Chess Course

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Introduction As a general rule chess can be broken down into three general areas: Opening, Middle and Ending. This course is designed to provide an easy-to-use format for memorizing chess opening lines, as well as entire games. Memorizing openings is a good way to make sure you are able to develop strongly at the start of the game. However, that is not enough to make you a great chess player. You must also focus on the middle and endgames. Implement what you have learned in the Textual Memorization course to learn strategy and theory. There is a great selection of books available dedicated to these parts of the chess-game. As you memorize games, you will be able to recall how Grandmasters reacted in certain situations, and emulate their responses and strategies. Again, this is not enough to make you a great player, merely another tool to improve your repertoire. The examples for this course will be based off of the King’s Indian Attack. This is a versatile opening system for white, which is not affected much early on by the play of black. A great reference for this opening is the Everyman Chess book ‘Starting Out: King’s Indian Attack’ by John Emms.

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Chess Memorization. School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Lesson 1 – Preparation: Figurative Codes Laying the foundation You need to be able to ‘read’ a chess-board. In other words, you need to know the notation used for chess. Algebraic notation is the most common notation in use. The rows are numbered ‘1’ through ‘8’, starting with the row closest to white. The columns are labeled lowercase ‘a’ through ‘h’, starting with white’s left-most column. Each square is labeled by the column letter followed by the row number.

In addition the pieces are labeled by one capital letter. 'P' for Pawn 'N' for Knight 'R' for Rook 'B' for Bishop 'Q' for Queen 'K' for King Combining these methods you have the piece followed by the square it moves to. Examples: School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Chess Memorization. School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

e4 – Pawn to e4 (The ‘P’ is not used, it is assumed to be the pawn when no letter is present) Nc3 – Knight to c3

Creating Figurative Codes Now that you know the notation used, you need to be able to convert this into visual imagery. The first step is to create a figurative code for each square on the board. You may create your own codes, or use the codes provided. An easy system for creating codes for each square is to use the letter of the column combined with the alpha-numeric code of the row number. Examples: a1 = a + N = ANt b4 = b + WVK = BoWl c7 = c + SD = CaSe The second step is to create figurative codes for the pieces. You may use the symbolization technique to accomplish this. Rook = Rook (Black Bird) Knight = Horse saddle (SaDDle is also the FC for 777, so you may want to use an English vs. Western saddle) Bishop = Miter (Bishop’s Headgear) Queen = Throne King = Crown Lastly you need to create figurative codes for different moves. The only moves you will use for now are the castling short and castling long. Castling Long = Castle Castling Short = Tower Castling long is represented by 0-0-0. Castling short is represented by 0-0. You will use the Inner Speech and Inner Drawing Techniques to learn these FC’s in the following exercises. The FC’s need to be reviewed over the course of 4 days to become reflex. You may want to perform one exercise per day to more easily achieve reflex level with the FC’s. Exercise 1

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Chess Memorization. School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Use the Inner Speech and Inner Drawing Techniques to memorize the figurative codes for the first two rows. Imagine an ant. Examine it, notice the details, notice the color, inspect it from every angle. Now, slowly draw ‘a1’ in the space in front of the ant. Draw largely and in color. Say in your mind ‘a1’ as you do so. Hold the image in your mind for two minutes, slowly drawing and saying ‘a1’. Perform this exercise several times a day for each FC to achieve reflex level as quickly as possible. In order to learn the color of the spaces and increase your awareness of diagonals on the board, visualize the FC’s for black squares with a black background and white squares with a white background. Row 1 (Black) a1 = A + N = ANtifreeze (White) b1 = B + N = BoNe (Black) c1 = C + N = CoNch (White) d1 = D + N = DoNut (Black) e1 = E + N = ENdzone (White) f1 = F + N = FaN (Black) g1 = G + N = GeNie (White) h1 = H + N = HuNter Row 2 (White) a2 = A + THZ = ATheme (Black) b2 = B + THZ = BuTton (White) c2 = C + THZ = CoT (Black) d2 = D + THZ = DaTe (White) e2 = E + THZ = EZ cheese (Black) f2 = F + THZ = FuTon (White) g2 = G + THZ = GHoul (Black) h2 = H + THZ = HaTrack Pieces Rook = Rook King = Crown Practice encoding the following table of FC’s into images. Do not name the image. Pay attention to the background color. For example, when you see Kc2 you should see a crown and a cot on a white background. Say to yourself ‘King, c2’ as you see their corresponding images. Ka1 Rb1 Kc1 Rd1 Ke1 Kh2 Rg2 Rf2 Re2 Rd2 Ra2 Rc2 Ke2 Kg2 Rh2 Rg1 Re1 Rc1 Ra1 Kb1 Ra1 Rc1 Re1 Rg1 Rh2 Kb1 Kd1 Kf1 Kh1 Kg2 School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Kf1 Kc2 Kf2 Kd1 Rf2 Ke2

Kg1 Rb2 Kd2 Rf1 Rd2 Kc2

Rh1 Ka2 Kb2 Kh1 Rb2 Ka2

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Kh1 Rg1

Kf1 Re1

Kd1 Rc1

Kb1 Ra1

Rh2 Ka2

Kg2 Rb2

Kc2 Rf2

Ke2 Rd2

If you are having difficulty with a Figurative Code, use the Inner Drawing technique on it and practice more with the table. Exercise 2 Continue to use the Inner Speech and Inner Drawing Techniques to memorize the figurative codes for the next two rows. Row 3 (Black) a3 = A + B = ABdomen (White) b3 = B + B = BoBby pin (Black) c3 = C + B = CoB (Corn on the cob) (White) d3 = D + B = DoBby (Black) e3 = E + B = EBony (White) f3 = F + B = FaBric (Black) g3 = G + B = GaBle (White) h3 = H + B = HoBbit Row 4 (White) a4 = A + WVK = AVenue (Black) b4 = B + WVK = BoWling ball (White) c4 = C + WVK = CaVity (Black) d4 = D + WVK = DiKe (White) e4 = E + WVK = EWok (Black) f4 = F + WVK = FaWn (White) g4 = G + WVK = GoVernor (Black) h4 = H + WVK = HaVersack Pieces kNight = Horse Saddle Bishop = Miter (Bishop’s Headgear) Practice encoding the following table of FC’s into images. Na1 Kh2 Ba3 Rg4 Ba3 Rb3 Bh1 Kg1

Nb1 Rg2 Bc3 Re4 Nc3 Kd3 Nf1 Re1

Nc1 Rf2 Be3 Rc4 Be4 Rf4 Bd1 Kc1

Nd1 Re2 Bg3 Ra4 Ng4 Kh4 Nb1 Ra1

Ne1 Rd2 Bh3 Kb4 Bh3 Rg4 Bh2 Ka2

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Nf1 Kc2 Bf3 Kd4 Nf4 Ke3 Ng2 Rb2

Ng1 Rb2 Bd3 Rf4 Bd3 Rc4 Bc2 Kf2

Nh1 Ka2 Bb3 Kh4 Nb4 Ka3 Ne2 Rd2

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Exercise 3 Continue to use the Inner Speech and Inner Drawing Techniques to memorize the figurative codes for the next two rows. Row 5 (Black) a5 = A + FR = AiRboat (White) b5 = B + FR = BeaR (Black) c5 = C + FR = CoRn (White) d5 = D + FR = DRiftwood (Black) e5 = E + FR = EaR (White) f5 = F + FR = FRench fries (Black) g5 = G + FR = GaFf (White) h5 = H + FR = HaRp Row 6 (White) a6 = A + JPX = APe (Black) b6 = B + JPX = BaPtismal font (White) c6 = C + JPX = CaPe (Black) d6 = D + JPX = DiaPer (White) e6 = E + JPX = EJect (Black) f6 = F + JPX = FoX (White) g6 = G + JPX = GoPher (Black) h6 = H + JPX = HiPpogryph Pieces Queen = Throne Pawn = No Image/No Letter Practice encoding the following table of FC’s into images. a1 Kh2 Qa3 Rg4 a5 Rb6 Bh3 Qg3

Qb1 g2 Bc3 Re4 Nc6 d5 Nf3 Re3

Nc1 Qf2 Be3 c4 Be5 Rf6 Qd3 Kc3

Nd1 Re2 Qg3 a4 Ng6 Kh5 Nb3 Ra3

Qe1 Rd2 h3 Kb4 Bh6 Qg5 h4 Ka4

f1 Qc2 Bf3 Kd4 Qf5 Ke6 Ng4 b4

Ng1 Rb2 Qd3 Rf4 Bd6 c5 Bc4 Qf4

Exercise 4 Continue to use the Inner Speech and Inner Drawing Techniques to memorize the figurative codes for the next two rows. Row 7 School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Qh1 a2 Bb3 Kh4 Nb5 Qa6 Ne4 Rd4

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(Black) a7 = A + SD = ASteroid (White) b7 = B + SD = BaSeball (Black) c7 = C + SD = CaSing (Bullet Casing) (White) d7 = D + SD = DiSk (Black) e7 = E + SD = EaSel (White) f7 = F + SD = FiDdle (Black) g7 = G + SD = GoDzilla (White) h7 = H + SD = HayStack Row 8 (White) a8 = A + GQL = ALtar (Black) b8 = B + GQL = BeLl (White) c8 = C + GQL = CLasp (Black) d8 = D + GQL = DaGger (White) e8 = E + GQL = EGg (Black) f8 = F + GQL = FiG (White) g8 = G + GQL = GoLd bar (Black) h8 = H + GQL = HaLo Moves Castling Long = Castle Castling Short = Tower Practice encoding the following table of FC’s into images. Na1 h2 Qa7 Rg8 Ba5 b6 Bh3 Qg3

Qb1 Rg2 Bc7 e8 Nc6 Qd5 Nf3 Re3

Nc1 Qf2 Be7 c8 Be5 Rf6 Qd3 c3

Nd1 e2 Qg8 Qa7 g6 Kh5 Nb3 Ra3

Qe1 d2 Bh8 Kb7 Bh6 Qg5 Bh4 a4

Nf1 Qc2 f8 Kd7 Qf5 e6 Ng4 Rb4

g1 Rb2 Qd7 f8 Bd6 Rc5 Bc4 Qf4

Qh1 Ka2 Bb8 h7 Nb5 Qa6 Ne4 d4

You now have visual representations of the board, pieces, and moves in your memory. In the next lessons you will learn how to systematically encode openings using these FC’s.

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Chess Memorization. School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Lesson 2 – Preparation: Database Creation You need a database to hold the images for the opening you are currently working on. Once you have memorized an opening, you will need to practice with it. Follow the moves being played on the board in your mind. After enough repetition, the moves and variations will become reflex. You will then be able to release the images in your database and memorize a new opening. Use the following format for memorizing openings. On each Association Base you will select five parts. Onto each part you will connect the following information. 1st Part – Opponent’s Piece 2nd Part – Opponent’s Move 3rd Part – Response Piece / Variation Chain 4th Part – Response Move 5th Part – Opponent’s Response Chain The opponent’s piece is the code for the piece they choose to move. The opponent’s move is the code for the square that piece is moved to. The response piece is the code for the piece you will move in response to your opponent, and the response move is the code for the square you move your piece to. The opponent’s response chain will be a chain of Association Bases where you will store the common responses your opponent will have to your move. You will learn the most common parts of opening with the King’s Indian Attack. Use the Free Association Technique to come up with Association Bases to use: Canoe, Teepee, Indian Headdress, Peace Pipe, Tomahawk, Bow, Arrow, Moccasin, etc... Select 5 parts from each image, and connect the next image to the 5th part. 5th part of Canoe + Teepee 5th part of Teepee + Headdress 5th part of Headdress + Peace Pipe Etc... You are now ready to begin memorizing moves.

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Chess Memorization. School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Lesson 3 – King’s Indian Attack Remember the format you will be using to learn openings: 1st Part – Opponent’s Piece 2nd Part – Opponent’s Move 3rd Part – Response Piece / Variation Chain 4th Part – Response Move 5th Part – Opponent’s Response Chain You will begin by memorizing the main line of the King’s Indian Attack vs. the French Defense. In the next lesson you will learn how to use the Variation Chain and Opponent’s Response Chain. 1: e4 e6 Since you are playing as white, there will be no information on the first two parts of the first image. If you wish you may connect data to the 1st and 2nd parts of the Canoe image representing ‘King’s Indian’ and ‘French’, so you will know that those are the styles being played. Onto the third part you will connect the Response Piece, but since it is a pawn you may leave this space blank. Onto the fourth part of the Canoe you will connect the Response Move, EWok. Now you need to connect the main response to the first image in your Response Chain. The main response is e6. Onto the 1st and 2nd parts of the first image in your Response Chain(Teepee) you will connect the opponent’s response. Leave the first part of the Teepee image blank since the piece is a pawn. Connect your image for EJect to the second part of the Teepee image. 2: d3 d5 To continue with the King’s Indian Attack you will move your pawn to d3. Since you are moving a pawn, you don’t need to memorize the Response Piece, so the 3rd part of the Teepee image will be blank. Onto the 4th part of the Teepee image connect the Response Move, CoB. Now you need to connect the main response to your Response Chain. The main response is d5. Again, onto the 1st and 2nd parts of the first image in your Response Chain(Headdress) you will connect the opponent’s response. Since the pawn is being moved, the 1st part of the Headdress is left blank. Connect DRiftwood to the 2nd part of the Headdress image. 3: Nd2 c5 Connect a saddle to the 3rd part of the Headdress image. Connect a DaTe to the 4th part of the Headdress image. A Peace Pipe is connected to the 5th part of the Headdress image. School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Chess Memorization. School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com Connect CoRn to the 2nd part of the Peace Pipe image (Nothing is connected to the 1st part because the piece moved was a pawn). Continue memorizing the moves following this format. 4: Nf3 Nc6 5: g3 Nf6 6: Bg2 Be7 7: 0-0 0-0 8: Re1 b5 9: e5 Nd7 10: Nf1 a5 Additional Exercise One powerful tool is to memorize the games played by great players, so you can see how they react in certain situations. As an example you will memorize a game between S. Gonzalez de la Torre and J. Pomes Marcet. 1: e4 e6 2: d3 d5 3: Nd2 c5 4: Nf3 Nc6 5: g3 Nf6 6: Bg2 Be7

7: 0-0 b6 8: Re1 Bb7 9: c3 Qc7 10: a3 0-0-0 11: Qe2 h6 12: b4 c4

13: c4 e4 14: Ne4 Ne4 15: Qe4 Nb4 16: Qb7 Qb7 17: b4* Bf6 18: Nd4 Qc7

19: Bf4 e5 20: Nc6 f4 21: Na7 Qa7 22: Ra7 g3 23: g3* Re8 24: Ra8

*In certain situations it may be unclear which piece was used. In these examples there were two pawns that could have performed the specified move. Whenever you run into a situation like this you may wish to connect an Association Base to the image part instead, and connect a clue(right vs. left) as to which piece should perform the operation. If you have a game like this memorized, while your game will surely be different, you will be able to see the general ideas that these players were utilizing, and play a similar strategy. As you look through the images in your memory, try to visualize the game in your mind. This will increase your awareness of the entire board and the interaction between pieces. One last note about memorizing games. From a resource such as John Emms’ book, you will encounter Illustrative Games which show a certain strategy employed both successfully and unsuccessfully by great players. You will want to memorize these games from the viewpoint of the victor. If white wins, memorize according to the format above. For games where you take the viewpoint of black you will place white’s 1st move onto the 1st and 2nd parts of your Association Base, to keep your moves on the 3rd and 4th parts. School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Chess Memorization. School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Lesson 4 – Variations Now you will learn how to deal with variations. Variations are very simple to memorize following this format. First you will learn how to deal with variations from your opponent. Opponent Variations – 5: g3 g6 You will first start with variations your opponent might use inside of the French Defense. One such variation is 5: … g6. To handle this, you will create another Association Base and add it to your Response Chain using the Chain Method. Use the FAT to create these images. An Oar might be the first thing you think of. Connected to the 5th part of your Tomahawk image you have a Bow connected, and onto this bow you have the main response of Nf6. Using the Chain Method, connect the Oar to the Bow. Follow the format learned in Lesson 3 to encode this data. Connect a Gopher to the 2nd part of the Oar image. In this instance your response is going to be the same as it was with Nf6. To handle this, simply return to the main line by connecting the Arrow base to the 5th part of your Oar image as well. If your response would be different than normal because of your opponent’s move, then you will create a new path. Create a new Association Base to connect to the 5th part of your Oar image, and continue following the format from Lesson 3. Let’s explore what you will see in your head as you are playing. You have just played g3, having seen a GaBle attached to the 4th part of the Tomahawk. Your opponent responds with g6. The first image in the response chain is a Bow, with Nf6 encoded on it. This is not the right response, so continue in the chain. The next image is an Oar, with g6 attached to it. This is the correct response, so you will follow the images connected to the Oar. Opponent Variations – 1: e4 c5 This is a variation based off of a different defense, the Sicilian. You will handle this in the same manner as the previous variation. Attached to the 5th part of the Canoe image you have your opponent’s Response Chain. The 1st image in this chain is the Teepee with a Frence Defense encoded onto it. Now you will create a new Association Base (Papoose Backpack), and connect it to the Teepee image using the Chain Method. From here you will start a new line. Create Association Bases to memorize the following line: 1: e4 c5 2: Nf3 e6

3: d3 Nc6 4: g3 g6

5: Bg2 Bg7 6: 0-0 Ne7

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7: c3 0-0 8: Re1 e5

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Again, if you wish to memorize that this is “King’s Indian” vs. “Sicilian”, create a new base image and connect those to the 1st and 2nd parts of the base image. Your Variations – 4: g3 Nc6 This is a variation you may use against the French Defense. This situation is slightly more complicated to handle. You need to create a new Association Base (Scissors) and attach it to the 3rd part of your association base, in this case the Peace Pipe. This is similar to creating a Response Chain, but instead you are creating a Variation Chain where your Response would normally go. You only need three parts for each image used in a Variation Chain: 1st part – Response Piece. 2nd part – Response Move. 3rd part – Response Chain Onto the Scissors you will encode the main line we already spoke of. 4: Nf3 Nc6. Now you will create another Association Base to hold the information for your variation(Stapler). The 1st part of the stapler will be blank since a pawn is moved. The 2nd part of the Stapler will have the GaBle image. The 3rd part of the stapler will have your opponent’s Response Chain. Create a new Association Base (Hole Puncher). Connect Nc6 to the hole puncher, and continue memorizing the information for your variation: 4: g3 Nc6 5: Bg2 Nf6 6: Nf3* *at this point you have reached the main line. Instead of replicating old information, simply attach the already existing Response Chain containing Be7, which is the move you would expect next.

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Chess Memorization. School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Lesson 5 – Conclusions The information for these lines comes from John Emms’ book ‘Starting Out: King’s Indian Attack’. This series of books by Everyman Chess is a great reference. John shows the main lines of the King’s Indian Attack against five different defenses, as well as two main variations to the attack. Every step along the way he explains the strategy involved, as well as possible variations and responses. You may go as in-depth as you would like with a resource like this. There are two different ways you can address the ‘main line’. The simplest solution would be to find an Illustrative game between Grandmasters and use the game as your main line. You can then use an alternative resource to find variations to memorize. The second solution would be to follow the lines given in books such as ‘Starting Out: King’s Indian Attack’. While learning openings from a book like this, there may be notes explaining the reasoning behind certain moves. If you wish to add a note to your database explaining strategy, simply create an Association Base and connect it to the 4th part of your image. Onto the 1st part of this new Association Base you may connect the move, and onto additional parts you may connect information related to that move. That being said, it is best for you to understand the principle behind the move when you memorize it. You can use notes as reminders to help you, but don’t let them be a crutch. Memorizing lines isn’t enough to make you a great chess player; you must learn general strategy as well. Other resources can be found on the internet, or you may wish to purchase a different book. The Chessmaster computer-game series also has a great database of games, openings, and tutorials to help you find the opening lines you wish to memorize, as well as the Fritz software. This website is a great resource for exploring lines used most commonly in games. Because of the large number of Association Bases needed to hold this information, you may wish to focus on one opening at a time, and play that opening consistently for a period of time. After enough games, the responses will become reflex to you, and you will be able to release the information in your database and use the database to learn a new opening. You may also wish to create an additional database to hold defenses. This way you would be able to practice KIA when you are white, and French Defense when you are black. This is a powerful tool to learning chess, and there are many different ways you may use this format. Simply though, you need to practice, and you will be amazed at how easily you will be able to improve your chess repertoire.

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