The adverse effect could be a premature resignation, or an inferior line of play that loses with less resistance than a play without tablebase might offer. In addition to ignoring the fifty-move rule, a computer in a difficult position might avoid the losing side of a tablebase ending even if the opponent cannot practically win without himself knowing the tablebase. Some computer chess experts have observed practical drawbacks to the use of tablebases. This is a mere fraction of the 7.05 GB that the Nalimov tablebases require. Shredderbases, for example, used by the Shredder program, are a type of bitbase which fits all three, four and five piece bitbases in 157 MB. Sometimes even this data is compressed and the bitbase reveals only whether a position is won or not, making no difference between a lost and a drawn game. For the latter purpose, some programs use 'bitbases' which give the game-theoretical value of positions without the number of moves until conversion or mate ГўВЂВ” that is, they only reveal whether the position is won, lost or draw. Not only can computers play perfectly within an endgame, but they can simplify to a winning tablebase position from a more complicated endgame. The knowledge contained in tablebases affords the computer a tremendous advantage in the endgame. In this case the fifty-move rule is not applied, and the number of moves to mate is not taken into consideration. In 2013, ICCF changed the rules for correspondence chess tournaments starting from 2014 a player may claim a win or draw based on six-man tablebases. Thus a tablebase may identify a position as won or lost, when it is in fact drawn by the fifty-move rule. In 1992, FIDE canceled these exceptions and restored the fifty-move rule to its original standing.

In 1988, FIDE allowed seventy-five moves for KBBKN, KNNKP, KQKBB, KQKNN, KRBKR, and KQPKQ with the pawn on the seventh rank, because tablebases had uncovered positions in these endgames requiring more than fifty moves to win. FIDE changed the rules several times, starting in 1974, to allow one hundred moves for endgames where fifty moves were insufficient to win. According to that rule, if fifty moves have passed without a capture or a pawn move, either player may claim a draw.

Д¬ompetitive players need to know that some tablebases ignore the fifty-move rule. The size of all tablebases up to seven-man is about 140 TB. The high speed of generating the tablebases was because of using a supercomputer named Lomonosov (top500). The next set of 5+2 DTM-tablebases (350 endings including KPPPPKP) was completed during August 2012. The tablebases are named Lomonosov tablebases. Vladimir Makhnychev and Victor Zakharov from Moscow State University, who completed 4+3 DTM-tablebases (525 endings including KPPPKPP) in July 2012.Peter Karrer, who constructed a specialized seven-piece tablebase (KQPPKQP) for the endgame of the Kasparov versus The World online match.

Marc Bourzutschky and Yakov Konoval, who have collaborated to analyze endgames with seven pieces on the board.

Guy Haworth, an academic at the University of Reading, who has published extensively in the ICGA Journal and elsewhere.

Eiko Bleicher, who has adapted the tablebase concept to a program called 'Freezer' (see below).

Eugene Nalimov, after whom the popular Nalimov tablebases are named.

More recent contributors have included the following people:

Chess king endgame tablebase