Hello,
Very new to the game of chess. I have been playing for under a year, but very interested in improving. I have downloaded ChessBase Light 2009. I believe that having decent software might be a helpful step in improving my game. But, I am clueless in what is out there or how to go about doing research. I was hoping you maybe be able to help me with some thoughts or recommendations.
Thank you in advanced!
RA
For starters,
(a) ChessBase (not the lite version);
(b) Fritz (or something similar), which will work with ChessBase (I actually only use Fritz through ChessBase); and
(c) the Mega Database.
ChessBase is a database for chess games; Fritz is an analysis engine; and the Mega Database is large collection of chess games (some which are annotated).
Steven Craig Miller
Chessbase and *chessbaseusa carry a slew of great software designed to help players of all skill levels.
If you’ve been only playing a year, I’d actually recommend Chessmaster X. You can often get that title for about $20 in the discount section of retailers.
I wouldn’t recommend Chessmaster: Grandmaster, since its nearly the same as the prior version with only a few tweaks and a higher price. Chessmaster has a ton of excellent tutorials and exercises for beginning and intermediate players. They do have some stuff for higher rated players, but in general, its heavily skewed toward rank beginners and weak players. (Under 1200 USCF).
Its not so much for research, though it does have a very rudimentary database with a bunch of games in it. (When I say rudimentary, compared to Chessbase, its like comparing a rusty tricycle to a lamburgini.)
Another good title, again not for research, is CT-ART. http://chessok.com/?page_id=29
-That title is high on my “must buy” list of chess titles.
-Convecta (aka. chessok.com has a slew of excellent training titles)
*ChessbaseUSA isn’t technically owned by Chessbase.com, although they carry most of the English titles. It was originally owned by Chessbase.com, but I guess it seemed easier just to have someone from the USA own it, rather than have duel websites.
At the risk of being self-serving, it sounds like you might enjoy checking out my web site, chessmagnetschool.com. It’s free to try for the first 30 days, and $26.95/year for USCF members if you find it worthwhile.
It’s a curriculum of thousands of exercises developed by a senior master who is an educator by trade, and presented by our web server’s adaptive learning algorithms, so you proceed at your own pace, and it soon learns your level (or you can jump ahead if you already know the beginner material, via the advanced placement test).
Perhaps some other folks here might comment on its pros and cons, as I’m not well positioned to be objective. 
No matter what ways you choose to study or practice, have fun and good luck!
With regards to the Mega Database, is it a necessary purchase? Doesn’t ChessBase come with some 5 Million games?
[EDIT: Chessbase 11 comes with the “big database” about 4.8 million games. Both Chessbase 11 and Chessbase Light have access to an online 5+ million game database.]
Personally, if your not wanting to spend so much money on Chessbase, Chessbase Light is a nice alternative. You can still buy databases for it, but its main goal is to allow people a cost effective program that has most of the functionality the regular Chessbase program, and still have access to a large (online only) database.
Don’t ask me what the exact differences are between Chessbase 11 and Chessbase Light, since I don’t know. They are very similar programs. Not sure if Chessbase Light has been upgraded to the Microsoft Ribbon interface. I don’t have either on my computer… which I just bought recently.
Chessbase Light “free” version allows you to open any database, but only the first 30,000 entries in the database. Plus some other functionality is disabled, but its useful enough so you can decided if you like it or not.