BC Chess Game Database

BC Chess Game Database compiler Stephen Wright

Welcome to BCBASE!

This is a database of games, currently about 14160, either played in British Columbia or by B.C. players elsewhere in the world. These have been assembled from various sources: other databases, published sources (magazines, newspaper columns, books), and scoresheets, both recent (the latest Keres tournaments and BC Championships) and historical (with special thanks to Max Enke/the BC Archives, Miervaldis Jursevskis, the family of Lionel Joyner, Brian Potter, David Hladek, Fred Schulz, and Lynn Stringer).

Generally I have only included games by players while they were resident in B.C.; thus the games for Dave Ross and Gordon Taylor only cover the period when they actually lived here. I have made exceptions for some stronger players when the additional games give a fuller perspective on their playing careers. For example, included are games by Elod Macskasy and Miervaldis Jursevskis before they came to Canada, Lionel Joyner before he came to B.C., and Peter Biyiasas after he left the country.

The database is split into two sections (largely to avoid the 8,000 game limit on CBLight), with the dividing line being the 1990 B.C. Championship. The earlier section, BCHIST, is intended as a historical anthology, including as it does the playing careers of Macskasy, Suttles and Biyiasas; the second section, BCMODERN, covers from 1990 to the present. My apologies to those of you whose playing careers straddle the two sections, but you can always reconfigure the database to your liking after download.

Here is the latest version of BCBASE, in three files:

BCBASE.cbv - the whole thing in archived ChessBase format
BCHIST.zip - upto the end of 1989 in zipped PGN format
BCMODERN.zip - 1990-present in zipped PGN format

I have zipped the PGN files because they are so big otherwise; they are split to allow ChessBase Light users to make use of them, as the program has an 8,000 game limit per database (the complete BCBASE is just over 10,000).

These files include and supercede all previous versions, including the Supplements.

This collection is not definitive, but is very much a work in progress - there are still many published games that I have not yet had the time to enter. Supplements of new games will be provided on a regular basis (in conjunction with the games in the e-mail Bulletin), and the database itself will be periodically updated. If readers notice errors, or would like to contribute their own games to the collection, please contact me, Stephen Wright.

August 28, 2005:
This is the latest version of BCBASE, which supercedes and includes all previous versions and supplements.