I was recently reading a book on memory, when I recieved this email about a memory game.  I tried the game(test), it's rather addicting.  It will try to estimate the age of your mind.  I went from a 35 year old down to a 20 year old, after about 10 tries.  It's random, so I guess my memory is improving.  The lowest you can get is 20, I did a "print screen" variation of the test, just to check.  Anyway, I would like to begin remembering certain board positions early on in my games, and this seemed to go along with that.  There are so many types of memory. What helps you remember?

http://flashfabrica.com/f_learning/brain/brain.html

i got a 25 on my first try, I like it a lot. Pretty addictive. Just so people know, you are supposed to click on the numbers in order from smallest to largest. I messed up the first puzzle thinking I had to click the number in the bottom right corner.

First try 22, but thats only because theres an almost identical game on the Nintendo DS's Brain Training!

Yeah I pulled off a 22 on my 2nd and 3rd tries.

Im 39...1st try 37yo 2nd 36yo 3rd 31yo Quitting while ahead!

What helps you remember?

I doubt playing this number-memory game will help you remember chess board positions. Check out this page for more on memory:

http://likesforests.blogspot.com/2008/10/memory-chess.html

It discusses the different parts of the brain and role they're believed to play in chess. There are also many neat medical studies on the topic. :)

20 on my first try; seems I'm on track.

I'm 14 and got 55 on my first try!

fischer remembered every move of every game the first tournament he won over 1000 moves in 20 games

If you want to do Chess-memory:

http://www.chessville.com/reviews/Software/ChessMemory.htm

http://aoxomoxoa.ao.funpic.de/

Short answer: experience/practice.

I have an average memory, but lets say I play 10 games at my club one night.  With no special attempt to remember any of the games, 24 hours later I would be able to set up a few key positions from the games from memory, and work though the first 10 or so moves of all of them.  Depending on the length of the game even play though an entire game from memory.

So to answer "what helps you remember" it's a lot like going to the movies and sitting through a 2 hour show.  If someone asked you the next day about the movie, characters, plot, acting, music, etc you'd likely be able to tell them a lot.  Not because of your amazing raw memorization, but because the events and characters were familiar (archetypes like the hero, villain, lover, trickster, etc) the actors were probably familiar and the plot followed a logical path and as long as you remember one event it's easy to remember what came next.

As you gain chess experience the openings will be familiar, the middle game ideas will have a certain character archetype and the moves will follow a logical plot.   I would most likely be unable to set up any position at move 27, but I could work up to it starting from a key position.  Just like if someone asked you "what happened in the movie 2/3rds of the way though you wouldn't know automatically, but would have to think of a reference point and work from there.