Is your memory worse than average?
Over the last four decades of making chess apps, I have talked to thousands of chess players about their ability to memorize and recall what they study. This three minute podcast reveals what I’ve learned…
Hi, it’s Mike.
Today we talk about the memory of a chess player, your memory.
Let me ask you this. If I could wave a magic wand over your head, instantly giving you the ability to remember every single chess thing you that studied (openings, endgames, tactics) for the rest of your life, what would that be worth to you?
Because you know that if you could remember every single thing that you studied, you could just start studying everything right now as fast as you could because you’d remember it.
You’d have to become a better chess player.
And you’d have a lot more fun, like Magnus Carlsen who can apparently remember every freakin’ position he’s ever seen. That is a lot of fun!
But hey, that’s magic.
So let me tell you a story.
A few years ago, I created the upgrade to Chess Openings Wizard Professional that added the multimedia recording functions. It was the biggest change in the system. (There were some other minor changes as well.)
But people would get back to me, people who paid for every upgrade for the last 35 years and they’d go, “I don’t know if the $37 upgrade fee is worth it for me because it looks like multimedia is the only thing you’ve added – and I am NEVER going to be recording my voice inside of my ebooks. There is just no point.”
But I would push them to get the upgrade anyway because… I got burritos I got to eat. I got bills to pay. 🙂 And also they need support for Windows 11 or the latest Mac OS.
But I would also coax them, goad them, DARE them to try out the multimedia recording features.
And every single one of them who got back to me reported something like this:
They would express their understanding of the position by using the position as a demo board, recording what they were thinking as they drew dots and arrows and moved the pieces around.
And then they simply could not forget what they studied.
Not in a day. Not in a week. Not in a month.
It’s like that old adage:
If you want to learn… teach.
Basically they’re trying to learn something so they’re teaching their database what they understand about each position as soon as they understand it, from whatever book they’re reading or video they’re watching.
Another adage would be…
What is expressed… is impressed.
They’re EXpressing what they know into their ebook (they’re recording it) and it’s becoming IMpressed into their memory.
To the point where they cannot forget it.
So if most chess players think they have a below-average memory, that’s not even statistically possible. You have to have an average – or above average – memory, so the first step is to get rid of that belief.
And as the memory champion of the world Jim Kwik likes to say, “There are no bad memories, only untrained memories.
This, I’m offering you, is the way to train your memory. You already have Chess Openings Wizard Professional. Get it out and try this function with anything you are studying and report back the results.
I think you’re going to be surprised!
And if you don’t have Chess Openings Wizard Professional? It might be time to get your copy because it’s worth it to be that good at chess.
Get Chess Openings Wizard Professional for Windows.
Get Chess Openings Wizard Professional for Macintosh.
P.S. Do you think you’re the exception? That you’ll be the one chess player who gets back to me that it didn’t work? Then I’m coaxing you, goading you, DARING YOU to try it. Open your COW Pro to the most complex position you are studying. Dictate your understanding of that position. Then mark on your calendar a week from now to check in. Ask yourself how much you recall about that position. Warning: if you think your memory is your problem, this exercise will mess with your head when you realize you can recall everything.