GM Pontus Carlsson on Memorizing Openings, Meeting Young Magnus, Chess2Change, Ding-Gukesh & more

[@seop1721]

The memory expert interview would be really interesting. With a psychology background, I took an interest in memory for many years (but not as a memory competitor). Techniques, like the method of loci, using a travel route, or the major memory system (which turns numbers into key images) might work. E.g., here the GM says 7.g4. So 7 is a ‘K’ or hard ‘c’, in the major memory system and 4 is an ‘r’. We can now make a word with kgr, such as cougar (a hard c), or three words, like keep going right. So remembering the word or phrase will remind us of the key move. Or a memory rhyme or shape system, such as 7 is a cliff (based on shape). So we might imagine ourselves on a cliff and then we see some blood (gore). This gives us 7.g4. The major memory system is better as it can go to 100+ moves easily. It’s standard in using that system that you create your own images from 1 to 100. I suspect using it for plys would be good. Odd numbers are white, even are black, so long variations can be memorised and their move number too. (It would require an image per chess square added to an image per number. C4 might be a car, for example. This is the same approach as with memorising cards, with 4 of clubs being C4 = car. If we wanted to memorise the order of the cards, we would slot into a system that orders in a sequence.) Sounds complicated, but easy to do. I’m not sure if it’s the best way, though. But it could conceivably be used for long concrete variations when other ways fail. I suspect it might be helpful at top GM level, in very concrete variations. But that’s a big ‘might’. As always, understanding is the best route to memory, but many people use mnemonics when the reams of dry data is substantial. So it might have an application. Top blindfold players certainly used such methods. Just some random info! :)

[@perpetualchesspodcast9143]

Thanks for the info! :)