Memorising opening lines.

How should one go about memorising opening lines once they have significantly progressed in the game of chess? What memorisation techniques have worked best for you or others you know of? Obviously players that are not ready for this should concentrate on ideas and principles.

Hi.

I used to memorize forced lines by writing them down in a notebook and then trying to repeat them on the board. Nowadays there are other digital approaches, like this modern and polished version of that method here.

I tried a method that worked well while I was using it last year: When I went to bed at night I would mentally play through the lines I had been studying on my computer (I keep a repertoire file for this) before I went to bed. It helped when I knew why a move was being played, or when I could put it in a larger context (like part of a "monarch door" common 3-move sequence). In general, the more associations you have with a line, the easier it is to remember it. The main drawback I experienced is that unless I reviewed lines like that frequently, I would forget the details several months later.

You mention a very interesting point about when to study the lines, I remember having better results in university whenever I did something just before going to bed.

Here is an interesting study to backup your advice and my experience

About forgetting lines, you are not the only one, I think everyone will forget something if he doesn't review it every now and then.

This is what the opening books do not tell you.

It is all very well having an opening book filled with long lines that as often as not need a narrow path of correct moves to gain an advantage, but if you cannot remember them (and you wont) then it is worse than useless.

I use my opening books on daily play, then last week I went to the club, and someone played this line where I was supposed to have an advantage. Could I remember the move, could i Bollocks.  So ended up half way down this complicated line not knowing what the feck i was doing.

Which is why the sensible ones tell you it ideas that are important, not variations. Take your ideas and work out the moves over the board, have the right framework and you will be fine, and avoid all the complicated garbage that was probably all dreampt up on an engine.

Having a position you understand is far more important than having one you dont that is supposedly better. In the heat of battle whoever understands the position best will triumph not the one who remembers like a parrot

Even GMs lose games from mixing up their lines, so much to remember

In a 2006 GM John Nunn book, in connection with opening study, it is stated that, if a "book contains illustrative games, it is worth playing these over first", and the reader was also advised, "To begin with, only study the main lines - that will cope with 90% of your games, and you can easily fill in the unusual lines later."
"... I feel that the main reasons to buy an opening book are to give a good overview of the opening, and to explain general plans and ideas. ..." - GM John Nunn (2006)
In one of his books about an opening, GM Nigel Davies wrote (2005), "The way I suggest you study this book is to play through the main games once, relatively quickly, and then start playing the variation in actual games. Playing an opening in real games is of vital importance - without this kind of live practice it is impossible to get a 'feel' for the kind of game it leads to. There is time enough later for involvement with the details, after playing your games it is good to look up the line."
https://www.chess.com/article/view/3-ways-to-learn-new-openings

no need for memorization, just understanding of position, and avoid sharp lines if possible. Like say in the Ruy Lopez, go for the easy exchange variation, very little theory on that, I think

@triggerlips, I seem to remember a Nakamura vs So game in the London Chess Classic 2016, where Naka made a horrible mix up in the move order of his preperation. So steamrolled Naka soon after.

OP, have a google for "chess position trainer". There's a free download, which I'd guess is a trial version, and there's a few you tube videos about it. 

928 blitz is above and beyond

Thanks for the reference. That article's abstract mentions:

"At 24 hr retest, with all subjects having received both a full night of sleep and a full day of wakefulness, we found that memory was superior when sleep occurred shortly after learning rather than following a full day of wakefulness."

I have a background in A.I. and I've studied the brain and learning, though admittedly by now I don't remember how I discovered that trick, since I don't explicitly remember reading it anywhere. One thing I did learn long ago is that dreams are highly affected by what you've seen or thought about before you go to bed, therefore I learned not to watch a documentary on spiders, or a horror movie before going to bed, for example. For good dreams I'll look at pictures of places I like, watch an inspiring documentary, or listen to inspiring music. In any event, it is known that sleep is the period when what you've learned during the day is consolidated into longer term memory, so if you want to put chess lines into longer term memory, it makes sense to have them fresh in your mind for your subconscious to work on during sleep.

By the way, here's that 3-move sequence I mentioned, which allows a person to remember three moves in a one single chunk ("monarch-door-sequence"):

Speaking of the Ruy Lopez and memorization, that reminds me of a quote I saw a couple days ago:

----------

(p. 16)

Question: Why not play the Ruy Lopez as White?

Answer: The Ruy is a terrific opening, just so long as you possess a photographic memory!

You must deal with myriad lines like the Marshall Gambit, Breyer, Chigorin, and a million

other lines, as well as their subsets. The benefit of the Symmetrical Four Knights Spanish is

that we corner Black into a Lopez-like position where we only need to study a few positions,

all with the same Lopez Structure.

Note that games are often out of the "book" somewhere around move 7.  Consequently it's more important to understand the ideas behind the variation you're playing than the specific moves.

For example, a big idea for Black in the Caro-Kann is to get the QB outside of the pawn chain before it becomes your bad bishop when you play ...e6, -then trade it off at the first opportunity. This removes a lot of crowding behind the pawn wall that occurs, where you usually try to post a N at d5 because White's pawn at d4 is often isolated.  So I look for an early opportunity to put the QB at f5 or g4 and try to trade-off White's e and c pawns.  If that's not exactly the book but fits in with general opening principles, that's ok.

If you really want to memorize them, you can set up several freebie chess programs to follow certain book news and then play variations at various points.

It is good, though to go over your games and see if you missed something.  Personally, I like to play a game against a computer in analysis mode, for example in the freebie Lucas Chess, where the top ten choices of the computer for each move are given by Deepfish 7 - or Stockfish 8 or any other engine you install.

That way, I can go back to the opening book or survey books like Nunns Chess Openings or Fundamental Chess Openings and look at any information on each move as well as WHY the move was made and what the ideas behind that variation of the opening are.  Those things help cement the ideas in my mind.

If your profile is true, and your record in blitz is a serious record, then I guarantee that this question is one you will never ever have to ask yourself. 

I memorised games before openings.
The link that follows is the game every chess player worth his salt knows:
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1233404

The thing with memorising openings is most of the players below Fide 1900 are out of the book by move eight.

I used to play through the variations again and again.
Just before going to sleep I tried to see the variation in my mind.
I can manage about 20 moves but it depends on opening.
In this Ruy Lopez line for example I reach move 11. (as white) before I even start.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4

#22. Depends which hell kitchen you live in.
As black I like 1. e5 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 c5xd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2
Trust me you want the nice comfort blanket of many memorised variations.

Study your games with an engine, or better, with the help of higher rated players (the game analysis section of this forum is your friend). I you can understand a good move, you will not forget it, or at least (even better actualllly) you will be able to reproduce it when needed. Same for bad moves and avoing/refuting them.

If you just "memorize" lines, this is what will happen to you :

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/losing-when-following-book-moves

As far as I know, this is true at any level.

from my experience,openings are not just about memorisation,it is also about thinking ahead,lets say you are a aggressive player,you would want to play an opening which puts all your pieces onto active squares,in which sound sacrifices are an option,as apposed to a passive/positional player who just wants to play an easy game with powerful pieces,who is looking to crush his oponent through his positional crushing position.

Lol