Is it OK to use notes (e.g. opening lines) when you play on-line chess?

I got the idea to prepare some openings in order to improve my play in the very start of the games. I'm a real beginner (1000 rapid and my memory really suck, almost Alzheimer level) so its only a few moves.

I couldn't find anything on this in the fair play police, I did not read it that careful but  I only remember that it referred to using engines. So my question is

a) would I violate the rules

and

b) do you think that it is "morally" OK? Because if that's the general view that it is not, I wouldn't do it regardless if it's against the policy or not.

On the same subject, do you think it's OK that someone helps you? Here I have my own clear opinion, sometimes my kids (who are much better chess players than me) watch me play and want to give me advice but I always tell them not to because it wouldn't feel right (towards myself or my opponents). And in principal I think it's really the same as cheating with an engine, do you agree?

Daily, yes.  Live, no.  And no getting help from anyone in either format.  Have fun!

How can you remember you have almost Alzheimer memory?

I don´t really understand the question, but I was not totaly serious about alzheimer. But in every day life, I am (in-)famous for having a poor memory, I forget things all the time which often meeses up my life.

When it comes to chess I am a beginner and I basically suck at chess any way you look at it, but if it is something that I am particulary bad at, it is learning from my mistakes. 

But maybe someone has a good tip on how to be better at memorizing lines? In the very early opening stage, there are some moves that I know will put me in a poor position, but I still find myself in those same positions over and over.

If I can´t see and understand the logic behind a move, I find it very dificult to memorize it. And fif I don´t have the required skills to do the calculations needed in order to find the moves that avoid me getting there, it becomes really problematic.

Of course I will learn and improve sooner or later if I continue playing chess, but I think it would be more fun if I could quicker learn a few solid openings and defenses so that I increase my chances to end up in a solid middle game position. 

As the others have said, looking at opening preparation or opening explorer is not allowed in live games (it is allowed in daily chess if there is no engine involved).

Don't memorize at a novice level. You would be wasting time. Your opponents will generally not play known main lines anyway. Let's say you memorize 15 move line in Sicilian Najdorf poisoned pawn variation as black. Opponents at 900 level will deviate on move 2 or 3 pretty frequently, or even if they go into open Sicilian, they will play first 3-4 moves and then play something off beat. You would spend a lot of time to memorize one line, then you would spend more on the other and you would play a lot of different stuff based on your opponent's responses, and thwen you would forget some lines. So, on 950 rapid level, that is a waste of time and you might find it boring and tiresome. 

Chess is somewhat the game of memorization, but only for very good players, and I mean very very good players. Even players rated 2 000 don't have to go crazy on the memorization. They have to know something but the primary thing is that they play good chess.

At 900 level you first need to learn the basics. Try not to hang pieces outright in equal positions and follow opening principles and develop as fast as you can. That is all you need to get to say 1 200. Then , when you and your opponent do not hand over wins to one another you will have to learn a bit more tactics and some strategy and some endgames (learning a bit about endgames is beneficial at any level basically). Let's say that will get you to roughly to 1 500- 1 600 (and this is not written in stone).  By that time you will know what opening variations you play, and you will know let's say 4-8 moves in the openings you play. Then you will get more into opening stuff, but you will not really memorize on purpose like he plays this then I play this.... You will review master games in openings you play and you will try to notice some tactics that can happen and you will try to figure out strategy plans associated with the opening you play. That way you will know if pushing c pawn or a minority attack is what is thematic for that opening and what do you need to do before you achieve that plan... By doing all that, learning about strategy, reviewing games in the openings you play, you will memorize something along with that. 


You can study at your leisure but only when you can keep yourself from throwing games to one move blunders.

Memorizing opening lines is for the advanced players, and you are still pretty far from it. The most you should do, but not before you get blunders under check is to play a game and review the opening with some opening explorer and see where did you and your opponent deviate from the opening, and try to memorize a move for some other occasion.

At your level you do not need to memorize a lot of openings. All you need to commit to memory is the first few moves of the most common openings and for the rest just concentrate on applying solid opening principles: development, fight for the center, king safety.

Memorizing a lot of lines is counter productive if you do not fully understand the reasoning behind the moves and do not know what to do when your opponent deviates from the line you memorized (and that will happen all the time at your level).

Your time is much better spent on tactics. Under 1000 games are not lost because you were outplayed in a theoretical opening duel. Games are typically lost by making simple tactical blunders.

How to learn opening principles? 

Lasker formulated 4 opening principles:

1) Play only your e- and d- pawns
2) Play knights before bishops
3) Do not play the same piece twice
4) Do not pin the KN with your QB before the opponent has castled

There are exceptions to all 4 principles, but if you follow these, then you are fine.

i take them while practicing and i tell my opponent that i am taking notes

Yeah exactly but I have problems even remembering the very first few moves on the most common openings. But I will give it another try and I think it might work if I spend a little more time and try to understand the logic and reason behind each move (not just memorize it), then I will have a better chance to remember the moves.

a. If it's in live chess, yes. No outside resources are allowed in live chess whether it be an engine, notebook, or someone next to you telling you which moves to play

b. To me it feels like bringing a study guide to an exam. I promise your opponents know just as little as you, else you would have drastically different ratings, so just play the best you can. Games are rarely decided in the opening at your level anyway

In live chess, it's not allowed, in daily, it is

"you are not allowed to use notes such as opening book in live"

as if you had enough time to open and read an opening book during live

chess.com has its own explorer "book" though, which is what i think they were talking about. it doesn't take much time to just open a link to see what the best move in a certain opening is, especially in rapid

Live games do not allow the use of any resources other than your brain.

https://support.chess.com/article/648-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-fair-play-on-chess-com

What if you have a chip that is implanted in your brain which regulates body temperature, blood flow and circulation, sugar levels, and has Stockfish 14? Are you saying we must die in order to play chess?

Then you are a cyborg of sorts. You can play chess in this competition:

https://www.chess.com/computer-chess-championship

What is that you refer to as "live chess"? 

rapid, blitz, and bullet

Basically everything except daily chess.