memorization

I keep hearing over and over that memorization is one of the main keys to get better at chess.  Fischer, messege boards, etc..

My question is, WHAT do I memorize exactly?  And why would it benefit me since nobody follows main lines more than a few moves because I'm still at an ameteur level.  Thanks.

From what I hear it is you first learn what makes moves good and bad ,how to evaluate etc, then the rest is all memorization , probably wrong just an idea though .

They're probably talking about memorizing opening books. As you mentioned, it's a case of rapidly diminishing returns, since the number of possible moves expand fast, so you spend increasingly more time memorizing moves at the same time each of those moves becomes increasingly less likely to ever be played against you. If you're a pro, you can win a good number of games against lower level players by outbooking your opponent--*if* you know how to exploit various nonbook moves--but most of us don't have the time to get heavily into memorization. The other place where memorization can start to become important again is in endgames, especially with unusual piece combinations like Q versus R, or tricky mates like B + N against a lone king, though it's only the opening moves that I ever hear that people memorize.

Depending on the context, that advice can be basically true or a load of crap.

Stronger players know more patterns and positions for sure, but the main way of gaining these is playing long games and analyzing games (your own and other's).  There is no check list you can sit down and memorize for a week and suddenly become good.  Some things can be memorized this way, e.g. openings.  But most positions and patterns players know come with a lot of subtext that has to be understood and can't be memorized (at least not by a beginner).

For example there may be hundreds of books that give you an overview of the pros and cons of an isolated queens pawn.  Basically it's a pawn weakness compensated for by active non-pawns (knights, bishops, etc).  So now you know right?  Well, no, not until you win and lose many games and supplement it with playing over master games featuring an IQP.  Which is mostly what you get from a book with a chapter on IQPs... example games where the moves and ideas are explained.

Which is a difficulty for beginners... it's not as easy as analyzing a game because there's no context.  All moves seem equally good or bad or confusing.  So it's good to have a coach or friend explain things to you and to play lots of long games (where you try your best) to give that coach or friend good teaching material.

So again, yes, strong players can recall a lot of positions and patterns, but there's no list to memorize.  You get better by playing, reading, and talking.