The individual detailed in Russian media as a Bellingcat reporter has never worked for us in any capacity and we do not know who they are.

He wasn't really on my radar before this. He's done a couple nice interviews with @lichess.org. Sevian is no chump but it can't be much worse of a pairing than Niemann or Adams

iykyk www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tct...

Thank you!

Do you find the correspondence database relevant still? It seems like there are at least some correspondence games in the live database. And then the engines these days, even running on a decent laptop...

It's built into the cost and their most stable feature

I haven't tried it yet but they have a Monte Carlo feature so you can get some sense of who is winning in all of the 0.00 positions. Again, not going to make or break my chess game, but fun (potentially)

I am not even a dedicated amateur. I go through phases. I don't need it at all. I am also a loyal TWIC user. I've used SCID. The substitutes are extremely viable for my use cases. And yet every two years I shell out for the upgrade

In fairness: ChessBase 18 was actually a pretty major upgrade

I am enthralled by how bad they are and how loyal I am. It feels like a niche thing to complain about here but thank you for hearing me

chessbase 26 unboxing: intensive expectations management from the new desktop icon

I'm sorry I'm still thinking about it

worthy on their own merits but also easy enough to just mute the word. which, apparently, I have not done

Exactly. Incredibly frivolous for someone of my abilities and dedication. But it's good to have a hobby

They introduced some cool player profile type stuff in version 18 where you can see someone's style relative to a GM baseline (aggression, theory, play on the kingside, lots of odds and ends)

I'm curious about the Monte Carlo bit. Who am I kidding. I'll get it at the upgrade from previous version price and hope for the best in two years

I dunno, gang. Might not be pre-ordering for the 20% discount this time