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The Arsenal Files 6
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NICBASE.REV
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1993-06-27
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***Software Review: NICBASE 3.0
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NICBASE Version 3.0
by Hans and Nico Kujif
Hardware/Operating Requirements: IBM PC or compatible with MS
DOS 2.0 or higher; Hard disk not mandatory but strongly
recommended; Random Access Memory (RAM) requirements: 512K;
CGA, Hercules, EGA or VGA graphics; Full mouse support;
Available in 3.5" and 5.25" disk; Copyrighted but not copy
protected.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Given the explosion of data that has struck the chess world
during the past few years, it's probably time to give serious
thought to accessing and managing some of it. If you're a
personal computer user, perhaps the best way to get the most
out of the thousands of available game scores (and keep your
sanity at the same time) is through the use of a commercial
database program. One of the best known is NICBASE.
So, what can you do with NICBASE? In the words of the brief
manual that accompanies the program, "With NICBASE you can
create and consult databases with large amounts of games. The
number of games that can be stored in one database is
virtually only limited by the available amount of disk
space...The possibilities of the program are virtually
limitless. You can not only replay and study the games, but
also enter and save your own games, as well as annotate and
print them. You can quite easily find games by specifying
certain characteristics of the games you are interested in,
such as opening variation, player's names, tournament, etc.
But you can also search for games that have certain
positional characteristics..."
If nothing else, a good chess database program should permit
the user to replay, enter and store games as effortlessly as
possible. Such functions are the forte' of NICBASE 3.0.
Those familiar with the MS-DOS menuing program, Windows, will
be right at home here, as well, given NICBASE's pull-down
menus. An "intelligent" mouse (which recognizes legal and
illegal moves) makes a task as mundane as move entry seem
almost fun.
One of the most intriguing features of NICBASE is its ability
to work with two separate game score files simultaneously--
what I would describe as chess database multitasking. By
opening a "database" (which consists of games classified
according to the NIC--New In Chess--opening key code system)
and a "gamefile" (a collection of NIC formatted games) at the
same time, the user can access and manipulate both
collections at once.
NIC TOOLS, sold separately, are a set of utility programs.
One of the more interesting (and unusual) choices is
NICTABLE, which will produce a tournament crosstable
from NICBASE-formatted games between a total of ten players
or less. Most of the other utilities serve pragmatic
functions such as recovering deleted games, converting games
from other formats, etc.
Considering that I'm a chess player first and a PC user
second, it is important to me that computer programs be
accompanied by clear, comprehensive documentation.
Unfortunately, such is not a strong suit of NICBASE. Although
there is an extensive online help feature, the program comes
with only a small, sixteen page pamphlet that briefly touches
on some of the functions. Being in the habit of reading the
user's manual immediately after breaking open new software,
it took a little trial and error to figure out that ASCII
games are automatically converted when the "Read Game"
function is selected and animated replay can be chosen
by moving the slider bar adjacent to the board, since neither
feature is addressed in the booklet.
I would also like to see a better explanation of the key
structure.
But, since NICBASE is not difficult to use and help is always
no farther away than the mouse button, perhaps comprehensive
documentation is unnecessary in this case.
In the end, NICBASE 3.0 does everything that one would expect
from a good database. Move input, game export and file
manipulation are all quick and easy processes, and there is a
plethora of data available (especially opening variations).
Anyone considering the purchase of a commercial database
should start with the cream of the crop--NICBASE 3.0.
Glenn Budzinski
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