Memorizing Chess: Methods and Material

I have read probably all debates about memorizing chess with mnemonics in the forum.
Using some of the ideas that I read and some ideas of mine, I made a method that worked
well so far.
It’s an alternative for the method that “Bangalos” presented
here https://artofmemory.com/forums/what-methods-exist-for-chess-1492.html#comment-
3220 and developed here https://artofmemory.com/forums/my-system-for-random-chess-
pieces-848.html#comment-1618 that, in my opinion, is, by far, the best method presented
so far.
I will talk to you about my method and would appreciate critics(specially the bad ones).
Besides it, I bring up a question about material. Which specialized chess materials do you
use in your memorizations of chess? I use the ECO-code (encyclopaedia of chess
openings), the encyclopaedia of chess endings and the encyclopaedia of chess
combinations/middlegames.
So, my method consists of a A-O (action-object) system with 64 combinations
The 64 A-O represent all squares. (both, the action and the object, are related to the same
square)
So, I associate 2 pieces to each of these series.
Ex: horse (first piece in movement), cutting(action that represents e5 for me ), with an
axe(object that represents e5 for me) square), the queen(piece that develops the second
move).
This image means: white horse going to “cutting” square and then black queen going to axe
square. In the case, the queen won the horse. but if i used another object, the image would
just say that the queen went to that other square after horse going to e5.
If i’m memorising positions, and not movements, then the idea is the same: this image
would means: horse in the the cutting square + queen in the axe square. The only difference
is that i add a modification if both pieces are white or black. ( if were talking of positions,
maybe there are more pieces of one color).
This way, I memorise 2 movements per locus, easy and clean.
Since I use the same images of my P-A-O system in this A-O system, they are easy to
remember.
This system can be used to 2 kinds of chess memorization, as I already said: to movements
or to positions. In the first case, que A-O represents the square where the pieces “move”. In
the second case, A-O represents the square where the pieces “are”.
This is the “basis”. But not the end of the method. Since chess has MANY patterns (tips of
openings, middlegames and variations, I use specific images for them. For example, the
queen’s gambit accepted is just 1 image for me, queen’s gambit neglected with e6 another,
and so on. The use of “special images for long patterns” is a way of advancing with the
method, when you advance in the knowledge of the game. And it’s really easy to remember
those new images. (for languages, in which I used many sillabycal images, there were many
more…)
Bangalos system is good. I used this one because I never learned major system.
So that’s the idea. If you have suggestions of material I would really appreciate it, and if
you have critics, it would be a honor to hear them.
Chess Memory Techniques: A Chess Board
Memory Palace
hirohurl (60)en The Chess Community • hace 11 meses (edited)
Over the past year or so I have been developing a memory system for my chess opening
repertoires for both White and Black using a version of the Major System. I have blogged
about the system here on Hive and also on my personal blog:
https://hive.blog/hive-157286/@hirohurl/my-1-d4-opening-repertoire-mnemonic-memory-
system-and-the-semi-slav-magi
https://davidhurleyinjapan.com/games/chess-training/how-to-create-a-chess-opening-
repertoire-mnemonic-memory-system/
This month I decided to spice things up by creating a chess board memory palace in which
each square is given a placename.
In addition, the pieces would be given names are related to the places they occupy at the
beginning of the game.
The idea is that I will be able to add a lot of vivid imagery and storytelling to my opening
repertoire memory system as extra stimuli to help with recall.
Choosing Placenames for the Squares
I decided to convert the rank number into a consonant using the Major System as a guide:
1 = "t" or "d" (or "th")
2 = "n"
3 = "m"
4 = "r"
5 = "l"
6 = "j" or soft "g" or "dge" or "ch"
7 = "k" or "x" or " hard "g"
8 = "f" or "v"
I decided that locations should begin with the file letter of the square they are naming. So
all the "a" file squares would be given placenames beginning with the letter "A," all the "b"
file squares would be given placenames beginning with "B" and so on.
In the case of places beginning with "C," I avoided soft cs (such as Cirencester for c4) and
chose placenames beginning either with a hard "c" (Coventry for c8) or with a "Ch"
(Chichester for c6).
For the "f" file I chose placenames beginning with "F" or "V" (Vatican for f1, Florence for
f4).
Some combinations were much easier to find names for than others. For some squares there
was a range of good choices, less so for others. Finding placenames for squares on the "a"
rank was easy enough:
a1 = A + t = Athens
a2 = A + n = Antwerp
a3 = A + m = Amsterdam
a4 = A + r = Arras
a5 = A + l = Alamein
a6 = A + soft g = Agincourt
a7 = A + x = Axminster
a8 = A + v = Avalon
Finding names for the "g" file was more of a challenge, however.
Whenever there was a choice, I chose names that meant more to me based on my own
history or my own sense of history. So there are quite a few references to English places,
European places and Japanese places, or to historical (or in one case mythical) places that
mean something to me.
One example is my choice of "Alamein" over "Alamo" for a5. Another preference was for
the little village of Gimmelwald in Switzerland over the island of "Guam" for g3.
I also have to apologize to any French readers for favouring the mythical "Avalon" for the
fine French city of "Avignon" for a8!
Each to his own.
Here is the completed version of the chessboard placename memory palace:

Naming the Back Rank Pieces

I have named all the backrank pieces after people associated with the places
they occupy. I was especially pleased with how coincidentally things
worked out for naming the Kings and Queens.
e1 = Edinburgh = Edward 1st who conquered Edinburgh
d1 = Detling = Eleanor of Castille, wife of Edward 1st. She lived in Leeds
Castle, near Detling, in Kent.
e8 = Evesham = Simon de Montfort, de facto ruler of England until his
defeat by Prince Edward (later Edward 1st) at the Battle of Evesham, 1265.
d8 = Dover = Eleanor de Montfort, wife of Simon de Montfort, who lived
in Dover Castle.
Here is the beginnings of a pictorial version to help impress the placenames
on my memory:

That's enough for one post. I'll give some examples of how it all works to
remember move sequences in a future post!
To conclude, here is a link to a report about how Timur Gareyev broke the
world record for a blindfold simul chess challenge against 48 opponents by
turning memory techniques such as these into mental superpowers!
https://en.chessbase.com/post/memory-techniques-the-chess-equation
David Hurley
#InspiredFocus

Blindfold Chess
1. Inspiration to create this method
I have always wanted to play chess blindfolded, and I had wished for
reliable method for non-GMs and non-Super GMs level chess
enthusiasts to visualise the chessboard properly in the mind , and pull
of an entire game without actually seeing the board.
There is no proper way in which the GMs memorise the chess
positions. They just use their enhanced pattern recognition ability
earned because of years of training they have put in , to retrieve the
chess position effectively in the mind without much effort (unless it
is a bizarre position!).
This kind of basic visualisation of the board is good enough if we
want to play some boards blindfolded. But it fails when we try to
scale it up for many boards being played simultaneously without
sight.
Quote from the Blindfold Simultaneous Player Timur Gareyev
“The essential point of the memory strategy as applied to facing
multiple players blindfolded is to be able to turn moves into images.
In turn, the images belong to various locations along the route you
create in your mind represented by a “memory palace”. The palace is
designed to host images in your mind, which might be your house, a
favorite walk, or even something surreal as a series of constellations,
or human brain. Whatever your choice be a route or a series of
destinations it is essential to strike the right tone so your mind
responds to it properly.
Now, tap into your imagination and turn the various opening moves
into vivid characters. Let’s supposed for the purpose of a large
blindfold simul, you decide to plan out how to remember the
multitude of 33 initial opening moves. To this end you might
associate 1.e4 with an elephant, for 1.d4 you could use the image of a
deer, and as you play 1.c4 on board 9, you might place an image of a
crocodile along the appropriate place in your memory map. After this
volley of the first moves, this gets more complex as you must deal
with the moves your opponents will play. The choice will be to
modify the characters accordingly. Say on board 9, your opponent
responds with 1…e5, you might see a crocodile with a giant ear at
the kitchen sink in your memory palace, or if your opponent
responded with 1…c5, you could visualize a two-headed crocodile to
represent the mirror moves 1.c4 c5.
Timur Gareyev
The universe of memory and imagination is only limited by how
diverse and interesting you want to make it. It does sound a bit
complex and it’s true it takes some practice to apply it. At first you
will need to draw out a clear system to be able to turn moves into
images. You may pick a method of creating space along your
memory map for each individual move. The question is how efficient
that would be considering you may end up playing over 1000 moves
in a big match. Don’t forget you will still have to play out the games
and hopefully win! This bring us back to the greatest secret revealed
to the inspired blindfold champions, one of the tougher parts of the
journey is the beginning of the match. Just like the rocket shot into
space, you’ll experience the most intensity in engaging your memory
to work at the very beginning.”
2. My Method
Since I am not a chess grand master like him, I always like to see the
chess board in 2 parts, and split into various checkpoints or stages of
the game.
Since the opening stage is very crucial as it makes a major fork for
the game move options , we have to prepare the strings before hand
for all the famous openings like Sicilian or English Opening.
The initial string always is always null and it develops as each piece
starts moving from its original square:
White side of the board
Black side of the board

My letter representation for the chess board

After this, it is just having this system in your memorisation system
in your head, and how you continue doing calculations on the board.
The number of checkpoints can gradually be increased in frequency ,
once we are near the endgame stage, since the number of pieces will
be less and scattered.
3. Differences in the two approaches mentioned
Timur’s approach is just adding onto to solid opening images, like
elephant for d4 move, and transforming the image as you go on
playing the game, encoding the image as journey points in your
memory system.
My system tries to divide board in 2 parts , and maintain 2 stories in
our head per board (One from the White side and one from the Black
side) , which can be interpreted as images, and while you want to
calculate or make a move, you can just visualize the board by
acknowledging the presence the pieces on the board as you decode
from your memorised string.
I think this method is more flexible than any other memorisation
methods out there . It is more derived that it takes more time to get
the hang of it. The nature in which we handle the images that we use
to retrieve the string effectively (memory technique), varies as the
stage of game progresses from opening to middle game to end game.
Possible Issues for beginners in this method or beginners in chess
 Once you have a string in your head , you may forget the
number of rooks you have in particular area or number of
knights, thus misinterpreting the string. That’s why you
should reinforce your memorised position with another
visualization technique like spatial intuition , or by seeing
the neighbouring squares.
Order maintained during retrieval of the position : All the Rooks
> Dark Square Bishops > Light Square Bishops > Knights >
Queen > King
The pawns memorised visually via a pattern (the opening essence
(isolated pawn or double pawn structure))for opening stage, and their
individual squares at endgame stage.
 Inability to distinguish the white pieces and black pieces
while retrieving the memorised position.
 If the position gets scattered after the opening playout, we
are unable to make out which string corresponds to white
and which ones to black.
To address this , we can maintain a mental note that : first we analyse
the white pieces in an area ,and then the black pieces in the same
area, and the pawns of White/Black in that area, acting as a
demarcation for both strings.
4. Common openings in chess and converting them to memorised
strings
Now, it is better to prepare this string for few of the openings, so that
you can have a solid visual start.
Some examples of this encoding:
King’s Gambit position
1. e4 e5 2. f4 (White Area :uv (UV rays image)-Black Area: u (Up
side image))
Ruy Lopez position
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 (White Area : ku (kool image)-Black
Area: r nu (Are you new? image))
Giuoco Piano position
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 (White Area : sku (skull image)-
Black Area: snu (SNU college , India))
Sicilian Defense position
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 (White Area :
ntu (NTU university Singapore image)-Black Area: kpm (kilometres
per minute metric image))
French Defense position
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 (White Area : tu (Tulip image)-Black Area: tl
(Turtle image))
Caro-Kann Opening position
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 (White Area : nt u (‘Not you’ situation
image)-Black Area: n (null image))
King’s Indian Defense position
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 (White Area : nst (nasssth ‘finished in
Hindi’ image)-Black Area: gkj(Goku’s jaws image))
5. Checkpointing
We need to assign a frequency as to when we check and validate the
position we have memorised. We do not need to do this after every
move or every ply , but we can do it after a couple of moves.
6. Convert strings into images and store it in our memory palace
We have to create images out of these strings , by using any memory
system out there , which memory athletes use , like the PAO (Person
Action Object) system.
More about the PAO memory system
How To Create A Chess Opening
Repertoire Mnemonic Memory System…

Over the last year or so I have created a Chess Opening Mnemonic

Major Memory System For The 1.d4 Opening Repertoire for the
White chess player. My memory system covers the first few moves
(up to as many as 17 in one case) of 184 opening variations in the
1.d4 opening repertoire.
Here’s a video I made in which I attempt to explain how memory
system works…
The project developed out of my attempt to improve my technique
in the opening when I bought John Watson’s A Strategic Chess
Opening Repertoire for White from Amazon.com just before
heading to the U.K. for the British Chess Championships in
Bournemouth in the summer of 2016.
The Slow Approach to Learning the Openings…
I spent the next couple of years slowly plodding through the book. I
took copious notes of all the variations, with red lines linking the
variations of variations and so on. Progress was slow. Painfully
slow. In fact, by the summer of 2018 when I entered an afternoon
open tournament at the British Chess Championships in Hull, I was
bested by a teenager who responded to my 1.d4 opening with the
Grünfeld Defence. (I posted a rather poor quality video about the
game on YouTube.)
However, it was only when I got back to my hotel room and looked
up the opening in Watson’s tome that I realized what it was. I had
spent two years working through the book but had simply not
absorbed the information well enough to recognise the Grünfeld
Defence the first time I encountered it in a competition.
Let’s Try a Mnemonic Memory System…
So I decided to change my approach and create a truncated version
of each of the variations and plug them into a mnemonic memory
system to hammer them into my addled pate. I spent the next year or
so mining the book and getting the first few moves of each of the
variations into a notebook approximately in the same order as they
appear in John Watson’s book.
Then, over the Christmas and New Year holidays I numbered all the
variations, attached a keyword to each of them, and then copied all
of the variations into two sets of study cards. The keywords are tied
to the number of each variation by using a mnemonic memory
system called the Major System.
184 Opening Variation Study Cards
I’m already feeling the benefit of having the 184 opening variations
available in an easy-to-check format. So far I have learnt the
keywords of the first variation of each of the different defences to
1.d4. I know, for example, that the 36th variation (the “Magi”) is the
first of the five Semi-Slav variations that I have listed before the
Nimzo-Indian kicks in with the 41st card (the “Rat”). However, the
challenge for this year, 2020, is to take the next big step and create
easy-to-remember stories that relate each opening variation to the
keyword that is associated with it.
Once I have achieved that level of familiarity with the openings, I
should be able to tell if my opponent is sticking to one of the plot-
lines or is deviating from it or, as is more likely in the casual chess
scene that I play in most of the time, has simply lost the plot. It
should help me to get well set up in the opening and quite possibly
to enter the middle game with a small but significant advantage, if I
don’t screw things up on the way!
So, how does the mnemonic Major System work?
Introducing Dr. Bruno Furst

Dr. Bruno Furst

Before I answer that question, let me mention how I found out about
it. Back in the late 1970s or early 1980s an American called Dr.
Bruno Furst used to post ads in British newspapers with the
headline, “You Can Remember.”
He was selling a memory course consisting of twelve lessons, a
mnemonic dictionary and one or two other supporting materials. The
sales copy was very well done and it sparked my curiosity, or
whetted my appetite enough for me to buy the course and to work
through several of the lessons. That’s how I learnt the Major
System, although I don’t remember it being referred to by that name
in the course itself.
The Major System
The system works by assigning a consonant to each of the ten digits
of the decimal system, and then assigning a keyword to nine of those
digits. (Zero does not need a keyword as it does not appear alone.)
 1 =T = Tea (or D or Th sounds)
 2 = N = Noah
 3 = M = May
 4 = R = Ray
 5 = L = Law
  6 = J = Jaw (or “-dge” or “Sh” sounds)
 7 = K = Key (or hard “G” sounds)
 8 = F = Fee (or V)
 9 = P = Pea (or B)
 0=S
Vowels and other consonants do not stand for any number or digit.
Instead, they are used to help create words. For example, I found it
difficult to think of an easy-to-remember word for the 166th
variation – T/D/Th + [J/-dge/Sh x 2], but with the help of a spare
“w” I was able to come up with the word “dishwasher, discounting
the “r” at the end as my repertoire has just 184 variations so clearly
does not need to count the fourth digit.
Fixing the First Variation of Each Defensive System
Once I had all the keywords, and had created my 184 study card set,
the first thing I wanted to remember was the sequence of defensive
systems as they occur through the repertoire. Knowing where the
first variation of each defensive system occurs will greatly assist me
in finding my way around the rest of the repertoire. Here’s how it
goes:
 1 = Tea = Queen’s Gambit Declined
 17 = Tack = Queen’s Gambit Accepted
 22 = Nun = Slav Defence
 30 = Mouse = Marshall Defence
 36 = Magi = Semi Slav Defence
 41 = Rat = Nimzo Indian Defence
 51 = Lute = King’s Indian Defence
 55 = Lily = Grünfeld Defence
 61 = Jet = Benoni systems
 86 = Fish = Dutch Defence
 100 = Theseus = Budapest Defence
 107 = Desk = Fajarowicz Gambit
 119 = Hot-tub = …d6 + …g6 Systems
 122 = Don Juan = …d6 + …Nf6 Systems (added to this
list in 2021)
 129 = Watanabe = Old Indian Defence
  130 = Thames = Modern Defence
 140 = Trees = English Defence
 149 = Turbot = Bogo Indian/English Hybrid
 154 = Hitler = 1..Nf6 2…b6 Systems
 160 = Duchess = Black Knights Tango
 166 = Twitchy Witch= 1…Nc6
 171 = St. George Defence
 174 = Digger = 1…b5 2…Bb7?!
 175 = Tickle = 1…Nf6 2…a6
 177 = Teacake = The Englund Gambit
This sequence is probably best recalled by placing each word in a
memory palace. It also helps to notice sequential patterns such as the
2,1,2,1,2,1 pattern of inital letters that runs from Tea and Tack
through to Jet: T, T, N, M, M, R, L, L, J.
#36 The Magi – Or How The Star Leads Me To The 4…f5
Variation of the Semi-Slav
In the video I demonstrate how the keyword serves not only to
locate a variation in the sequence, but also to trigger a story that is
tied to the actual sequence of moves in the specific variation. As we
are in the middle of the Ephiphany season I use the 36th variation
(the “Magi”) as an example. It is the first of a series of Semi-Slav
variations and goes like this:
So here is the story of the Magi told in such a way that it will help
me to remember the move order of the 36th variation in my
sequence.
1. d4 d5
2. c4 c6
3. Nc3 e6
4. e3 f5
5. g4 fxg4
6. Qxg4
6. … Nf6
7. Qg2
The standard 1.d4 opening…
3…e6 takes us into the Semi-Slav.
4. e3 = the 3rd of the 3 Wise Men (the d4, c4 & e3 pawns). The star
appears as an f5 comet, which gives off some light at g4, goes dark
again and then…
it illumines the sky as the Queen of Heaven. It is so bright that the
dark knight, Herod comes out to have a look.
The star descends right over the stable where the g1 horse is by the
manger.
On the Role of Memory Systems in Chess
There are plenty of chess players and experts out there who will tell
you that you should not focus on remembering opening sequences. It
is certainly the case that you need to spend a lot of your study time
developing your technique in the middle and endgame.
The only thing is, many of the experts who depreciate the role of
memory systems already have a large repertoire of variations stored
up in their memories through the experience of playing and studying
the game intensively over many years.
For amateur and casual players such as myself (aka the
#PubChessBluffer ), devoting a bit of time to creating some kind of
repertoire memory system as I am attempting to do here with White
(and later this year with Black as well), seems to me to be a useful
way to make swifter progress and to eliminate early losses due to
naive set up mistakes.
Of course, we should also be studying the other stuff, and part of my
study syllabus is to move on at some stage to a closer study of
Jeremy Silman’s books, How to Reassess Your Chess, The Amateur
Mind and Silman’s Complete Endgame Course.
In the meantime, I’m having a blast trying to exercise my memory
by dusting off methods I first studied several decades ago thanks to
the methods I learned by studying Dr. Bruno Furst’s course, You
Can Remember!