CDB database : the end of the story ...
Posted: 16 Apr 2008, 14:27Ten years ago Peter Klausler (who was chief engineer at Cray supercomputers) published what would stay as the final version of a gem of a program : the CDB chess database v1.5 (win 32 bits freeware).
This ultrafast although small chess DBMS is still by far the best transpositional chess games database (and I still use it on a daily basis!).
Unfortunately P Klausler suddenly stopped development of this much promising tool and seemed to disappear from the computer chess scene.
A few days ago I was lucky enough to get his present email address.
I sent the following mail to him :
Unfortunately I got the following answer (nothing personal so I suppose I may cite it):
So we won't ever get an improved CDB...
Still this is by far the fastest indexing chess DB and maybe it's not uninteresting to remind younger comp chess amateurs that this little thing may act as a server (locally or on a LAN) with a well described communication protocol.
Marc
This ultrafast although small chess DBMS is still by far the best transpositional chess games database (and I still use it on a daily basis!).
Unfortunately P Klausler suddenly stopped development of this much promising tool and seemed to disappear from the computer chess scene.
A few days ago I was lucky enough to get his present email address.
I sent the following mail to him :
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Hi Peter
Could you imagine that ten years after its final 1.5 version apppeared there are still people who use and praise your CDB chess database ?
I am one of them, and I deeply regret that you did not change your mind regarding CDB future …
If you could decide to resume CDB development this would be a fantastic news for me …
This tool is still one of the best transpositional databases.
It’s a pity it just lacks a few features (accepting analysis engines other than old crafty versions, alpha-beta « solving » of subtrees …)
I hope that one day you will reconsider CDB development …
In any case, thanks again for this nice piece of software.
Best regards
Marc Lacrosse
Unfortunately I got the following answer (nothing personal so I suppose I may cite it):
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Thanks for your kind words about CDB. I'm sorry to say that I don't even have a copy of the source code any more. I have heard nice things about some of the current open-source chess database programs available today, and perhaps one of them will suit your needs. Best of luck!
Peter
So we won't ever get an improved CDB...
Still this is by far the fastest indexing chess DB and maybe it's not uninteresting to remind younger comp chess amateurs that this little thing may act as a server (locally or on a LAN) with a well described communication protocol.
Marc