ChessBase databases to PGN, without ChessBase
ChessBase keeps games in its own database format, and only ChessBase, Fritz and the ChessBase Reader open it. They run on Windows only, and the format changed again with ChessBase 17. If you have a database from an old CD, a coach, a club or your own years of analysis and no Windows licence to open it with, this converter reads the files directly and gives you a standard PGN file with every game, every variation and every comment.
What to upload
| ChessBase format | Files |
|---|---|
| CBH (ChessBase 6 to 18) | .cbh with .cbg (moves), .cba (comments), .cbp (players), .cbt (tournaments), .cbc (annotators), .cbs (sources), and .cbj, .cbe (teams), .cbl (game tags) when there |
| 2CBH (ChessBase 17 and 18) | .2cbh with .2cbg (moves), .2cba (annotations) and .2lid (players, tournaments and the rest) |
| CBV archive | one .cbv file: the database packed into one file, as TWIC and many coaches and clubs share it |
| CBZ archive | a .cbv locked with a password: enter the password under "Archive password" |
Select all the files of the database at once, or put its folder in a .zip. Several databases can
be converted together. The other files a database folder holds (opening keys, search boosters,
pictures) are ignored. An archive is unpacked first: each part's check value is verified, so a
damaged download is reported instead of giving wrong games.
What you get
- PGN with the standard tags (event, site, date, round, players, result, Elo, ECO) and the extra ones ChessBase stores: annotator, event date and type, rounds, country, category, source, teams and game tag.
- Variations as PGN variations, at any depth.
- Comments before and after moves, in every language the database has, or only the one you pick. Figurines in comments are written as letters (Nf3, Qxd4).
- Symbols (!, ?, !!, ?!, =, +-, novelty, with the idea…) as the standard numeric annotation glyphs.
- Coloured squares and arrows as
[%csl]and[%cal], clock times as[%clk], time spent as[%emt]and engine evaluations as[%eval], which Lichess studies, ChessBase and most programs display. - Chess960 games with their start position, and games from set-up positions with a FEN tag.
- A game list as CSV (players, result, event, date, ECO, number of moves, annotated or not) and the database's guiding texts as HTML pages.
Options let you drop the [%…] commands, all annotations, or the variations, for programs that
want a plain game score.
Not converted
Embedded pictures and videos are noted in the comment where they belong but not exported, and sounds are left out. Training questions keep only a note. Games ChessBase marked as deleted are left out unless you ask for them.
Privacy
Files are processed on our server only to produce your downloads, and results are deleted automatically after 30 minutes. An archive password is used only to unpack the archive.