conversation with other users outside of designated areas such as the Kibitzer's Café. E.g., to post "Hi there Fred, how have you been? Did you get my email?" serves no purpose on the page of a game, tournament, or player.

  • Do not alert the administrators to possible corrections in the kibitzing area. It will be confusing to those who read it after the correction is made, and will probably not be read by the administrators anyhow. The proper method of submitting a correction is explained below in the corrections procedure section.

  • Do not discuss administrative actions, or report violations of posting guidelines, outside of the designated areas. For example, to post "Hey <chessgames.com> why did you delete my post?" is an off-topic comment which dilutes the actual purpose of the page, and probably won't be read by an administrator anyhow. The appropriate venue for such discussion is to email us (chess@chessgames.com) or the Chessgames.com Chessforum. In the case of a violation of posting guidelines, use the "Blow the Whistle" link to report the offending post.

  • Do not use the kibitzing area as a storage area for your personal notes. For example, to post "Went over this game on 12/15/2006" is a selfish use of a public resource.

  • Do not play games with the kibitzing area. For example, it is not productive to post "First!" (announcing that you are the first person to post to a thread) or to decorate a thread by posting <<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>.
If everybody follows these guidelines then the kibitzing areas of Chessgames will be the most powerful and useful feature of our site. Thank you!

HOT TIP: Visit your profile page to see where you have posted, and a star will appear by some of your posts. These are the posts that somebody has replied to.

HOT TIP: Visit your preferences page and check Display newest kibitzes on top. That will list the posts in reverse-chronological order. That way, you'll see the new messages at the top of the page.

HOT TIP: If you cut-and-paste a URL (web address) into your message, the system will automatically create a link. What's more, if you supply an URL to a page on chessgames.com it will sometimes change the hyperlink to a text description of the page. For example, if you provide a link to a game page, the link will appear with the names of the players.

HOT TIP: If you enclose text between < and > symbols, it will change color. You can use this to set apart quotations of other users, or subvariations in the lines you discuss.

LEARN MORE: There are other special features that the advanced kibitzers use as well; you can read about them at our Kibitzing Tricks page.

How do I register, so that I can kibitz?

First you have to go to the preferences page and choose a "Username" (that's what other people will see you as) and a password (to make sure nobody else posts under your name.)

When choosing a username, please obey the following rules:

  1. It does not have to be your real name, but it can be if you want.
  2. Use only characters A-Z and 0-9, the period, and the space. Names cannot begin with periods.
  3. Do not name yourself after a famous living chessplayer (unless you are really him or her!) Likewise, please do not put "GM" or any other chess title in your handle unless you have actually achieved that title.
  4. Accounts with insulting, offensive or obscene usernames will be deleted.
  5. Account names that imitate another chessgames user, especially with intent to mock or confuse, will be deleted.
Once you've done all that, you will receive an email which contains a link that takes you to our Activation Page. This is our way of validating your email address as being legitimate. Unless you change your email address, it should only be necessary to activate your account one time.

NOTE: Please note that we collect your email address only for purposes of validation; we are strongly opposed to spam and would never reveal your email address to any other users, or sell our email list to any third party. More information on these policies can be found at our Privacy Notice.

MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS: While the use of multiple accounts is not prohibited, it is strongly discouraged. You should not establish alternate accounts for trivial reasons, such as: to maintain multiple personas ("sockpuppets"), for humorous effect, to bypass ignore lists, or to cheat in any game or contest. Innocent and useful reasons to create multiple accounts include: providing a public service on your profile, opening a chessforum on a specific subject, or deciding to change your username.

How do I put colors, links, and chess symbols in my messages?

With a little practice, you can embed links to web sites, highlighted colors, and chess symbols in your kibitzes. Please see our special page on Kibitzing Tricks to learn how. While you are kibitzing, a link to this help area will appear during the preview phase.

How do I put a little graphic (avatar) next to my messages?

This feature is reserved for Premium Chessgames Members. There is a detailed discussion of this feature on our Premium Membership Help Page.

How do I ignore a user?

If a certain member of our community annoys you, you have the power to filter out their kibitzes entirely so that you never need to read their messages again. To do this, simply click on their name and visit their profile, then follow the "thumbs down" graphic at the bottom of the page. They will then be added to your ignore-list. If you ever change your mind, you may get back to your ignore-list from your profile page.

I forgot my password.

If you supplied your email address when you registered, you can have your password and username mailed to you from our Password Recovery Page.

What is "annotation?"

Annotation is commentary provided on a game. Sometimes this is simply analysis of moves which were not played; other times it seeks to explain the strategies and motives that lie behind the moves. Games in our database with annotation are marked with this symbol:

To find annotated games, you may click the checkbox next to "with annotation" on the homepage search. For example, a simple search would reveal annotated Lasker-Capablanca games.

You can also use the "E-Z Search" at the top of the homepage to find annotated games. For example, to find annotated French Defense games, you can search for "annotated French Defense" and you'll receive a list of all French Defense games that contain annotation.

What's an ECO code?

The Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, or "ECO" for short, is a famous chess publication that attempts to chronicle all major chess opening variations into five volumes (A-E) providing readers with a comprehensive collection of modern opening theory. Contributors to the publication include the very strongest players from around the world, including some world champions. Chessgames.com uses the ECO codes as a method of categorizing the games into the various openings.

We also provide a pulldown menu with some of the most popular openings. This way, you do not need to know ECO codes; you can just select the opening by name.

HOT TIP: Type "000" into the ECO slot to find all odds games, and other chess variants such as Fischer Random, etc.

HOT TIP: You can select a range of ECO codes in the search form. For example, to find all Slav Defense games, you can type "D10-D19" or simply "D10-19."

What is the Tournament Index?

Our Tournament Index (TI) is a powerful tool that lets you "flip through the pages of chess history." It presents our chess events in an informative and chronological manner. The handy search bar lets you find games in certain places, with certain players, etc.

All pages in the TI have either a leaderboard or roster, as appropriate. They all allow for members to kibitz. Most have some kind of introductory text, the finest ones containing detailed research, crosstables, and more. All pages from our WCC History Project are part of the TI.

Our New Tournaments page displays the newest tournaments, added by the Chessgames staff. All new tournaments are automatically inserted into the Tournament Index.

The job of creating pages for historical tournaments is an ongoing endeaver, which takes place chiefly at the Biographer's Bistro. If you have penchant for chess history and would like to contribute to the project, feel free to introduce yourself at the Bistro, and/or contact chess@chessgames.com for more details.

What are 'Notable Games'?

On some player pages, tournament pages, and opening pages, there is a list of Notable Games. In the case of player pages, this list highlights some important games that the player has won or drawn. On opening pages, you can see some milestone games in its history. If you want to see some interesting games by a player, or of a certain opening, this is usually a good place to start.

The lists of notable games are calculated by finding the games which most frequently appear in our users' game collections.

Notable games are chosen using a proprietary algorithm sensitive to the behavior of Chessgames members. Its results do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Chessgames.com staff.

If you want to "vote" for a game, simply put it in one of your game collections.

What are 'Notable Tournaments'?

On some player pages, there is a list of Notable Tournaments. This is a short list of tournaments and matches, which may be high-points of the player's chess career. In general, their best performances are at the top. This feature excludes world championships, which are covered in a different section.

NOTE: Only tournaments in our Tournament Index are eligble for this purpose.

How do I search for a tournament?

If you are looking for a very recent event, simply check out the "New Games" column on our homepage. To access our entire searchable archive of all tournaments, both current and historic, see our Tournament Index.

If you are interested in a specific World Championship match, you may prefer to reference our History of the World Chess Championship feature.

What is a "Chessgames Biography"?

Some player pages have a section near the top called the Chessgames Biography. This area usually includes information such as the date of birth, the date of death for deceased players, the nationality, and a short biography of the player ranging from a single sentence to several paragraphs.

This information is supplied by Chessgames members who have volunteered for the job of supplying biographical data. Much of the historical research takes place on the public forum designated for this purpose: The Biographer Bistro.

DISCLAIMER: The Chessgames.com staff does not author the biographies, nor are we responsible for their content. Although the biographies are generally of high quality, we can make no guarantees to their accuracy.

NOTE: If you have any suggestions to improve the biographies, or a specific biography, you will want to give your suggestions to one of the volunteer editors. One way to make your request heard is to post it to Biographer's Bistro.

NOTE: If you would like to volunteer for the job of writing biographies, contact chess@chessgames.com. Applicants must be skilled in English writing, and be able to accurately research chess history.

What are "WCC History Pages"?
   
An online historical guide presented by Chessgames.com
WCC stands for World Chess Championship, and Chessgames has many pages devoted to this topic. The matches and tournaments that were involved in World Championships are in our database with all of the other tournaments, but the World Championship pages have several special features:
  • An informative historical article about the match, the players, and the circumstances surrounding it.
  • Photographs and illustrations.
  • Citations and links to articles and other online resources.
  • A navigation system which allows you to scan the matches chronologically or by jumping directly from any WCC event to any other.
  • A scoreboard which shows the final score of the match, allows you to see the score develop on a game by game basis, and provides links so you can jump directly to any game.
  • A Notable Games section for the match to show you which games our members find most interesting.
  • A discussion forum to discuss the match or analyze the games.
A navigation bar appears at the top of these pages allowing you to easily scan through the World Chess Championships, either in chronological order with the "next" and "previous" links, or by using the pulldown navigation to jump directly to any match you like.

This is an excellent way to learn the history of the World Chess Championship and the great players who held or challenged the title.

If you want to enjoy this feature, a good place to start is the introduction page: The History of the World Chess Championship.

HOT TIP: Another good way to enjoy this feature is by stepping through the world championships in chronological order starting with Zukertort vs Steinitz, 1886, which is recognized by most chess historians as being the first official World Chess Championship match.

What does "Find Similar Games" do?

On every game page, you will find a link called 'Find Similar Games.' If you click it, you will be presented with all games that contain similar opening moves. The games that are the closest matches to the game you clicked on (the "stem game") are at the top; and near the bottom you will find games which deviated earlier. This way, you can search for specific opening variations with more precision that you can do with the ECO codes.

This page will also compute the novelty of the game, which is the first move that distinguishes the game from all others in the database. (Note that often the so-called "novelty" is actually a blunder!)

Please note: This feature is only somewhat savvy to transpositions, especially those that occur during the first 6 moves. Unlike the Opening Explorer, complicated transpositions are not recognized here.

What are "Game Collections"?
Chessgames enables members to bookmark their favorite games to review later, or to share with others.

Organize chess games into game collections. This is accomplished through Game Collections, which are lists of games that users assemble themselves. For example, you might have "Favorite Capablanca Endgames" as one collection, and "Ruy Lopez Opening Traps" as another. It's entirely up to you to decide which games go into these collections.

Creating Collections - Registered users will see on the bottom of game pages a button that says "Add Game to Collection." Next to this button is a pulldown menu that contains all of the collections you maintain, plus a choice called "New Collection." If you want to create a new game collection into which the game will be added, select "New Collection." If you want to add the game to a collection you already own, you pick that collection from the list.

When you add a game to "New Collection," you will be asked to name your new collection, and optionally to provide a short introduction/description for the games. In this way, you can pick the games that you like and add them to your collections. Whatever you enter at this point can be changed later.

Editing Collections - When you visit your profile, you will see a special link that allows you to edit your game collections. That takes you to the "Game Collection Administration Page" where you can remove games, change the titles/descriptions, and even change the order that the games appear.

Sharing Your Collections With Others - Suppose you have a number of collections with games in them, now what? For starters, when you visit your profile page you can see links to your collections. Other users who see your profile can see these links, also. In that way, you can share your compilations with other members.

If you make a really good collection, you might want to visit the Kibitzer's Café and tell others about it. When others read your message, they can click on your name and then see the collections you've created. In the future, we will make more features to help users enjoy the game collections of others.

Searching Game Collections - You can find game collections on virtually any subject using our powerful Game Collection Search Page.

We hope that you find this feature an excellent way to organize your chess research, while sharing your findings with others.

PLEASE NOTE: Free accounts are limited to a total of 8 game collections, and no collection may have more than 101 games. These limits are greatly expanded for premium Chessgames members.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: If you volunteer to use the Game Collections feature, you do so entirely at your own risk. Chessgames.com shall not be held responsible for lost information, labor, or other damages arising from the use of this product, and reserves the right to alter or discontinue this service without prior notice. In creating a Game Collection at our site, you forfeit any claims to copyright on the selection of games, the game notes/titles, and the introduction to the collection. Game Collections are not confidential and can be viewed by the public.

Where do you get your games?

The database has been constructed over a period of many years from PGN files obtained from free, public domain sources. Primary among these sources are: The very newest games are usually obtained from the official websites of the chess events.

We also accept PGN submitted from our users, pending review by administrators. Please see our PGN Upload Page for more information.

Can I download search results in one big PGN file?

Yes, but this feature requires a Chessgames Premium Membership. See our Premium Member FAQ for more information.

Help! I can't see the games!

If you can't see the games, here are some possible reasons.
  1. To use some of the more advanced chess viewers, Chessgames.com requires Java which may not be present on your computer. You can download Java for free from here.
  2. Java technology, unfortunately, tends to be unstable for some users. To solve this, we provide more than one Java viewer: if one doesn't work, try another. (You can change your Java viewer setting on the preferences page or on any game page.)
  3. Perhaps your browser's configuration has Java turned off? Check your browser preferences for any Java-related options and make sure they are set properly.
We have a Troubleshooting Page for these kinds of issues and more.

Note that it is possible to configure your browser to view PGN files from the web in a PGN viewing application; once you do this, the "download PGN" link found on the game pages should display the game using your own software.

Some users report that the applet usually works but occasionally misbehaves. If this is your situation, simply reloading the page often corrects the problem. Failing that, closing your browser and restarting it often does the trick. Failing that, try rebooting!

If you try all of this, and you still have problems, please tell us about it, including the specific computer platform you are using (operating system, browser, and anything else you think might be important.) Report technical problems to chess@Chessgames.com. Thank you.

How can I flip the board, so that Black is on the bottom?

This depends on which Java viewer you use. In the case of the default viewer (Chess Viewer Deluxe) the method is to press the two triangles symbol in the lower left corner of the board. You can learn more about the default viewer at our Chess Viewer Deluxe Quickstart Guide.
Is there software that will help me use Chessgames.com?
If your internet browser has Java, you can use our site without any special software. However, there are programs that you may prefer to use over the Java-viewers. If your browser is configured properly, you can click on "download PGN" to see the game displayed with your software. Users who do this often choose "none" as a Java viewer.

Here are some free PGN viewers that you can use for this purpose:

  1. Chess Filemate (Windows, shareware)
  2. PGN Mentor (Windows, free demo available)
  3. Mini-PGN (Windows, free)
  4. Pgn Reader 1.52 (Windows, free)

What are the differences between the viewers?

We currently offer five choices for your chess viewer. You can change your setting at the preferences page, as well as on any page where you are viewing a game. The default viewer (Chess Viewer Deluxe) works fine for most people, but some users prefer other options found on other chess-viewing packages. Here are the current choices:
  1. Chess Viewer Deluxe - A powerful and easy to use java viewer that contains many powerful features, such as allowing you to analyze the board position by moving pieces, move through the game with your arrow keys, and play games automatically. As such, it is our default viewer. Please see Chess Viewer Deluxe Quickstart Guide for more information on this application.
  2. MyChess - A happy medium between features and reliability. Chess Viewer Deluxe is an improved version of MyChess.
  3. pgn4web - This is currently the only non-java viewer that we offer, and it's a very good one. It is the ideal choice for cell phones and tables such as the iPad. One of its strengths is that it has a very simple crisp appearance that can be rendered very large. However, it does not let you manipulate the pieces.
  4. ChessTutor - The fanciest java chess viewer; contains many features such as resizing the board, automatic move progression, and more. It is the least stable; some users report not getting it to work.
  5. MistyBeach - The least-fancy java chess viewer; very simple and plain, but it gets the job done. It does not support odds games, nor does it support games that use RAV (recursive annotated variations). Very few users have reported problems with it, although there are a few games in the database (with annotation) that cannot be viewed with it.
  6. Sjkbase - Its operation seems a little odd at times, but the board looks great and it has a very powerful feature: it lets you actually move the pieces on the board so that you can analyze positions. It is a relatively old piece of software, and no longer supported, so use it at your own risk.
  7. None (Display Moves Only) - This option simply displays the moves of the game in a little box. However, the "Download PGN" link found on each page will activate a PGN viewer on your PC if your browser is configured properly. Use this option if none of the above choices work for you, or if you simply prefer to use your own PGN viewer.
I found a mistake in your database that requires correction. What should I do?
The Chessgames.com database is a compilation of PGN files obtained from various sources. As a result, there is inconsistency with the data, and some games are incorrect. Our admins process corrections regularly in order to fix errors in our data.

The most common mistakes include:

  • Game with misattributed players.
  • Games with wrong moves, or wrong move order.
  • The year, tournament, or location of the game is wrong, or missing.
You can help the correction process by clicking the "suggest correction" link on every game, player, and tournament page. This will be forwarded to our database administrators.

If you see an important chess game that we are missing, you may submit the game (in PGN format) to us, by using our PGN Upload Utility.

Do not post corrections in the "Kibitzer's Corner." The admins do not necessarily read that area and are unlikely to take action until a correction slip is submitted.

Do not email us with corrections. We made the "suggest correction" link so we could avoid that. Thanks.

Do fill out the correction slip form. Your correction will be vetted by an admin and tended to promptly.

What is the ChessBookie Game?

The ChessBookie Game is a free game available to everybody. It is a gambling simulation (no real money involved) where players make wagers on chess games, tournaments, and more. It costs nothing to play, and you can win cool prizes if you win. For more information see our ChessBookie Introduction.
What is Child-Friendly Mode (Quiet Mode)?
While the member discussion ("kibitzing") is one of Chessgames' most dynamic and interesting features, there may be times when you'd like to suppress it. For example, you may be supervising a young child using Chessgames, or perhaps you use Chessgames from your mobile phone and want to save bandwidth.

Whatever the reason, Child-Friendly mode, also known as Quiet Mode, is a setting that makes the kibitzing vanish. You'll find it on your preference page labeled "Child-safe mode." When you activate this feature, several changes take place to your account:

  1. You are unable to see or participate in any posting on any kibitzing area--games pages, player pages, chessforums, etc, with the singular exception of the Chessgames User Support Forum.
  2. If you have an active chessforum, it will be disabled while you are in Quiet Mode.
  3. It will announce that you are in Quiet Mode on your profile page: "Quiet mode enabled (This user cannot see kibitzing.)"
  4. You will be blocked from the New Kibitzing Page, the Kibitzer's Café, Search Kibitzing, and a few other pages.
  5. To prevent children from accidentally disabling this feature, the logout button is temporarily disabled while in Quiet Mode. (To properly logout, you must first visit your preference page, disable Quiet Mode, then visit the logout page as normal.)
NOTE: This feature is not intended to be a substitute for diligent adult supervision.
How can I learn to play stronger chess?
There are many things you can do, but here are some of the best suggestions:
  1. Play often, and play against opponents who are good enough to beat you at least half of the time. You can do this at a local chess club, or on the internet.
  2. Review games of great players. That's where Chessgames.com can help! When reviewing a game, before you look at the next move, try to guess what the GM played.
  3. Read books. The greatest chessplayers of all time have written clear and precise guides for playing strong chess.
  4. Study endings. "The endgame is to chess what putting is to golf."
  5. After every game you review or play, try to determine the specific move where the loser went wrong.
  6. Attend local chess tournaments. There is something about the atmosphere of a tournament, when prizes and glory are on the line, that brings out the best in players of all levels.

I have a question not on this page.

Many more features are described on the Chessgames Premium Membership Help Page. If you still cannot find the answer on our site, we'd be happy to help you. Please send your question to chess@Chessgames.com.

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