I watch them a couple times. I also take notes. For example here Is what I got out of Dan Rensch's "Five Forks You Must Know." What I wrote may be easily remembered stuff, but presenting it to myself in a new way helps me retain the information in my memory (chess.com's comment format changed I, II, III etc. to 1, 2, 3 etc.::
Five Forks You Must Know
- Knight Forks
- Royal Forks: fork a K or Q or R
- Look for forks: then look further if attraction, distraction, etc. needed to make it happen
- Also use Fork threats to attract opponent’s pieces from important squares your other pieces can use
- If you smell blood, there’s a good chance it’s there: consider alternate move orders
- Pawn Forks
- Frequent opportunies to fork minor pieces in center
- even if even-trade, you may open lines for your pieces, giving more space and activity
- Opportunities elsewhere may require attraction, etc.
- Double Attacks
- Q’s, R’s and B’s “forks” are called double attacks, not “forks”
- Tempo Forks
- Recognize opportunities due to opponent’s weaknesses and your powerfully placed pieces
- Double Attack an empty square and a piece to gain a tempo in moving to the empty square – which itself is key to an attack
- Loose Squares and Pieces Forks
- Make the Forking Square loose by clearance
Recognize the loose and mobile pieces
I have been watching a few videos on chess.com (as I am a premium member, but this question relates to everybody who likes watching chess videos, either here or on youtube), and I was wondering how many times you watch a video before you actually feel you have taken it in.
Personally, I watch every video a couple of times to make sure everything sinks in, but even then, I still find myself forgetting some of the things after some time has passed ... so perhaps there might be a better approach to it?
How do you guys do it?