Using a database, you can search for the current board position, and the program will return a collection (called as dataset, subset of database) that includes this exact position. Such kind of search is called as Search by position. Moreover, you can also search for some patterns of current position, and piece maneuvers. By reviewing these games, you can see which common plans worked in that position, and which one did not.  Such ability will help you to identify opening plans and alternative lines of play.

You can also search for game header (e.g., for games by player, year, tournament, win/loss, etc.) as well as for material (e.g. number of pawns, rooks, bishops, knights, and queens). Such ability to search for material helps when studying the endgame or middlegame, especially with particular material imbalance.

These header, position, and material searches are very fast and fairly tolerant of misspellings and other inaccuracies.

Chess Academy also incorporates such important tool like "opening tree". Such tool is very important for studying an opening. Chess Academy can create a "chess tree" from any board position. As you probably know, the advent of the "chess tree" revolutionized the way in which databases are used and any top database program includes such useful feature. It allows to access games with a similar position very fast and you can easily navigate through this tree with the tools provided by the database program.

The tree additionally allows you to see statistics on the success of each move in the tree. You will be able to maintain your own opening repertoire and get contribute to learning an opening. You will understand better the ideas behind a particular opening and get a nice assistant of route memorization (i.e., if your opponent moves here, you will go here).

Chess Academy database program provides interface with a chess engine for analysis purposes. For example, the engine`s analysis tells you why certain moves will not work (e.g., a tactical refutation exists). It also provides you with a way to evaluate why certain moves are better than others, based mainly on very good tactical calculations to find possible blunders.

Chess Academy provides support of infinite analysis mode and automated analysis. This feature lets the computer "watch" moves as you play on the board and suggest the best move. An automated analysis allows to analyze a game totally unattended. The chess engine will check each move played in the game and suggest an alternative if it finds a better one.

This feature allows you to place / edit / play / analyze alternative lines of play in a game. For instance, you may want to analyze the consequences of a move that was not played in a game.