English Chess Forum

ChessBase for Mac
Anybody got any experence of using this new software?

Paul Robert Jackson wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 10, 2026 4:34 pm

ChessBase for Mac
Anybody got any experence of using this new software?

As it was only released yesterday, I doubt many people will have, particularly as ChessBase say it lacks some of the features of ChessBase for Windows, but appear not to have published a detailed comparison of the two versions to clearly state what the differences are.

The pricing is interesting - it's only available on subscription, either monthly or annually (at a lower rate). I wonder whether that will put people off using it, or not? It looks like they aren't doing the same for ChessBase for Windows because Chess & Bridge are advertising pre-orders of ChessBase 27 for purchase, not subscription.

People with long memories might remember that this is not the first version of ChessBase for Mac. There was one many years ago, probably late 1980s or early 1990s, that was discontinued after not very long, presumably because it didn't sell very well.

Hard to see it competing with the excellent and much much cheaper Hiarcs for Mac. https://www.hiarcs.com/

One slight word of warning about Hiarcs concerns compatibility with the next major release of the Mac operating system. The next version will no longer run programs, such as Hiarcs, written for Intel chips. The good news, however, is that a new compatible version of Hiarcs is in beta testing.

I use Hiarcs for Mac
.....the next update for Hiarcs is free, but I expect the next major release of the Mac operating system (macOS 28) will result is a charge for Hiarcs users. Will not be until September 2027 though.

Chess & Bridge are advertising pre-orders of ChessBase 27
I will expect a pre Christmas offer from ChessBase, with one of their 25% discount days.

1st version of ChessBase for Mac
ChessBase previously attempted a Mac OS version late 1990's.
Suffered from poor performance, leading ChessBase to quietly cancel it.

Paul Robert Jackson wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 12, 2026 11:46 am

I will expect a pre Christmas offer from ChessBase, with one of their 25% discount days.

This always accompanied the launch of the updated version of Chessbase. I’m curious whether it will stillhappen when the updated windows version of Chessbase happens next week. Because it’s odd to launch the Mac version, only for it to be discounted one week later (and subscriptions to the magazine historically qualified, so I don’t see why subscriptions to the Mac version wouldn’t.)