Memorizing Chess Games
Danny Hardesty
Brilliancies, i.e., memorizing whole chess games as a way to improve, and,
if so, whether it helped to improve your play.
Seirawan states that there are some Go schools in japan that require
memorization of certain classical Go games as part of their curriculum.
Appreciate any feedback!
Danny Hardesty
Charles Milton Ling
I knew quite a few games by heart - when I was a weaker player than I am now.
This is merely anecdotal, of course: I really cannot say whether learning games
by heart is useful or not. (Somehow, I doubt it, to be honest.)
Charley
tbo...@my-deja.com
In article <mT6G4.59028$17.12...@news4.giganews.com>,
"Danny Hardesty" <dha...@texas.net> wrote:
> I was wondering if anybody has tried Seirawan's suggestion in Winning
Chess
> Brilliancies, i.e., memorizing whole chess games as a way to improve,
and,
> if so, whether it helped to improve your play.
>
> Seirawan states that there are some Go schools in japan that require
> memorization of certain classical Go games as part of their
curriculum.
>
> Appreciate any feedback!
>
> Danny Hardesty
>
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
John Wong
wrote:
>I was wondering if anybody has tried Seirawan's suggestion in Winning Chess
>Brilliancies, i.e., memorizing whole chess games as a way to improve, and,
>if so, whether it helped to improve your play.
It all depends on the player - do you possess a good memory to start
off with? If not, memorising games may be a tool to work on improving
that. Chess today is a lot more about cognitive pattern recognition
first and evaluation second. So a good memory of games played helps a
player to steer into favourable variations and away from proven
inferior positions especially when it comes to theory that's 20-30
moves deep. This is almost tantamount to analysing like a computer
except that the conclusion is based on remembering past experiences
rather than brute computation of plys (which we cannot compete with
the computer).
Memorising games can only be successful if you've dissected it in
words and can tell it like a story. Understanding the move sequences
of classic games or your own games can also prompt you of what's
happened before and worked/failed. So in general you should play
better this way.
The human brain is a powerful one when it comes to storing images -
I've personally witnessed this one day while travelling with GM Darryl
Johanson of Australia after the 1992 Manila Olympiad. I've played him
in one of our local Swisses after a regional event in 1978 (that's 14
years ago then), lost in 34 moves in a reversed KID. When I asked him
if he remembered me, he quoted "Yeah, reversed King's Indian right?"
I was stunned and asked why would he bother to remember an ordinary
game against an unknown. His reply? "I remember ALL my games"
Hope this helps
John
John Wong
>For some other improvement tips, please see
>
>http://canchess.tripod.com
Thanks a millon Tony for capturing Kevin Spragett's comments
on how to improve as a player.
I've spent some time yesterday going through his articles and
interestingly, Kevin shares the same insights as I do ! ( I am not
bragging, just stating a fact).
What he talks about in Bad Habits seems so real in the realm of
chessplayers after you've observed them closely in tournaments.
Kevin certainly has the flair to write a book about his views and
observations and it will be a good piece of advice to anyone who
is keen to make the next level of mastery. Top that coming from
a former Candidate GM.
I've got my students to read the articles hoping that it'll knock some
sense in their chessplaying but I guess it takes time and maturity to
appreciate and avoid the pitfalls that Kevin has painted in achieving
chess mastery.
I am definitely awaiting for more.
John
Sverre Johnsen
<38ea96ab...@butler.psa>...
> What he talks about in Bad Habits seems so real in the realm of
> chessplayers after you've observed them closely in tournaments.
> Kevin certainly has the flair to write a book about his views and
> observations and it will be a good piece of advice to anyone who
> is keen to make the next level of mastery. Top that coming from
> a former Candidate GM.
>
> I've got my students to read the articles hoping that it'll knock some
> sense in their chessplaying but I guess it takes time and maturity to
> appreciate and avoid the pitfalls that Kevin has painted in achieving
> chess mastery.
I agree. This is very good and should be made available to as many as
possible. The 'Bad Habit' article is among the best I have ever read. I
immediately recognised my own problems and I wish I had read (and believed)
it 15 years ago, when I could still have become a strong player. Now I have
largely arrived at the same conclusions on my own, but don't have the time
and motivation to do something about it.
Sverre Johnsen
Yves Lejeail
heart.
When I was 18 (a long time ago), I was able to remember my blitz games even
some days later after play. It's a shame for me , at this time it's no more
possible ! I think if a player can't memorize his games , he can't improve
his play.
Yves Lejeail
Akorps
This is one of the two methods
recommended by Steinitz in his "Modern
Chess Instructor" as a way to improve
(the other was solving positions from
diagrams in your head, without the use
of a board. The usual tactical solving
stuff, in other words).
Both methods are extremely useful. The
most effective for me personally, was
memorizing Morphy's games, because it
made the patterns of dynamics (gain of
tempo, development, etc.) stick in my
head, because the contrast between
Morphy, who understood these things
perfectly, and his opponents, who didn't,
was extremely clear.
The main drawback of these methods is,
that if your opponents figure out how you
are beating their brains out, they will stop
playing open games against you (at my
chess club, there are a couple players
who's only plan in the opening against me
is to keep the game closed :-)
So don't explain to them what you are
doing, if you care about winning more than
enlightening the chess peasants :-)
My current project is playing over the
games in Chernev's "1000 Best Short
Games of Chess" in my head, without
using a board, until I have them
memorized. This is a refinement of the
above method, which seems to help also
in being able to better visualize positions
and calculate variations, and also the
patterns stick in mind even more than if
you just play over the moves using a
board.
Danny Hardesty
I started out memorizing Morphy's famous opera house game then Anderssen's
famous evergreen game with Dufresne. It was much easier than I thought it
would be.
Let us know when you have memorized 1,000 short games! That will be quite
an accomplishment!
Danny Hardesty
Akorps wrote in message <20000408065216...@ng-fk1.aol.com>...
J. Thomas Jeffrey
them into a database using Fritz 6 (not _all_ of them, just the ones I like). I
plan to make this available to anyone who wants it.
J. Thomas Jeffrey
Bend, Oregon USA
PJDBAD wrote:
> >My current project is playing over the
> >games in Chernev's "1000 Best Short
> >Games of Chess" in my head, without
> >using a board, until I have them
> >memorized. This is a refinement of the
> >above method, which seems to help also
> >in being able to better visualize positions
> >and calculate variations, and also the
> >patterns stick in mind even more than if
> >you just play over the moves using a
> >board.
> >
>
> Is there an organization plan to Chernev's "The 1000 Best Short Games of
> Chess"?
>
> In the Foreword to the book, he lists games by several themes, but the games
> are all over the place.
>
> The index is of player only. It would be helpful if there were an opening
> index.
>
> I've given myself a great idea, I'll make one. That task should in itself be
> a good learning experience and require me to evaluate each game on its merits.
>
> Chernev must have had an organizational plan when he work on the book and wrote
> the notes. It wold be interesting to know what was in his mind in this regard.
>
> An algebraic edition of this book would also be great for some people.
