Hey, big news. We just released the new OM 1995 chess database. It is the biggest collection of human chess games between 1800 and 1995 and clean. Have a look and download now.

You will not find a bigger collection of classical chess OTB players during this period. If we missed some games, we challenge you to let us know. It is the complete history of chess in the most cleanest and purest form between 1800 and 1995. This database is the result of many thousands of hours of work on data collected from a large number of sources (Internet, magazines, books, databases). It is more complete than ordinary commercial databases, errors have been corrected in it, data has been added, tournaments and chess players indexed. 

Historical database 1800-1995

The current June 2024 version of OM OTB holds 9,990,757 chess games officially recorded over the board between 1800 and 2024. We constantly keep adding more and clean up the "old mess" from the 90s. We do the house cleaning but it's microwork. We are final up to 1995 and it holds 1,558,101 chess games in total.

We are proud to announce the complete work of chess between 1800 and 1995. 

 

 

What improvements are visible in the new version

The number of games

There are about 25% more games in it than in ChessBase, games without notation are only there if it was necessary to add them for the complete table of the tournament, the main part of which is the database. In addition, there are games from Spain, Argentina, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Holland, Cuba, Spain, Brazil. However, there are quite a few new batches from Scandinavia, Germany, England and Poland too. The inclusion of games in Soviet tournaments has been significantly improved.

The names of the tournaments are normalized 

Wherever possible ordered by data on the place and date of the tournament, the country in which the tournament was played are added

Round numbers

Sometimes we added the number of the round in which the game was played, if we needed to do it for the completeness of the table. If we could not determine the round number, we entered the round number greater than the number of rounds of the tournament. This way you can see where we didn't know how to do it (but the table will be generated)

Player names are normalized

We made a number of adjustments - added first names, correctly distinguished players with the same or similar names, took into account the date of the game and compared it with the time when the player lived. We hope that we have successfully solved the problems as well with female names, when the player changed her surname due to marriage

The duplicates

We tried to consistently remove the duplicates - we used many methods, only cases where there are two games that differ in moves and players' names are distorted could have escaped, the number of duplicates is definitely significantly less than one in a thousand.

The fragments and parts with bad notation

Some datasets also contained fragments of parts that were listed fully somewhere else. We always tried to leave out such a fragment. We also skipped games where there was a mistake in the notation - very unlikely moves.

The results

We also fixed a large number of game results - compared with the results in the game tables from popular chess magazines

The correspondence games

We omitted all games where we were sure they came from correspondence tournaments. If we did not have this certainty - few cases - they are in the database with the name of the tournament "COR"

Zero computer games

The games between computers are omitted, unless these were played at a tournament (various open tournaments with the participation of people and computers) or at a significant tournament between computers. Computer names are always listed as COMP (e.g. COMP Fritz)

Finally, we would like to mention some sources we used to give credit. It is extremely difficult to search for historical games where no computers were available.

Gino di Felice Chess Results - a series of 18 books covering tournaments from 1800 to 1990
Gino di Gelice Chess International Title holders 1950-2016
Gaige Chess Personals
Chess Informants 1-58

Magazines
Magyar Sakkélet, Československý šach (Czechoslovak Chess), Shakhmatnyj bjulleten (Checkmate Bulletin)

Best regards

Tomáš Hecht, 

Chief Data Officer

 

 “It’s the biggest and strongest chess database out there” - GM Simon Williams, CEO GCHESS

The chess databases are important for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, chess databases allow players to study and analyze past games. By studying the strategies and tactics used by top players, aspiring chess players can improve their own skills and understanding of the game. In addition, chess databases can be used to identify patterns and trends in a player's style, which can be helpful in preparing for a match against that player.

Second, chess databases can be used as a training tool. Many chess databases come with built-in analysis and training features that allow players to test their skills and practice specific openings or endgames. This can be particularly useful for players who are looking to improve their tactics or endgame play.

Third, chess databases can be used to track progress and measure improvement. By storing and analyzing a player's games over time, a chess database can help a player identify areas of weakness and track their progress as they work to improve.

Finally, chess databases can be used for research and analysis. Chess enthusiasts and researchers can use chess databases to study the history of the game, analyze the trends and patterns that have emerged over time, and identify the factors that contribute to a player's success.

Overall, chess databases are an invaluable resource for players, trainers, and researchers alike. They provide a wealth of information and tools that can be used to improve one's understanding and skills in the game of chess.

OpeningMaster is now available on all three major podcast platforms

We are glad we can provide this service totally for free on all major podcast platform Youtube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts so you can now enjoy the chess meditations whether you are fan of either of the three.

Visit and subscribe to our YouTube channel  to learn chess openings and much more. Listen to our Spotify Podcasts on weekly basis.