Many of us have crammed for exams, burning the midnight oil, drinking gallons of coffee, taking the morning test, all with the brilliant plan of forgetting everything memorized a few days later. Stupid, but we have done it.

I've heard of studies done to figure out how many times the brain needs to see something so that it can be retrieved at any time in one's life at the drop of a hat, with no further review required.

Anyone know what the number of repetitions is required for something to stick forever? How often per day, and for how many days, until things such as tactical and mating patterns stick in our squishy grey matter, available for instant recall?

I have no idea how many times I saw the patterns below, but I do know that I will never forget them. 10, 100, 1000 times?

Imediately after watching a chess.com video on C31: King's Gambit: Falkbeer Countergambit, Nimzowitsch-Marshall Countergambit, I was lucky enough to see the King's Gambit the next day in Live Chess, and won by checkmate in 9 moves.  Even before the chess.com video on this defense for Black, I knew the winning pattern, and again, I'm not sure how many times I saw it, but I just know I won't forget it.

Wow! I solved the first one in less than ten seconds.


Of course, I've taught it to youth players dozens of times. I've also seen it played in youth tournaments. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition