Obtaining a Chess Database

The best way to obtain a free database is to play games on lichess.org and then go to your profile and find the export options.

Then you will want to make sure you have selected only the standard variant and the time controls you want to be included. Chess database programs almost never support anything other than standard Chess. This is unfortunate because I would love to see how a Crazyhouse database would look. Maybe software for other variants will be invented or exists that I don’t know about. In the meantime, stick with standard.

When you have downloaded a database to the filename of your choice, you will want to install a program such as [ChessX](https://chessx.sourceforge.io/) which can help you play the games out on a graphical chessboard. There are many other applications like [Scid vs. PC](https://scidvspc.sourceforge.net/) or various products sold by the Chessbase company. However, I don’t recommend paying for a program unless you are a professional Chess player who wins prize money to justify the cost of it. Therefore, I have chosen only to recommend free and open-source tools.