Marshall Chess Club Educational Workshop

Format:	Four-week workshop
Dates:	Tuesdays, beginning September 8, 2026
Time:	6:30 - 8:00 PM (90 minutes each)
Location:	Marshall Chess Club, Front Room

Workshop Description
ChessBase is the industry-standard software used by tournament players at every level, from ambitious club players to world champions. This four-session workshop is designed to help participants develop practical ChessBase skills that can immediately improve tournament preparation, opening study, game analysis, and long-term chess improvement. The workshop will be highly interactive, with participants working on their own laptops while the instructor demonstrates techniques, answers questions, and provides hands-on guidance. By the end of the course, participants will have developed an organized and efficient ChessBase workflow that they can continue using to prepare for tournaments and strengthen their chess.

Course Syllabus

Session 1 - Getting Started with ChessBase

• Installing and configuring ChessBase
• Understanding the ChessBase interface
• Creating and managing databases
• Importing PGN files
• Organizing personal game collections

Best practices for maintaining efficient databases Jon will be sending (by email) several important free databases to all students. For example, everyone will obtain an index to all issues of New in Chess, and an up-to-date ICCF Game Archive, a very high-quality database used by all top-flight GMs as their main repertoire database.

Session 2 - Finding and Organizing Information

• Searching for players, games, tournaments, positions, structures, and opening variations
• Advanced filtering techniques
• Creating and organizing opening databases
• Building training databases and reference files
• Managing chess material for quick and effective access
• A new and very effective way to read your opening books and game collections.

Session 3 - Tournament Preparation and Studying Grandmaster Games

• Preparing for a specific opponent
• Creating opening preparation files
• Building and maintaining a personal opening repertoire
• Studying Grandmaster games in your chosen openings
• Using chess engines critically to analyze Grandmaster games and create your own annotations
• Developing a structured opening preparation process

Session 4 – Game Analysis and Practical Training

• Preserving and analyzing your own tournament games
• Using chess engines effectively without becoming overly reliant on computer evaluations
• Writing meaningful annotations
• Identifying recurring strengths and weaknesses
• Building a long-term ChessBase workflow for continuous improvement
• Questions, discussion, and practical tips

Requirements
Participants are likely to be using different versions of ChessBase software. The instructor will be using ChessBase 17 (because that's what's installed on the laptop he will be using) but the lessons will be applicable to users of ChessBase 13 through ChessBase 26. Participants must also have a USCF rating of 1600 or higher.

Participants should:

• Bring their own laptop computer.
• Have ChessBase installed before the first class.
• Attend all four sessions to receive the greatest benefit from the workshop.

Registration

• Open to Marshall Chess Club members.
• Free of charge.
• Enrollment will be limited to 15 participants.
• Because each session builds upon the previous one, participants are expected to attend all four classes.
• Register here

Instructor
GM Jon Edwards is the 32nd World Correspondence Chess Champion, an ICCF (International Correspondence Chess Federation) Grandmaster, an accomplished chess educator, and longtime ChessBase user. His extensive experience in opening research, database management, and analytical preparation has made ChessBase an indispensable part of his chess work. Drawing on decades of 14-hour day experience, Jon will teach participants practical methods for organizing databases, preparing for opponents, studying Grandmaster games, searching for novelties, analyzing their own games, optimizing their own chess, and creating an efficient ChessBase workflow that supports long-term tournament success.