How to use ChessBase on a Mac
(This is a short story/guide on the best way to install ChessBase on a Mac, including Macs without a DVD drive.)
Recently, I decided to embrace my inner hipster and get a Mac. (If you don’t know what a hipster is, this handy flowchart from the youreahipster tumblr might help:
- You know you’re a hipster when….
If you don’t know what a hipster is, but you’ve seen American Psycho, check out:
If you don’t know what a Mac is, then the rest of this post isn’t going to be much fun for you.)
My new MacBook is smart, sleek and sexy. I’ve named her Adelaide. 12 years ago, after “a series of unfortunate events”, I started naming my computers after Australian cities. That’s another story, but I accept your judgement in advance.
However, there was just one tiny problem with my new toy, and it’s exactly the same reason as to why you won’t see any macs floating around at top-level chess tournaments, and the same reason why not one of my GM friends takes a mac to tournaments:
Macs don’t run ChessBase.
Well, technically that’s not true. A Mac is hardware, but the operating software that comes with a Mac – in my case, the imaginatively named “OS X Mavericks” – can’t handle ChessBase. Or, more accurately, ChessBase doesn’t produce an OS X compatible version.
(Notice that in what follows, I will continue to use impressive-sounding computergeek terminology in order to appear like I know what I’m talking about. Of course, in reality, I really don’t know very much about computers – besides which cities make appropriate names…)
You might well ask why ChessBase doesn’t make a Mac-friendly version. It’s a good question. Actually, ChessBase did make a Mac OS version a while ago, but apparently it didn’t sell very well, so they canned it. Part of the reason could be that Macs weren’t as popular a decade ago as they are now in our hipster-flourishing era. Or part of the reason could be, as was recounted to me, that the Mac Chessbase software was “perhaps the worst-ever commercial Mac software ever created.” In any case, it doesn’t exist for sale anymore, and ChessBase staff told me last year that they have no plans to introduce a Mac-friendly version any time in the near future.
Well, that’s an issue. There are other ChessBase alternatives that work on Macs, such as Shane’s Chess Information Database (SCID) and Mac Chess Explorer. For the casual player, these are quite sufficient. For a tournament player who is constantly using chess programs for on-the-go preparation, opening analysis and integrating other ChessBase products, this isn’t really an option. This is a real shame, because ChessBase as a program is objectively really terrible: it’s buggy, barely developed between versions, and gives the user neither decent control nor innovation. However, there’s simply no alternative out there for the serious player.
My next attempt to install ChessBase was to investigate running a virtual copy of Windows. This is basically the equivalent of running Windows from within Mac OS X. The main programs you can get are Parallels, VMware and VirtualBox (the last one is free). There are two main disadvantages of this method. The first is the cost: You’ll need to spend 50 euros or so on the virtual-machine software (unless you get VirtualBox), as well as buy yourself a copy of Windows to install. Well, so be it.
The second disadvantage, however, is the loss of processing power. Particularly if you’re going to do some heavy engine work, your computer isn’t going to be very happy with running two operating systems as well as blasting Houdini on full speed. Think of it like wearing a dinner jacket over the top of an old coat: Sure, it still looks pretty much the same, but things are going to get hot and tiresome if you do too much work. For the serious analyst, this is super annoying.
My next attempt was to check out Wine, which is a “compatability layer”. To be honest, I don’t know what that means. From what I can tell, however, it tries to take all the little itty-bitty Windows code in a program and translate it into something Mac-friendly. The result is that MOST features of MOST Windows programs will work on OS- mostly. Think of it like disguising your old coat to look like a dinner jacket: it’ll get you in to most things, and you won’t be hampered much, but there are going to be one or two functions you’d like that’ll reject you.
It’s free software that relies heavily on its user community, so as you can imagine, the most popular programs are the ones which get most of the work. ChessBase, unfortunately, isn’t one of them. Apparently, at least according to their program directory, older versions of ChessBase (such as CB9) worked “reasonably well”, so I thought I’d take my chances with my ChessBase 12, the latest version. I have to say, it’s not very easy to get the thing to run. It was originally designed for Linux people, who I associate with being far more computer-savvy than myself. After bumbling around for a couple of hours, I eventually got to the final stage of “running” my ChessBase through Wine on my Mac. Unfortunately, it was a no-go. To be fair, the Wine site says that this is a risk for untested programs, and it also might just be that I’m not sophisticated enough to get it to work. But if you too think of yourself as a point-and-click sort of user, take my advice: this isn’t the way to go.
(Intermission: If you think it’s hard being a hipster, you wouldn’t believe the stuff Australians have to deal with…)
Finally, I was down to my last attempt: Boot Camp. This is Apple’s integrated software to run a full version of the Windows operating system on your machine. Basically, when you turn on the Mac, you get to choose whether to run OS X or Windows, so there’s no loss of CPU power in ChessBase (you do have to allocate some of your harddrive space to a second operating system, of course). The problem for me was that my MacBook doesn’t have an optical (DVD) drive, so I couldn’t install a Windows disk, even if I had one (which I don’t).
Fortunately, a while ago Microsoft commissioned a company called Digital River to provide .iso downloads for all their Windows 7 versions. You can find the downloads here (and yes, this is totally free and legal). Basically, Microsoft wants you to be able to download and install Windows “for free”, because Windows only works for 30 days without an activation key – which you have to buy from Microsoft, of course.
Once you have the Windows 7 .iso file, the Boot Camp instructions are incredibly simple to use; you can google them for yourself, if you have any troubles, and there are plenty of websites offering advice. Next, boot your computer holding down the ‘Option’ key and choose to boot to Windows. Then, install ChessBase. Obviously, make sure you have a downloadable version if you don’t have a DVD drive. If you’re using an .iso file, you’ll have to install VirtualClone (free!) to mount it: http://static.slysoft.com/SetupVirtualCloneDrive.exe
One final problem: If you don’t already own Windows 7 (and thus an activation key) you might be wondering what to do to keep your Windows copy going after the 30-day trial. Believe it or not, it’s actually really difficult to legally buy a licence from the Microsoft website. Your best bet is actually to go to any computer store and buy a brand new copy of your Windows 7 version (make sure you get the same one; don’t buy Windows 7 Home if you downloaded and installed Windows 7 Professional!). You won’t need the disk, of course, but just the code on the back. Then you can manually activate it like this: http://www.wikihow.com/Activate-Windows-7
Note that Microsoft DOES NOT sell individual activation codes. If you google around, you’ll find plenty of sites willing to sell them to you; these are most likely illegal (although, apparently, most likely safe as well). There are also different sneaky ways of disabling Microsoft’s ability to check after 30 days whether you’ve got a legal copy or not, including how-to videos on YouTube by 12 year old kids (seriously, kids, what are you doing?!). It doesn’t matter about the method; after 30 days, if you’re running Windows and you haven’t bought an official copy, technically you’re doing something illegal.I wash my hands of thee.
Anyway, finally, you’ll end up with a full-power version of ChessBase on your Mac, and of course, now you have the ability to install any other Windows-only programs you might have as well. You can be both a chessplay AND a hipster! Hurray!
(You made it this far? Well done. Here’s your reward: The Bondi Hipsters. Steer clear if you’re easily offended.)
Awesome! I may well investigate this…
I found a totally free Linux solution that also seem to be much smoother than the one suggested in this topic. The way to make it work is to download Parallel (and the Linux distribution called Ubuntu and Wine to make installment smoother on your Mac. Then you download Chessbase and a program called PlayOnLinux. After starting PlayonLinux you install Chessbase. I used CB12 but I do believe it will work with other versions as well.
The best is that you can jump between your regular Mac and CB with shift + command with no delay.
Hi
I run Houdini 3 & 5 on bootcamp (under Windows 10) and I am experiencing what I think are overheating problems. CB does not completely freeze but makes non consistent analysis, does not allow you to movepieces while the infinite analysis toll is on? And obviously the mac is hot like fire…..
Anyone having this problem?
best regards,
QH4 mate
I went onto the amazon.uk website re your scandinavian book and was playing through the first example on move 29 for black you gave RH2 mate but although it is losing white can move his king to g3 then it would be QH3Mate. Sorry if I made some blunder.
Hi David,
I just bought me a new iMac retina 27″ i7 with 16 Gb + Parallels (about 80 euro in the Netherlands), and Chessbase 13, Houdini 4 and Komodo 9.1 are running very well on it, except for the occasional freeze of Windows 10. It runs much faster then my previous Windows machines. My only problem is that the Apple mouse is too sensitive for Chessbase, which causes the cursor to wander around the screen all the time when I touch it. I now use an additional USB Windows mouse and no problems anymore.
Parallels allows you to integrate Windows completely in your Mac OS and therefore Windows becomes just another App on your Mac.
Hi David,
I’ve been running Chessbase 8.0 (yeah I know this is pretty old version) on my Mac Book Pro 17 inch for years using Parallels to allow me to run all my Windows programs. I currently run the latest Mac OS El Capitan without any problems. I have had to update Parallels to keep up with the new operating system, so that my be a drawback for some users.
I’ve been using Chessbase 10, 11, 13, under VMFusion for years.
Other than the occasional freeze, no problems.
Now that my MacMini has 16gb, running even better.
Well, well, Im using, in my Mac OSX 10.10 Yosemite and of course MVWare, and Windows 7 and ChessBase 12 all original / and a lot of chess base programs, database / openings books, few days ago I buy Grand Prix and Sveshinikov fantastic, work fine, download by net, no trouble.
Houdini I had preference for mídia, and I received by post office of course I have external DVD for running, I have too COW Chess Opening Wizards, another very good software, that I had put a lot of books in this database, So, if you like chess, and you intend to buy a MacBook Pro/ a bit more money for windows and other softawares. You enjoy very very well
David
Did you look at Hiarcs Chess Explorer and the very strong stockfish free download?
http://www.hiarcs.com/mac-chess-explorer.htm
It’s a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, retina screen, 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB 1600 MHz DDR3 memory, 512GB of flash space. I’ve put 100GB into the Windows partition, which seems more than enough – the only programs I have loaded on Windows are ChessBase, Houdini, Skype and Dropbox, as well as the Avast anti-virus software. Of course, that doesn’t leave a whole lot of space for the Mac, so you could consider either an external hard drive or cloud storage if you have a lot of movies, music and photos stored.
Hi, would you mind providing the specs of your Mac? And what’s the size of the memory you allocated for windows? Thanks.
Hi Steve. Yep, same one I’ve got! I have to say, it still works like a dream, and I’m gradually getting around the mac interface – learning a whole new set of shortcuts was a bit weird, but fortunately each one is just a short google away, usually.
I really only use Windows for chess base now, nothing else, so it’s likely to stay uncluttered. I downloaded Avast, which is one of the best free virus softwares out there. I’m sure that a paid copy of TrendMicro or Norton (for example) would be better, but seeing as I’m not doing much web browsing on Windows anyway, I’m going to risk it 🙂
Hi David,
So I finally ordered my new computer. 13 inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. Should have it by the end of the week (May 29 or 30). Curious what mac you have? What did you get for windows virus software and how do you like it. There are so many (too many?) to choose from. Any other comments you have on your system, how you like it, and any issues you’ve had?
While I know I’ll never be a hipster, it will be fun saying I have a “MBP”.
Thanks for the post
Steve
Thanks very much, Mickey and David.
I’m more than ever tempted to go down the Mac road, especially after reading a whole host of somewhat mixed reviews of the available Windows ultrabooks this weekend.
It’s been a few weeks now, and I have to say, the mac is fantastic as a machine. I’ve really enjoyed using it – smooth, light, fast, and the OS X interface is surprisingly intuitive once you get over the first week’s learning curve.
I took the macbook to a chess weekend recently, and no problems at all on the chess preparation side. I’ve decided to put most of my chess files on DropBox, which is now synched on the mac in both operating systems. No worries!
You could also try Hiarcs Chess Explorer for Mac, it is a chess database that comes with the Hiarcs chess engine. The database runs fast but is currently limited to pgn files, more info here – http://www.hiarcs.com/mac-chess-explorer.htm
I need to replace my ageing Samsung netbook (running Chessbase 9 under Windows XP!) for travelling abroad to tournaments. I was on the point of ordering a Windows i7 ultrabook when your blog post about using a MacBook was brought to my attention.. I use an IPhone and IPad, so the thought of being able to run Chessbase with no problems on a MacBook is quite appealing.
Now you’ve been using it a while, would you recommend this to an ageing hipster?
Having read this I thought it was rather enlightening. I appreciate you taking the
time and energy to put this informative article together.
I once again find myself spending way too much time both
reading and leaving comments. But so what, it was still worthwhile!
I’m surprised at how rapidly the VMware+Windows option was dismissed. Unless you want to run the latest and greatest 3D Windows games at high frame rates, I think VMware Fusion running Windows is a very viable option. On a modern, well-specced Mac (especially one with an SSD drive) the performance penalty is minimal. And I LOVE VMware’s “snapshot” feature that allows you to roll the Windows VM back to a prior “snapshot” if something bad happens inside the Windows VM (i.e. a virus infection).
Hi Steve,
I think if you’re a wanna-be hipster, then by definition, you can’t be an actual hipster. Phew, dodged a bullet there!
The dual-boot option works fine with OS X Mavericks (that’s what I have), and with Windows 8 as well. The only issue there is that there aren’t .iso downloads available for it. So you’ll need to have acquired your own copy of a disk and (assuming your Mac doesn’t have a dvd drive) turn it into an .iso . Fortunately, that’s not too difficult – check out VirtualClone for that. And yes, once Windows is installed as a dual-boot option, you can run all your normal PC software through it. Just make sure you get some Windows virus software as well!
By the way, Apple itself came up with the dual-boot program, so I don’t think it’s too upset; after all, Apple makes most of its money from the hardware, not from OS X!
Read with interest your blog on installing Chess Base on a Mac. I’m thinking of getting a new computer soon and was looking at the Mac (maybe I’m a hipster wanna-be?). But then I noticed there are virtually NO chess programs for the Mac. Then I came across your blog. Thanks for posting! So my questions: If I follow your directions for installing Windows on my Mac, then I am able to use any other Chess Software (intended for a PC) on my Mac? Like Opening books, Tactic books, etc? Do your instructions also work with Windows 8 or 8.1? Does it work with the new OS X Mavericks? I wonder how Apple feels about this?
Still deciding which way to go: PC or Mac. I like the idea of getting the Mac, but wondering if the PC route would be easier?
Thanks for posting
Steve