In a live interview at the Samarkand Chess Olympiad 2026 Expo Center, host Himank G tours the newly opened ChessBase stall alongside representatives Andi, Steffen, and other team members. The conversation centers on ChessBase's long‑awaited macOS version, slated for a November release. Steffen demonstrates the Mac UI, highlighting immediate board access, the reference table, opponent preparation tools, style reports, the Mega Database (12 million games), and integrated video courses. He explains a six‑to‑seven‑month development cycle that began in March, driven by user‑feedback sessions on the Windows version. The team discusses growth (now seven on‑site staff, with more joining), collaboration with DGT (shared stall, hardware demos), and the enthusiastic response from Olympiad participants. Andi and others note the style report as an underrated yet powerful feature, especially for Chess960 preparation. The interview wraps with reflections on the Olympiad venue, the expanding ChessBase ecosystem, and gratitude toward the community.
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ChessBase is one of the biggest chess companies in the world. We are here in Samarkand for the Chess Olympiad 2026, and ChessBase has set up an amazing stall at the Expo Center. We interviewed Arne from ChessBase, who showed us some exciting new updates and features from ChessBase. Enjoy the video.
Arne, such a pleasure to be here and a pleasure to meet you here at the Samarkand Olympiad. And we are right before the amazing ChessBase stall. Is that correct?
That is correct. Thank you so much for your introduction. It's nice to see you again, Himank. I'm very happy to have a little short tour with you, maybe.
Yes, first of all, tell us about this stall. You know, I see there are a lot of members of the ChessBase team present, a lot of work going on, and there was a really big announcement recently which came out that ChessBase is coming on Mac.
Really?
Yes! But just, I wanted to know that all these new developments, tell us a bit about what all is happening.
Absolutely. So where to start? So yeah, we are a lot of people here right now. Currently we're 7, and we're also mixing up the pace a little bit. There's a couple of more coming in the next days, there's some leaving in the next days, and in the next week we're even having more people. Pascal, you probably have heard of him, and Niels the photographer will be here, all of those.
Nice.
So talking about ChessBase here, it's the very first time that we have a stall like this together with DGT, which cooperated with us, in this size. And of course, the announcement, as you mentioned already, ChessBase is available, going to be available on the Mac. A lot of people are very, very happy about this news, and we have even one of the programmers here, which is Steffen. So we can actually maybe go to him right now because I just saw he's free for a second.
Absolutely.
Yeah, in November it's finally there. We will release the Mac version of ChessBase. It's a thing that many people want that we release it finally, and it's getting a completely new design as we show it here. We have like, if you open the application, you get directly a chessboard. We are chess players, we want to have a chessboard, and you can directly analyze the game, you can play your moves. You have all the benefits also from the Windows version. You have the reference table, also the top games, what other top players are playing and their positions, and you have easy access to like the main functionalities. You have the preparation. If you're preparing against opponent, you can just enter a name. Let's say like Carlsen.
Of course.
And you get a direct overview, what he's playing as an opening, what he's going. And you also can generate a style report, which is quite special. It's giving you some observations about the player and also like statistics about like what kind of player he is. And searching like for an opponent like Nakamura, and we want you to see where Carlsen was playing white and So wins the game and we see it instantly. So instantly the results, we can go through the game, we can open it into a bigger board. And yeah, that's like the main functionalities that we offer. We also have like what we know from Windows with all the databases and you can structure your local database. You have the mega database. You can save your games and get an overview like here on the Mega Database with 12 million games. And yeah, so we have all also all our video courses that we can directly view from the app. We can download it directly into this application and play it back.
The UI looks beautiful.
Yes, it's way more than design, I think. How long did this take for you to develop from just with the Win, like for the Mac? Yeah, I started in March this year, so about 6, 7 months.
Was it hard?
It was hard. So it was also like we made some sessions with actual ChessBase users. like, what are they complaining about the Windows version and how can we make it better? We have a new product and we thought, okay, what can we make into it and how we structure it? And I think we came up with a pretty cool solution. And yeah, I'm really looking forward what the feedback is saying and what the players are saying. And that's why we are here to get some feedback and— get some first impressions about it.
What is the one feature you hope people like the most about the ChessBase on Mac?
I— the, the most feature is, I think, really the reference table, because on Mac it's really instantly, um, like you, you're just pressing on it and you get directly the results, and that's, uh, that's so, so cool.
Amazing.
Yeah.
And also you get the top games, you see what players are playing. Okay, you get to a bit deeper route, so you can easily just see what are the top players are doing in this situation.
As you can see, one of the most amazing things is that it is unstoppable busy. There's so many people and so many things going around. So for example, our ChessBase CEO, Rainer Woisin, Uh, just tries to install the ChessBase app. And, uh, the 2 people are, as far as I understand, they're deaf. So that's something very, uh, helpful for, for them to use the database on their phone, stuff like that. And then of course, at one point, we even have a chessboard here.
Aha.
Right there where we can—
So some people are already playing games.
Exactly, they're playing. And, uh, right now I think the, the one screen is off, but then we can show the analysis directly off the screen of this chess game. So you can always analyze your chess games here with ChessBase immediately, right away. And we have Veronika Exler here, the Austrian national player who's helping us. She's a very skilled player too, so she helps with the analysis, and we're doing all those interviews. So yeah, it's, it feels great, and it's just the first day. I don't know what's happening in the next 2 weeks.
But Andy, of course, you are a journalist at heart with, you know, all the stalls and all the work here. I'm sure also, I'm sure you're also taking out the time to see the games and what's happening. Just this Olympiad in general, how is your feeling about it? You know, so many countries.
Well, so far it's— I don't want to shame any other Olympiad I've been to, which is only Budapest, which was amazing to be fair. But this one is, it's, I mean, this venue, it's so incredible. The opening show and the, the TV channels were broadcasting everything It feels very, very professional, and although there's over 2,000 participants and more, it seems to work out. Most of the things seem to work out quite well, of course with a little hiccup here and there, but it's fascinating that it is working, and it's a really, really nice venue for especially the press, the media, in my opinion too, because it's always a bit difficult, and I think the players are enjoying it too.
That's absolutely amazing. And, you know, I think with this ChessBase coming to Mac and also many other innovations in ChessBase every year which come out, I think it's growing, you know, every year in a new direction. A lot of new updates coming in. You've been part of ChessBase for quite a while. Right now, what is the most exciting part about all this for you?
Well, the question is, of course, the correct one because absolutely Absolutely, stuff has changed this year, obviously.
Yes.
So far I can honestly say everything is working out not only well, but in such dimensions that we didn't expect. So we have more resources now, we have new members at the chess family like Steffen, for example, who started this year, who is entirely very responsible for the Mac version, and this was not really possible some years ago, and now we can do that. Now we can also take more requests from players who have said like, oh, we always wanted this for ChessBase or that for ChessBase. And yeah, this— the work is growing and the team is growing, and stuff is quite amazing to be a pair.
And if I may ask you, uh, with the recent coming in of Timur Tulesh, you know, as the Right now, if I may ask, how much is his involvement in all this, or is it like the core team still running all the things?
Everything is exactly as it was before, and that was more or less the promise which was also made. And this was also the reason why all of this took place. And this is— this was not to be 100% to be expected. Nobody really was like, oh, Are things changing? Is this going to be something crazy? And like, are the employees now going to Kazakhstan or something like that? No, everything stays the same. It was planned like this. This is a project of heart and love, as Timur Tolaev often mentioned also in his interviews, and he's staying strong to this. And we're just improving and yeah, having better conditions and many, many ways to make better products.
Thank you so much, Anish. Just one final question. You know, in all the ChessBase interviews, I see you often have this question, uh, what is your most favorite ChessBase feature? And you know, there are a range of different answers we see. So I think, uh, like the reference database is a very common answer, opening preparation, style reports.
All of those, yeah.
Right now, what is the one feature do you think people are enjoying a lot, or one feature would you think is sort of underrated, which people don't speak about a lot?
Underrated, I would have said Reference is one of the most used tools. Underrated, definitely not, because it's a cool thing. Underrated is still, because it's also brand new, it is the Style Report. And I still also have heard a couple of Grandmasters who are using it more frequently, also especially for Chess960, because They can use the Style Report to find pawn structures which apply to their system. They can see aggressive players who are easy to chop down when you play very defensively, or vice versa. So Style Report, that's definitely the most underrated, but more and more players are using it now.
Thank you so much, Andi. You know, great ChessBase team, looking forward to all your work. And looking forward to use ChessBase on Mac.
Thank you, you 2 guys, for doing so much work for so many years, all the time. I love to watch you and all your great videos, and keep it up, never stop.
So we came to the ChessBase stall, and right now it would be a disservice if we did not show you the DGT stall, the amazing DGT stall which is right here, actually alongside the ChessBase stall. And, uh, you know, we have a lot of collection of DGT products. These amazing clocks. I think a lot of big collection of clocks. You know, I think this is a new model, this DGT 1500, blue color, and a lot of chess pieces, chessboards. You know, DGT is actually the standard. It is the standard which has been set for a lot of years in all the FIDE events. The board which you will see, the board of choice, the pieces of choice, it's all DGT. And of course, game transmission. They've been doing it for years. Even in this event, all the boards you will see inside the playing hall, they are DGT boards. And we can see that there are a lot of interested people actually who have come here to buy products. You can see these different boards and, you know, a lot of people playing games on it. Maybe this is a newer model. And, you know, this interesting feature is pretty cool to see that it's been highlighted. The moves. That's pretty nice to see. Let's keep going. Where are you from, guys? Are you from Uzbekistan?
Yes.
Okay, okay. Amazing, amazing. Please keep playing. That's wonderful. And, uh, I think just to see this is pretty cool, you know. Uh, I, I don't think I've ever seen this before, you know, these pieces being highlighted In the squares which they move to. Oh, and it tells you the move. Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow, that's, that's pretty cool. So, you know, with this board, even if I'm a noob, I can win games because it will tell you the correct move. Okay, now he has to move the rook.
That's amazing.
That's pretty cool. And you know, a lot of new technologies coming up, and I think DGT always brings, you know, new things to the table. Right now I think we have some model pieces, you know, which people can get. Looks pretty cool, something to take back home for like nice memories. There's the DGT diaries, you know, DGT pens, a big catalog they have as usual. I think a lot of things for interest. Of course, many people or the most of the people will actually buy the boards, but it's great to see the digital stall and the chessboard stall all together among all the other stalls in this expo area, which is amazing to see.
