Chess960 database - compilation of games 2001-2018

DOWNLOAD HERE (Courtesy of Dropbox.com and Bitly.com)

 Here is my own compilation of all human Chess960 games played since Fischer Random Chess was invented, according to these criterion:

1. Human ELO 2000+
2. Over the board competition preferred
3. No blitz games
4. Online tournaments at long time controls but not correspondence
5. Simultaneous exhibitions

There are a lot of famous players in this database, including games by Anand, Aronian, Svidler, Nakamura, Carlsen and Kasparov!

The compilation remasters the original pgn games still available from around the web, repairing them by hand so that they are fully replayable in software that recognises Chess960.

The standard I used for the remastering is Chessbase 12 and it's interpretation of Chess960 PGN format and start position numbering. 

THE FORMAT IS NOT UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED and the database will not load in some software. The difference is in the [variant] tag. Chessbase use a space between Chess and 960. Here is an example: [Variant "chess 960"]. 

Some databases omit the space. Other databases use a different variant tag altogether. Winboard uses [Variant "fischerandom"].

I think it should be:
[Variant "chess960"]

But that doesn't work in my chessbase software!

Here are some tips for people who want to search the database:

• If you want freeware that can import the database, winboard works. If you want a Chess960 specific version of winboard you can download a modified winboard app from this blog that can import the database and display the games with the official Chess960 number in the title bar (plus more).
• If you are using Chessbase you can search by the official Chess960 number if you first convert the PGN into native Chessbase format.
• If you are using Chessbase you can sort the games by their official Chess960 number if you first convert the PGN into native Chessbase format.

The sources I used to compile the database were:

• Chess Tigers Chess Classic (Mainz) (big thanks!)
• Archive.org for missing links to Mainz (big thanks!)
• The Week In Chess Kings vs Queens 2011 (big thanks!)
• Lechenicher Schach Server database (LSS) (thanks!)
• Moscow Center for Chess Education (thanks!)
• International Correspondence Chess Federation (thanks!)
• Frankfurt City Chess960 Championships  (thanks!)
• Mark Weeks Chess960frc Blogspot (thanks!)
• Chess.com (thanks!)

If you think I missed any games, please let me know!