Memorizing games - Chess Forums

Iwillbeforgotten

Apr 4, 2017

0

#1

can my rating improve by memorizing games? I have memorized two games of GMs the paricular opening is where they helped most, but I believe they also improved my visualizing. I sometimes, without a board go through the game and visualize the spatial distance (amount of squares) in between peices and analyze why certain moves are bad. my calculations have become clearer while doing tactics. there was not a huge improvement but it was noticable. will this continue to help me, or is it just because it was my first few games to memorize? One of them was Paul morphy vs Duke of brunswick, the other is called the immortal game. any thoughts? what is your experience with memorizing games?

The_Chin_Of_Quinn

Apr 4, 2017

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#2

Iwillbeforgotten wrote:

or is it just because it was my first few games to memorize?

That's my guess, yes. Doing new training things like this forces you to develop new skills. IMO memorizing games isn't a good long term study habit.

Iwillbeforgotten wrote:

what is your experience with memorizing games?

I memorized some Fischer games once. I didn't notice that it helped at all. Ended up being a waste of time for me. Seeing games is great. Taking the time to memorize them not so much.

fuzzbug

Apr 4, 2017

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#3

If you'd like to learn to memorize chess games, IM David Pruess has a few videos on how to do it:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCSLcYMvj-sE4qGI6BNstL8zCqNRVOc-K

kindaspongey

Apr 4, 2017

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#4

Iwillbeforgotten wrote:

... I have memorized two games of GMs ... there was not a huge improvement but it was noticable. will this continue to help me, or is it just because it was my first few games to memorize? One of them was Paul morphy vs Duke of brunswick, the other is called the immortal game. any thoughts? what is your experience with memorizing games?

It can certainly be fun to learn a few famous games, but I do not think that it is generally respected as an efficient improvement method.

Iwillbeforgotten

Apr 4, 2017

0

#5

The_Chin_Of_Quinn wrote:

Iwillbeforgotten wrote:

or is it just because it was my first few games to memorize?

That's my guess, yes. Doing new training things like this forces you to develop new skills. IMO memorizing games isn't a good long term study habit.

Iwillbeforgotten wrote:

what is your experience with memorizing games?

I memorized some Fischer games once. I didn't notice that it helped at all. Ended up being a waste of time for me. Seeing games is great. Taking the time to memorize them not so much.

That makes a lot of sense. At my level I don't think it would be a complete waste of time to learn a few more fundamental games

kindaspongey

Apr 4, 2017

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#6

By the way, I do not think that the GM title was in general use in the Anderssen-Morphy days.

Iwillbeforgotten

Apr 4, 2017

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#7

The_Chin_Of_Quinn wrote:

Iwillbeforgotten wrote:

or is it just because it was my first few games to memorize?

That's my guess, yes. Doing new training things like this forces you to develop new skills. IMO memorizing games isn't a good long term study habit.

Iwillbeforgotten wrote:

what is your experience with memorizing games?

I memorized some Fischer games once. I didn't notice that it helped at all. Ended up being a waste of time for me. Seeing games is great. Taking the time to memorize them not so much.

I'll stick with tactics and fundamental endgames then. thanks for the input (:

The_Chin_Of_Quinn

Apr 4, 2017

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#8

No problem.

If you find something like this that you can do every day and it stays fun or exciting, then go for it. Seeing a few games a day (or week) over a long period of time is a good long term habit. If memorizing them is what makes it fun then that's great.

But yeah, if you were forcing yourself to do it in hopes of a magic bullet type of training then I'd stick to the usual stuff like you said.

StephenCorelli

Apr 4, 2017

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#9

If you want to improve your visualization, just play blindfolded.

i can play a 40+ move game blindfolded before I start blundering worse than my opponent

Iwillbeforgotten

Apr 4, 2017

0

#10

The_Chin_Of_Quinn wrote:

No problem.

If you find something like this that you can do every day and it stays fun or exciting, then go for it. Seeing a few games a day (or week) over a long period of time is a good long term habit. If memorizing them is what makes it fun then that's great.

But yeah, if you were forcing yourself to do it in hopes of a magic bullet type of training then I'd stick to the usual stuff like you said.

Short tactical games by strong player are very fun. I'm always discovering new lines and tactics and refutations I want to look at. I memorize them by familiarity with circumstances and effects of certain moves. been playing chess for a couple months now, it's been totally awesome!!!

Iwillbeforgotten

Apr 4, 2017

0

#11

StephenCorelli wrote:

If you want to improve your visualization, just play blindfolded.

i can play a 40+ move game blindfolded before I start blundering worse than my opponent

How? I eventually just get frustrated I don't often make it through middle game without losing track. 40 + ? imo the game would get simpler with less peices on the board. still impressive! you probably meant that it rarely happens that you blunder. I tried it once. had a tough time getting to 15 -20 moves.