All drawing operations in notation and lists are performed in ChessBase 17 by fast hardware related functions of Direct2D, which was developed for games. This makes the software run much faster even on slow computers/graphics cards.

 

There are many optimizations: Game notation generation has been improved so much that you can now easily merge thousands of games. The resulting deeply nested game notation is still easy to handle. This means that there are no longer any limits to huge variant trees. (The new clear folding helps additionally).

The present program version introduces a new technology for the chess board. Based on the Direct2D graphics interface, there is now a fresh new look, new animations (chesses, stroke moves), higher resolution, new graphical effects.

 

In the board tab there is a check box "New 2D board" which simply switches between the new and the old board.

 

 

Under Board -> Pieces a new set of pieces is available in a simple design language, which is a contrast to the visual habits familiar from chess literature.

 

 

The new board needs an average graphics card for good performance, but every notebook has one nowadays.

 

 

The quickest way to start the Board Design dialog is to right-click on the graphic chess board. Select Board Design from the context menu to set colors, pieces, border thickness and background of the 2D board.