How many moves deep is your longest memorized opening line?

Created on Mon, 06/29/2009.

How many moves deep is your longest memorized opening line?

Comments:

by Muzio5 - 4 months ago
--- Wales
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 94

Mine is over 30 moves, in the Yugoslav dragon.

by h777 - 4 months ago
Vancouver Canada
Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 7324

How many moves deep is your longest memorized opening line?

  • I don't spend time memorizing opening lines (16%)
  • 1-3 moves (7%)
  • 3-5 moves (28%)
  • 6-10 moves (23%)
  • 10-15 moves (14%)
  • more than 15 moves (12%)
Thank you! 142 votes cast.
by h777 - 4 months ago
Vancouver Canada
Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 7324

#2! 1-3 moves.

I don't memorize a lot in my games!

by ih8sens - 4 months ago
Sudbury, Ontario Canada
Member Since: Jan 2008
Member Points: 2763

Lol wow... I have several over 15 =S ... chess nerd! :P

by bobobbob - 4 months ago
Dallas, Texas United States
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 695

I find unsound gambits very interesting and memorize them 10-15 moves deep!

by Triple_A - 4 months ago
Texas United States
Member Since: Apr 2009
Member Points: 1612

mine is like 9 moves deep Scandinavian Defense

by littleAlekhine - 4 months ago
Stuttgart Germany
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 203

lol If you play the Najdorf with black, game often begin around move 12 or so^^

by chesspro8 - 4 months ago
athens Greece
Member Since: Mar 2009
Member Points: 653

i know 15 moves of theory in openings that i don't even play Cool

by Syntax_error - 4 months ago
Nowhere Canada
Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 80

I mostly remember 10 moves around for the normal openings I play (ounce I get above 2000 I will study way more) but one Italian line goes around 30 moves deep (all of the moves are forced).

by rich - 4 months ago
My Home United Kingdom
Member Since: Jul 2007
Member Points: 22438

Mine is 11 moves long with the Trompowsky.

by bagpuss56 - 4 months ago
Leeds England
Member Since: Jul 2008
Member Points: 101

I proudly got to move 17 as black in the French Defence, Milner-Barry Gambit once, only to discover that my opponent knew it to move 20 - and I lost!

by sstteevveenn - 4 months ago
Wales United Kingdom
Member Since: Dec 2007
Member Points: 1613

"Mine is over 30 moves, in the Yugoslav dragon."

lol, how many after 2.c3? Tongue out

by jlueke - 4 months ago
Saint Paul United States
Member Since: Mar 2009
Member Points: 111

How could you not know at least 1 move? Foot in mouth

by varal - 4 months ago
Canada
Member Since: Mar 2009
Member Points: 32

If you never studied opening, you don't really know to play e4 instead of h4.

by Drecon - 4 months ago
Groningen Netherlands
Member Since: Oct 2008
Member Points: 208

I'm terrible at remembering the book lines. I know the first three moves for a lot of openings, but after that it's just strategy and insight that drives my moves (and sometimes the opening database)... The most I know is Pirc for black, exactly five moves.

But to be honest, at 16-1800 level  the opponents vary so much with the things they do that remembering lines is hardly worth the effort.

by wiseguy00 - 4 months ago
Ireland
Member Since: Mar 2009
Member Points: 224

I don't spend time memorising opening lines, but I do know openings a few moves deep (3-5) just from seeing master games etc.

by Jpatrick - 4 months ago
Pennsylvania United States
Member Since: Jul 2008
Member Points: 192

Understand, don't memorize.   If you understand what's going on, then it's a lot easier to know what moves to make.

by Ketamine - 4 months ago
Littleton, Colorado United States
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 21

Jpatrick wrote:

"Understand, don't memorize.   If you understand what's going on, then it's a lot easier to know what moves to make."

That's the only right answer. You can memorize a bunch of gambits (each of which can be defeated if attacked properly) or you can actually understand chess and defeat them all through fundamentally good play.

Gambits are just tricks. Real players understand the holistic concepts, and don't need to "memorize" their "stunts."

No, I don't think I'm a good player. I do think I'm better than a lot of players that have higher ratings than me though, and I think that understanding the game itself rather than memorizing a bunch of facades will make me better in the long run.

by Ketamine - 4 months ago
Littleton, Colorado United States
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 21

Case in point. This game this person used a gambit and it caught me off guard because I didn't react to it well (I'm not familiar with it):

http://www.chess.com/livechess/game.html?id=22982009

The second game though, I pretty much slapped him like a hooker when he tried it again:

http://www.chess.com/livechess/game.html?id=22982790

He knew a gambit, not how to play chess, and in the end I got more points than he did. I'm better than him, even though he's memorized a good opening.

by Ketamine - 4 months ago
Littleton, Colorado United States
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 21

Err... "Opening."

Not "gambit."

I like the word "gambit" so I use it a lot, sometimes when it's not the right word.

by tornadofdoom - 4 months ago
Northeast United States
Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 253

No offense Ketamine, but

1) It's not much of an achievement to beat a 1000 rated player (yes, I know I'm rated 1000 but I timed out on 20 games at once a few weeks ago because I needed to study for finals)
2) That's not really an opening anybody knows. It's not an opening. It's some unsound thing that the guy (or girl) invented.

Otherwise, good points.


Yea, I use the najdorf, so I memorize that far in.

by sstteevveenn - 4 months ago
Wales United Kingdom
Member Since: Dec 2007
Member Points: 1613

ketamine I dont understand what you are talking about.  He doesn't seem to have memorised any opening at all although he seems to do a similar thing aiming for the same kind of weird structure.  Also, I don't think either game was lost in the opening as such, although they were lost early.  In both games, which were quite different although your opponent was trying for a similar setup in each case, the games were lost due to bad chess moves, nothing to do with understanding an opening or even opening principles. 

by OpeningGambit - 4 months ago
England
Member Since: Jan 2009
Member Points: 4735

Interesting mix.

OGSmile

by Ketamine - 4 months ago
Littleton, Colorado United States
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 21

Oh, okay. Like I said I don't memorize openings, so it looked like a pre-set thing to me. My mistake. It certainly had a pattern to it and I did fall right into it the first time, so I thought it was a pre-planned thing.

My mistake.

And yeah, he's rated low - now. I had a hand in that. At the time he was a 1321, though, so it obviously worked on a few people.

by kid_of_chess - 4 months ago
Ottawa,Ontario Canada
Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 5556

10-15 moves (12%)

for a line in the budapest

if i play the halloween, i might have to memorize some more

by fredreetta - 4 months ago
Esperance Australia
Member Since: May 2009
Member Points: 16

i  have a memory like a siv... i would memorize if i could but i cant so i dont... its as simple as thatLaughing

by prittyinpink90 - 4 months ago
miami United States
Member Since: Jul 2009
Member Points: 2508

well i could memorize any move... but only if i look at them individually, which is pretty easy for meInnocent

by crazy_attack - 3 months ago
sunnyvale United States
Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 1155

Sicilian Dragon as White!!!

by crazy_attack - 3 months ago
sunnyvale United States
Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 1155

10-15

by crazy_attack - 3 months ago
sunnyvale United States
Member Since: Sep 2008
Member Points: 1155

I like memorizing things

by sabusbiji - 3 months ago
kollam,kerala India
Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 229

it is suprising these much people memoring the moves!!!!! but i cant

by qpalzm-blue - 3 months ago
United States
Member Since: Jul 2009
Member Points: 45

I dont like studying chess!?


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