Is practicing openings with theory open in another tab considered cheating?

Hi! Pretty new to chess so I am unsure about this situation.

So I want to practice openings. But just reading about it doesn't really make it "stick" for me. As soon as I'm in the game I forget what to do and it is definitly the weakest part of my game at the moment.

What I would want is to practice with opening theory open in another tab, like chess.com's "openings" thing. But I don't want to do that since I really feel like it would be cheating. Is playing against bots the only solution for this? Is there an "unranked" mode you can play where this would be okay? I don't really know how to practice effectively

How do you practice openings?

I wouldnt do it in a live rated games. One way is to look up for a partner maybe on for beginners forum and you can help each other gain practice by playing friendly unrated games and he knows you are using some help. There is also an option to play unrated games but I dont know is it okay to play like that there. I also heard that in daily games you can use those kind of help as long engines dont get involved. That would be the best way for you to practice some openings since you get a lot of time to think and can look at books, but again Im also not 100% sure about this last one so before you try it you might wanna check that out. I hope this respond was atleast a bit helpful.

It's fine in Daily, cheating in Live.

Yeah that's what I thought and I'm not gonna risk it, I'm just gonna use the bots i think. But it's interesting at least. Like, where do you draw the line? Can i make notes about openings and theory and use that while playing? Using books while playing. etc. Where is the line drawn? Morally it feels like cheating since its rated games, but like how else do you practice. How do the pros do it?

Thanks for the response

This should answer your questions...

https://support.chess.com/article/648-what-do-i-need-to-know-about-fair-play-on-chess-com

Ah thank you! I was looking for something like this but couldn't find anything. This pretty much covers everything.

Seems like it is okay in unranked games. If i understand the article correctly?

MFStarboi asked:

Seems like it is okay in unranked games. If i understand the article correctly?

They won't close your account for it, but good sportsmanship requires you to have permission from your opponent.  At least that's what I've been led to believe.  Probably best to stick to Daily games or play against the bots if you are using anything other than your mind.