Chess is fun
Is Chess anything more than memorization?
If you study thousands of Master's games, it may look you neither understand or memorize a lot. But your Instincts and Intuition in finding good moves are strong.
Computers can indeed beat humans at chess, but it's rapid calculation instead of memorization.
They do need considerable amounts of RAM to work properly.
Remember when Karpov lost to a Moscow taxi driver in 30 moves. "How did you do that?", asked the champion. "Easy, I was told the goal of the game was capture the tallest piece, I just do that"
Hmmm, sounds fishy.
Mensa IQ and only a 700 rated player?
Ai - yi - yi.
I think it proves my point. There's a good chance that I have had more natural intelligence than the people who have beaten me and caused my score to get so low, yet they beat me with techniques memorized from playing and watching youtube. Is that not the exact point I was trying to make?
You need both memory and skill (for example, in spotting tactics, calculating and being aware of the whole board). At your level you need more tactical skills, when you "exhaust" that, you then proceed to memorize openings, very specific traps and tactics and so on.
I'll agree with the "learning how not to lose" part. I'm being matched against people now who are in the 700's and they rarely make the same mistakes the people in the 600's do, and it's much tougher for me, so as soon as I get into the 700's, I go back down to the 600's. Which is depressing. Why? Because as soon as I learn how to deal with these people, I'll get matched against people with an 800 rating and I'll start losing all over again.
There's just too many pieces to deal with.
There isn't that much of a difference in 100 elo points.
Chess is not just about memorization, it is about understanding, thinking, and planning. It is important to know typical patterns, games, and positions. However, it is equally important to have a structured thought process to apply this knowledge in chess positions.
One such process is described here - https://www.chess.com/blog/nikaashpuriwh/data-driven-thinking-applying-the-chicago-approach-to-chess
Thanks guys, I realize I was wrong to think that way. I think the quote above from kaukasar from GM Yasser Seirawan hits the nail on the head.
https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/movesahead.html