Memory Techniqu Techniques: es: An Introduction 5/30/2017 – Have you ever read about some genius who seemingly had a memory reserved for movies or fiction? Have you ever wished you had some of that even if you have a good memory now or can barely remember the number of your mobile !hone? "he fact is that these seemingly im!ossible feats are well within the gras! of anyone if they learn some basic techni#ues of memori$ation% Here is an introduction%
&' blindfold boards ( "he tale behind the record
by David Fadul )hen one hears of feats such as the *merican grandmaster "imur +areyev who late in 201, bro-e the world record for the most games in a blindfold simul – an ama$ing feat that lasted nearly 20 hours – by !laying against &' o!!onents one has little choice but to thin- that those ca!able of such deeds must be some endowed with some very rare – almost magical – ca!ability% *fter all not only did "imur need to be an accom!lished !layer .which is e!ected from a grandmaster but he also needed to be naturally gifted with a !rodigious memory% therwise how could he !ossibly remember and -ee! trac- of nearly 50 boards at one
time? )hile good !layers can !lay blindfolded and the best -nown simul !layers can !ush the limits and !lay a do$en d o$en or more games at a time +areyevs +areyev s accom!lishment was singularly rare as attested by a4dorfs &5(boards(record having stood for so many years% o is "imur6s memory some gift bestowed u!on him by divine dis!ensation?
"imur +areyev during his )orld ecord setting &'(board 8lindfold 9hess imul
.!hoto by :ennart
otes
)ell as Heraclitus wrote ;some of us see gods others see men6% *s those who researched "imur6s accom!lishment will have discovered his success owes more to incredibly hard wor- and almost obsessive !re!aration than to an innate !rodigious memory% *nd that is not unusual< most – all as far as = -now – world memory cham!ions achieved their !roficiency by mastering and constantly !racticing mnemonic techni#ues and tric-s%
time? )hile good !layers can !lay blindfolded and the best -nown simul !layers can !ush the limits and !lay a do$en d o$en or more games at a time +areyevs +areyev s accom!lishment was singularly rare as attested by a4dorfs &5(boards(record having stood for so many years% o is "imur6s memory some gift bestowed u!on him by divine dis!ensation?
"imur +areyev during his )orld ecord setting &'(board 8lindfold 9hess imul
.!hoto by :ennart
otes
)ell as Heraclitus wrote ;some of us see gods others see men6% *s those who researched "imur6s accom!lishment will have discovered his success owes more to incredibly hard wor- and almost obsessive !re!aration than to an innate !rodigious memory% *nd that is not unusual< most – all as far as = -now – world memory cham!ions achieved their !roficiency by mastering and constantly !racticing mnemonic techni#ues and tric-s%
Timur Gareyev’s preparation spanned months
(photo by Albert Silver)
>any !eo!le thin- of memory as an inalterable characteristic a-in to a !erson6s height or s-in color – one has either good memory or bad memory and there is little to nothing that can be done to change that% 8ut the truth is that while some as!ects of memory are indeed innate mnemonic techni#ues eist that can be learnt and utili$ed by anyone and that can im!rove dramatically one6s ca!acity to remember% >yself = used to have something of a !oor memory – nothing !athological 4ust the usual ;= will forget that !hone number if = sto! re!eating it till = write !lus = cannot remember dates6 deal – which = believe attracted me toward memory techni#ues% "he first time = remember -nowing that such things eisted was some 20 years ago when = found onathan @% !ence6s boo- ;the ;the >emory Aalace of >atteo icci6% icci6% )hile it was an interesting read – that = certainly recommend – the boo- for some reason did not -ic-start my career as a !ractitioner of the memory arts< as a matter of fact all = remember from the boo- are some of the historical e!loits of the e!onymous character% =t too- another year or two until = read Brancis Cates6 ;"he ;"he *rt of >emory6 >emory6 – a com!endium of how memory tric-s and !ractices have been a!!lied through history% )hile it moved me to attem!t to a!!ly some of the techni#ues the boo- was far from a manual and my first attem!ts were very misguided% *fter a few fails = luc-ed u!on a treasuryD a Arofessor in my old college who had been a memory athlete and a mathemagician .a !erson who can !erform difficult calculations in their heads% He described to me a number of techni#ues that served as a basis for my later develo!ment% = was finishing my masters degree in :aw by then so = didn6t get to use my newfound !owers as an undergrad% 8ut it !roved !rov ed very useful when = too- the bar eam – = had been !racticing for fo r months and was !articularly !roud not so much of the result re sult but of
something that ha!!ened during the testD for some strange reason !eo!le are not allowed to write down their answers so = couldn6t chec- my score< except that that = was able to memori$e all '0 answers in the multi!le choice test in a few minutes% "hat night = !roudly showed that = could say eactly how = answered every #uestion curiously no one but me seemed to care about anything beyond whether = had !assed or not% ince then = have !ut my memory to several testsD = memori$ed the atomic number of all the elements in the !eriodic table the 100 first digits of Ai and e and when = feel li-e showing off = memori$e the barcode of the items in my su!ermar-et car% ince = read about "imur6s e!loit = started loo-ing for ways to a!!ly this -nowledge to chess but = am 4um!ing ahead% o how did = graduate from a !oor memory to a decent .if = may say so myself memori$er? "o do that = had to master three techni#uesD the best -nown of which by far is the memory !alace% "hose who follow the 8ritish series herloc- may remember that the detective as well as one of his nemeses has a memory !alace .which he calls a ;mind !alace6 and uses it in several e!isodes – +rranted the de!iction of the techni#ue is highly fictionali$ed% *lso herloc- is far from the first eam!le in the last decade in which memory !alaces ma-e their way into !o! culture so much so that this once arcane method of memori$ation is now often recogni$ed even if by name alone% till there are a lot of misconce!tions and myths regarding the sub4ect%
o first things firstD can you build your own memory !alace? *bsolutely% "here is no s!ecial s-ill or innate gift necessary and almost all of us can do it% ow should you invest your time and energy in doing so? "hat is a much harder #uestion and the answer obviously de!ends on your needs and interests% o that you can ma-e an informed decision let me tell you a few things about memory techni#ues% Birst while it is the most famous and has a very long and illustrious history the memory !alace is not the only memory techni#ue available available in fact by itself it is not !articularly !a rticularly !owerful – des!ite its nifty nif ty name% till it deserves its re!utation re!u tation as the !alace serves se rves as a framewor- that !otentiates other techni#ues% econd my e!erience with memori$ation methods is that you do rea! what you sow – the more effort you !ut into their elaboration the more efficient and !owerful they become% =f you choose to !ut ! ut even a modicum investment investmen t you will be able to remember bar codes !hone numbers number s and !asswords – not to mention grocery lists% =f you y ou are willing to !ut in some serious effort you could memori$e hundreds or even thousands of chess games .or chess o!enings #uite easily or !lay several blindfolded games simultaneously – assuming of course you can otherwise !lay several games simultaneously% ow ow = have to em!hasi$e what a memory !alace ! alace cannot do% =t will not allow you to ;see6 a chess board in your mind and !lay ;as if you could see it6% =f you can do that already that is great but that is not what the !alace is about% or you will ;remember6 the games stored in it% "hat may sound com!letely insane to anyone who is not familiar with mnemonicsD what does that mean not remembering the games = memori$ed? "hat is blatantly absurdE )ell to be s!ecific = should have said that you will not remember
the games in the same way you would had you memori$ed them the old fashioned way% =n order to illustrate the difference let me tell you about the first real test to which = !ut my own memory !alace .actually it was a combination of memory !alace and !eg system but = will e!lain that later% )hen = was first learning mnemonics years ago = decided that a good test of its efficiency would be memori$ing the name and atomic number of all the elements on the !eriodic table% )hile = had no real use for this information = thought that it would be at least an interesting !rocess and that it would be a cool !arty tric- .= was right about the former and very wrong about the latter% 9onsidering that = was building u! my !eg system concomitantly = would say that = made a good time on that test – 4ust shy of two wee-s% "o this day given time = can tell you the atomic number of any element or the element corres!onding to any atomic number% = could tell you for eam!le that "ungsten6s atomic number is 7& but = could not for the life of me tell you what element is above it on the table% "hat is because = do not ;see6 the !eriodic table in any recogni$able way when = accessed "ungsten6s atomic number – instead = see a miniature car sin-ing on a glass of orange "ang over a table standing in front of a boo-store in my old college cam!us% "he relation between a "ungsten 7& and that image is unli-ely to be clear to anyone but me but that is ultimately irrelevant irr elevant as long as the connection con nection remains clear to me = will remember%
= ho!e my eam!le illustrates both the strength and wea-ness of the memory !alace .and all memory techni#ues reallyD they o!erate by codifying information that is hard to remember into information that is easy to remember% "his ma-es it much easier to retain it but codifying and decoding are active !rocesses that demand time and effort to
!erform% )hat does that mean for chess games? =f you are !laying a game and reali$e that there is a !osition that is identical to the one you are facing right now .which is something that you must remember the old fashion way then you will have to first navigate your memory !alace to find the match and then decode the stored game until you find the !osition you want% aturally = am assuming that you had !reviously stored this !articular game% "he good news is that is much easier than it sounds and even as a beginner you will be able to do all that in a few minutes nothing that would stand out in a non(blit$ game% "he even better news is that it gets increasingly faster and easier the more you a!!ly the techni#ues% *ll that being said = cannot !retend to be im!artial when the sub4ect is mnemonics< learning and a!!lying these techni#ues has had a significant im!act in both my academic and !ersonal life% =t goes from a!!arently little things such as not having to write down every bit of information into my smart!hone .and trust me when = say that it does ma-e a difference to being able to #uote the year of !ublication of any of a hundred sources you are #uoting% "hat s-ill is !articularly useful to me right nowD as = am finishing my Ah@ in F!istemologyD = can assure you that !eo!le are much more confident that you -now what you are tal-ing about if you can #uote the year of !ublication of a boo- without chec-ing your cell !hone% *s for chess = believe that "imur6s ama$ing results s!ea- for themselves% Binally learning these techni#ues will !ermanently alter your memory and im!rove your ca!ability to remember in the old fashioned way as well% o ma-ing a long story short = cannot recommend it strongly enoughD learning to build your own >emory Aalace will !ay off handsomely the effort you !ut into it% o if you are willing to follow in this enter!rise in the forthcoming articles = will !rovide a sim!le ste!(by(ste! tutorial on how to build a >emory Aalace and show you the ma4or and !eg systems% "hese can all be used inde!endently but are far more efficient when combined% >ore im!ortantly = will ma-e sure you avoid some of the !itfalls that cost me months of frustration ( and believe me when = say that this is the most im!ortant thing that = can offer you% *s the Arofessor – the one who taught me about mnemonics – once told me there is nothing !articularly hard about mnemonics .on the contrary it is #uite easyE% )hat leads some who attem!t it to give u! on their goal is that they are often ;stuc-6 by a!!lying the techni#ues im!ro!erly% :uc-ily it is easy to avoid that< all that it ta-es is to !atiently follow the ste!s in order% =f you are willing to do that –there are no limits to how far your memory s-ill can go%
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48 blindfold boards - The tale behind the record 1/1&/2017 – n @ecember & 201, "imur +areyev !layed against &' o!!onents in a blindfold simul that lasted nearly 20 hours to set the new world record a truly unbelievable ehibition of human strength and stamina% However the road to the record was one of etensive !re!aration during which he met with leading e!erts in memory techni#ues and even brought in the last surviving o!!onent of a4dorfs 1G&7 record G2(year(old :uciano *ndrade% Here is the full story behind the world record% >ore%%%
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48 blindfold boards - The tale behind the record by *lbert ilver 1/1&/2017 – n @ecember & 201, "imur +areyev !layed against &' o!!onents in a blindfold simul that lasted nearly 20 hours to set the new world record a truly unbelievable ehibition of human strength and stamina% However the road to the record was one of etensive !re!aration during which he met with leading e!erts in memory techni#ues and even brought in the last surviving o!!onent of a4dorfs 1G&7 record G2(year(old :uciano *ndrade% Here is the full story behind the world record%
, 9omments @iscuss >ore on to!ic "imur +areyev brea-s blindfold record 8lindfold -ing "imur +areyev on tour
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>ore%%% @uring the first half of the 20th century there was a rush to brea- the record for the most blindfold games at a time starting with the great Harry Aillsbury who set the standard with 20 boards in 1G00% "he record was increased at alternate intervals by two cham!ions vying for that final word in blindfold recordsD ichard eti and *leander *le-hine who ste! by ste! raised the number to 32 boards% +eorge oltanonows-i claimed the record at 3& boards but was soon sur!assed by the brilliant >iguel a4dorf% =n 1G3G while !laying a tournament in outh *merica a4dorf had learned of Hitler6s invasion of his country and with his fellow .ewish team mates chose to stay in *rgentina% ee-ing to reach out to his family of whom he had no news he construed that news of a world blindfold record would be carried by news!a!ers around the globe and seeing this news any surviving family would -now he was well and see- him out%
>iguel a4dorf giving a simul in 1G55 =n 1G&3 he bro-e the !revious record with a fantastic &0 boards but with no ha!!y end% Having already learned of his wife and child6s demise before 1G&5 he still ho!ed to connect with family and friends and in 1G&7 established a new record with &5 boards in a massive dis!lay in Io Aaulo 8ra$il%
*leander *le-hine &th world cham!ion is regarded as one of the strongest blindfold !layers ever "he number of &5 boards was such a high standard that for decades none came close and the few claims to have bro-en it such as anos Blesch were soon cast in doubt due to dubious conditions uncovered later% "hus a4dorf6s great record stood for ,& years until a +erman master >ar- :ang finally one(u!!ed the feat after months of !re!aration raising the bar to &, boards in 2011% However another !layer also had his eye on a4dorf6s recordD the ebullient free s!irit "imur +areyev% Hailing from J$be-istan the J(based chess grandmaster had made a name for himself with off(beat articles sharing his !assion for life doing s-ydiving globetrotting and eventually blindfold simuls% eali$ing he had an obvious talent for it and their !o!ularity his dis!lays were soon in regular demand with news!a!ers gobbling it u! describing the ;fli!(flo! wearing eercise bicycle !um!ing blindfold !layer6 as a vision of admiration and astonishment never to be forgotten% *fter years of ma-ing the rounds with his blindfold dis!lays +areyev announced his !lan to officially brea- the record early in 201,% )hile he raised funds for the event he also began serious !re!aration for this huge underta-ing% ne might assume that those who !erform such feats of intellectual etremes are also endowed with su!erhuman abilities such as a com!uter(li-e ability to calculate or a
memory that will recite a license !late seen 12 years earlier the truth is that etensive s!eciali$ed !re!aration is involved% Alaying ten boards for a !layer of his s-ill .he !ea-ed at world no% ,' in 2013 might be attainable without such hard wor- but not the record(brea-ing number he ho!ed to achieve% +radually his !ublic dis!lays grew more ambitious with 20 boards and more and he also regularly met with memory s!ecialists such as ames orasch founder of the cience House in ew Cor- who is a regular !artici!ant in the )orld >emory 9ham!ionshi!s% orasch is #uic- to e!lain that this is than-s to mastery of s!eciali$ed techni#ues such as >emory Aalace and not some winning tic-et in the genetic lottery he was luc-y enough to be born with%
ames orasch of the cience House coached "imur +areyev to hel! !re!are him for the challenge% .!hoto by *lbert ilver
ne of the une!ected obstacles +areyev and orasch e!lained is the very first moves !layed on the board% *t first sight this is counter(intuitive and one would thin- that &0K com!le boards would be the greatest challenge% However they clarified that the difficulty at the start is !ossibly greater because so many of the boards are either identical or nearly identical due to re!eated o!ening moves% "here is a serious danger of confusing one board for another and that is where techni#ues such as >emory Aalace can be of enormous hel!% =n fact accounts of Aillsbury6s records in 1G00 describe difficulties he had !recisely at this o!ening stage%
"imur +areyev6s !re!aration s!anned months
.!hoto by *lbert ilver
)ith dis!lays of 20 25 and 35 boards +areyev showed he was ready and the date was set for @ecember 3 201, in :as Legas% Alayers from the :as Legas area as well as around the country and even a few around the world via online connections were brought in and the show was set u! for an incredible &' boards% *s a form of full(circle in history one of his online o!!onents was the inehaustible chess enthusiast G2(year( old :uciano de ilo *ndrade who is the last surviving !artici!ant from a4dorf6s original record from 1G&7% :uciano *ndrade often described his e!erience of that original record nearly 70 years before and u!on learning of +areyev6s !lan to establish a new one had e!ressed a fervent desire to be a !art of it% @ue to his advanced age "imur made allowances for him to !artici!ate via the online server Alaychess%com and with the assistance of the author dream became reality%
G2(year(old :uciano ilo de *ndrade the last surviving !artici!ant from a4dorf6s 1G&7 record !artici!ated in the 201, record accom!anied by friends B> *lberto >ascarenhas .left and *lbert ilver .right% .!hoto by *lbert ilver
=n this #uic- scene with the simul already underway :uciano was shown his image and !artici!ation shared on Baceboo- which he #uic-ly showed his nurse% He is heard commenting that the !hoto does not do him 4ustice though he admits he is no model% "he entire event too- !lace in a large hall with a live video broadcast on "witch "L with multi!le cameras and commentary by host ay tallings and !layers tuned in from all over to watch the ama$ing feat% "he organi$ation was than-s to ennifer Lallens of ff da as organi$er s!onsor without whom none of it would have ta-en !lace%
"imur +areyev always conducts his blindfold simuls from an eercise bi-e% =t is not meant as a gimmic- and he e!lains it hel!s him% .!hoto by :ennart otes
9ycling away on an eercise bicycle as he !layed which he e!lains hel!s him feel in touch with his surroundings "imur +areyev was heard announcing his moves board to board% *ll the while he gesticulated with his hands and arms wor-ing out visual images for each board and move in his mind% "he moves too- considerable time to ma-e the rounds at first as he clearly wor-ed to fiate the games and !ositions into his mind% *ll seemed to be going smoothly until a moment of horror and concern too- !lace after seven movesD a loud and !ersistent fire alarm was set off interru!ting the !roceedings% Alayers left the area and a visibly frustrated +areyev was hel!ed out% )as the record attem!t going to be aborted? "he !enetrating sound lasted for a full ten minutes overheard on everyone6s com!uter as they watched it live all during which he never too- off his blindfold% Binally the noise sto!!ed later revealed to have been caused by burned food from the -itchen and he got bac- on his eercise bicycle% *fter seeing him resume all the boards as if nothing had ha!!ened flawlessly citing board numbers and !layer names no one had any doubt he would succeed%
een on his eercise bi-e +areyev never sto!!ed !edaling while he !layed
.!hoto by :ennart otes
Fnormous credit must also be given to the !artici!ants as the author can attest to% =t might seem obvious to focus on +areyev who is doing all the hard wor- or the hardest in any case but with games that might last as long as 20 hours and moves ta-ing 30 minutes each it re#uires the active and dedicated !artici!ation of !layers willing to see it through% =n many cases this re#uired hel! to share the burden% G2(year(old :uciano certainly had the desire and enthusiasm to !lay it until the end but not the stamina and eventually the torch was carried also by *lbert ilver and at the end by Ariyadarshan 8an4an% "his was not an isolated case and what really mattered was that the games were finished !ro!erly and with dignity so that "imur6s su!erhuman effort was not tainted by insincere !lay% Binally after nearly 20 hours "imur +areyev finished the dis!lay with 35 wins 7 draws and , losses successfully com!leting his world record attem!t with '0M over &' boards% "he self(moni-ered N8lindfold ingO had earned his nameD long live the -ing%
"imur +areyev during his )orld ecord setting &'(board 8lindfold 9hess imul otes
Games: P– P 0– 8rownscombe" 21&G +areyev" 2,1G 1 1– +areyev" 2,1G 8od$ionyA 1733 0 1– +areyev" 2,1G @ashoff@ 1G23 0 P– +areyev" 2,1G ud-ins 1'2' P 0– +areyev" 2,1G :ucan> 1'3& 1 1– +areyev" 2,1G amire$ ( 0 P– +ough" 1'30 +areyev" 2,1G P 0– >c+regor* 1'50 +areyev" 2,1G 1 P– obel 1'75 +areyev" 2,1G P +areyev" 2,1G 8abadilla ( 1– 8arbre
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.!hoto by :ennart
0 1– +areyev" 2,1G 9lay9 ( 0 1– +areyev" 2,1G 9urrell ( 0 1– +areyev" 2,1G @unn ( 0 1– +areyev" 2,1G iraly* ( 0 1– +areyev" 2,1G :ester" ( 0 1– +areyev" 2,1G :L@ * ( 0 0– +areyev" 2,1G >c9arthy* 1'G7 1 0– +areyev" 2,1G >erwin 1G,7 1 1– +areyev" 2,1G hoads@ 17G3 0 1– +areyev" 2,1G ussell ( 0 1– +areyev" 2,1G letten r@ 111, 0 1– +areyev" 2,1G teel8 ( 0 1– +areyev" 2,1G ames 200& 0 1– +areyev" 2,1G )at-ins9 ( 0 1– +areyev" 2,1G )hite ( 0 1– +areyev" 2,1G )u 1003 0 0– @unn> ( +areyev" 2,1G 1 0– Fl @orado "F*> ( +areyev" 2,1G 1 0– Holcomb9 ( +areyev" 2,1G 1 P– on$ona "F*> ( +areyev" 2,1G P 0– :ester ( +areyev" 2,1G 1 0– :L@ 8 ( +areyev" 2,1G 1 1– :yle ( +areyev" 2,1G 0 >i-olic ( +areyev" 2,1G 0–
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Timur Gareyev at Chessase:
Developing the Initiative
y Timur Gareyev
:anguagesD Fnglish @eliveryD @ownload :evelD *dvanced "ournament !layer Arofessional AriceD QG%G0 @ynamic !lay is what ma-es your chess effective and most im!ortantly funE Cou start the game ta-ing the essential ste!s of develo!ing !ieces and focusing on the center% *s the battle heats u! one !layer assumes the defensive !osition while the attac-er ta-es over the initiative% *s you commit to your attac- -ee!ing the initiative becomes li-e wal-ing a tight ro!e% "here is no turning bac- and the !ath to success is narrow% Cou either come out victorious or you fall crushing down% "his is the -ind of chess we love to !layE Order Timur Gareev's Developing the nitiative in the !hess"ase Shop
Timur Gareyev: Trompowsky for the attacking player
Lideo running timeD & hours 3, min .Fnglish )ith interactive training including video feedbacFclusive training database with 50 essential games =ncluding 9hess8ase eader
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"his @L@ can be !urchased as a hard co!y or it can be downloaded directly from the =nternet that way s!aring you the few days needed for it to arrive by !ost% Order this Fritztrainer in the ChessBase Shop Interview with Timur Gareyev
"o!ics world record "imur +areyev record +areyev blindfold chess blindfold
*lbert ilver 8orn in the J he grew u! in Aaris Brance where he com!leted his 8accalaureat and after college moved to io de aneiro 8ra$il% He had a !ea- rating of 22&0 B=@F and was a -ey designer of 9hess *ssistant ,% =n 2010 he 4oined the 9hess8ase family as an editor and writer at 9hess8ase ews% He is also a !assionate !hotogra!her with wor- a!!earing in numerous !ublications% Beedbac- and mail to our news service Alease use this account if you want to contribute to or comment on our news !age service
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Timur Gareyev brea&s blindfold record 12/5/201, – n @ecember 3 at the Jniversity of evada in :as Legas "imur +areyev made an attem!t to brea- the world record in blindfold simultaneous !lay% )ithout seeing the board +areyev !layed against &' o!!onents at the same time more than any !layer before him% )ith a mas- before his eyes and on an eercise bi-e% 35 wins 7 draws and , losses later +areyev could sayD SCes world record%S >ore%%%
See also
lindfold &in' Timur Gareyev on tour &/,/201, – =n 201, "imur +areyev wants to brea- the world record in blindfold !lay by ta-ing u! &7 o!!onents simultaneously% =n >arch he !layed a 35 !layer blindfold simul in anta 9lara 9alifornia% +areyev lost one game drew two and won 32% *s +areyev believes that !hysical fitness and mental ecellence go together he s!un a stationary bi-e for over G hours during the simulE >ore%%%
(ideo
The otvinni& System in the )n'lish o*enin' "he setu! for )hite recommended by Laleri :ilov is solid and easy to !lay – the thematic moves are almost always the same onesD ge2 0(0 8g5 .or 8e3 d5 Td2% :ater according to 8lac-6s setu! things continue with f& or even ac1 b& and !lay on the #ueenside% tarting with the classic 8otvinni-(!ass-y :eiden 1G70 the author describes this universally em!loyable setu! in 7 videos .K intro and conclusion% Liew
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yo-u 1/1&/2017 0'D&3
:ong live the ingE
4horavi 1/1&/2017 02D5, "imur +arayev in his latest record is li-e wearing a L gear% "hey should have stuc- to the traditional hand-erchief to ma-e it more convincing%
dhochee 1/1&/2017 0'D&1 )hat M of success is re#uired for the world record? *nybody could !lay that many games if they didnt have to win a certain amount%
Jommibatto 1/1&/2017 10D27 eD M re#uired% = thin- eighty M is considered the minimum to #ualify for the record% = dont -now how this figure was arrived at% *nother issue of course is average !laying strength of the o!!onents% Cou can see from the game scores that some !layers are #uite strong over 2000 J while others are #uite wea-% = dont -now what if any the guidelines are here or who would decide such a thing% =n any case great 4ob by "imur and his crew and a well written article from >r% ilver%
stierlit$ 1/1,/2017 01D3' o is this great achievement going into +uiness )orld ecords? =t is definetely way more ama$ing than the record of a man having most snails on his face%
neil!ar-er,2 1/1,/2017 05D51 S%%% not some winning tic-et in the genetic lottery he was luc-y enough to be born with%S ne certainly wouldnt argue the !rodigious effort "imur !ut into achieving this remar-able feat but ( hey ( he most definitely did come u! trum!s in the genetic lottery as well E "here is 4ust no way mere mortals such as myself could ever ho!e to -ee! trac- of 4ust one game blindfold let alone &'% 8ravo is all = can say% 1
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Memory Techniques: Memory ,alace from .oman times to today ,/3/2017 – "he >emory Aalace is a name that has grown steadily into the mainstream of thought and culture% )hat not many reali$e is that this system dates bac- over 2000 years and was written about in detail by intellectual giants such as 9icero who was an enthusiastic !ro!onent% =n this first !art on the >emory Aalace you will be introduced to what it is and its history .and how it can eventually be used with chess%
5 9omments @iscuss >ore on to!ic >emory "echni#uesD *n =ntroduction
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By David Fadul =f you read my !revious article about memory techni#ues you saw the -ind of results that can be achieved with the diligent a!!lication of mnemonics% "hings as ama$ing as what was accom!lished by "imur +areyev who last year bro-e the world record for most games !layed in a blindfold simul% ince you are here now = assume that you decided to give memory techni#ues a try% = am sure you will be glad that you did and = ho!e that mnemonics changes your life for the better as it changed mine% ince this tutorial is directed at beginners =6ll assume that you are com!letely unfamiliar with the sub4ect but even if you are an intermediate !ractitioner = thinyou6ll find some of the ti!s useful% >y main goal in this and the following articles is to hel! you avoiding the mista-es that stalled my !rogress as = started with mnemonics since those can be #uite frustrating and even had led me to give u! for several years% Here is the first hint – and is rule number 1D X*ll memory techni#ues and tric-s have this in commonD the more effort you !ut into the groundwor- the more !owerful the results will be% emembering that fact alone goes a long way% "he techni#ues = will describe are eactly the same a!!lied by world class memory com!etitors – and yet you and = will !robably never get to their level unless we !racticed for several hours a day li-e they do% >nemonics is a s-ill and mastering it to world class levels re#uires almost unbelievable disci!line and effort%
2013 )orld >emory 9ham!ionshi!
:uc-ily 4ust as one can !lay en4oy and get benefits from chess even if one never becomes a grandmaster the same is true about memory – = cannot memori$e a thousand digits in an hour but = can memori$e a hundred digits in 20 minutes and that has been enough for all !ractical !ur!oses% 8ut rule X1 has another im!licationD you will only rea! the rewards after investing your time and effort into it% =f you want great results you will s!end months laying the groundwor- ."imur6s !re!aration too- the better !art of a year% *nd there6s the rubD most !eo!le would be unwilling .for very good reasons to s!end wee-s learning how to a!!ly some techni#ue without seeing any results% "hat is why we are going to start small and build a sim!le Aalace where you can tem!orarily store 4ust ten items% =t is nothing earth shattering but will serve as a !roof of conce!t – something to show you that it is !ossible to remember things in a different way% =f your goal is to a!!ly memory techni#ues to chess .or to study or other !ractical !ur!oses really then you need to learn how to store the memories !ermanently% =n our lives we condition ourselves to cram for tests -nowing full well that more often than not a lot of that study will be lost wee-s later at the most% till there are time when one only needs to remember the information for a limited amount of time – for eam!le in memory com!etitions a !erson may need to memori$e the order of a dec- of cards or a list of hundreds of random words or digits but after the com!etition is over there would be little reason to cling to this information% "he same would be the case if you were using mnemonics to !lay a blindfold simul% n the other hand if you are memori$ing chess games or o!enings you will want to ma-e that information !ermanent%
"he reason why getting something we 4ust studied to stic- is so hard is due .in !art to how limited our short term memory is% Fvery bit of information that we want to
remember for more than a few seconds must be encoded into our long(term memory and after it is there all you need is to review it – constantly at first but with increasingly longer intervals between reviews% However there are two !roblemsD first the way we naturally memori$e information ma-es reviewing it systematically very hard so most !eo!le will do it only when revisiting the boo- or video where they saw the information .or finding it in some other venue% econd in order for the data to be encoded in the long term memory it must first be stored in the short term memory which is well !retty bad com!aratively% *ccording to memory researchers .9owan 2001 we can only store & to , items .more if we can combine the item into grou!s in our wor-ing memory .the distinction between short term and wor-ing memory is dis!uted technical and unim!ortant for our !ur!oses and only for the duration of at most 30 seconds% =f you ever had to re!eat a !hone number or address until you could write it down then you already -now the limits of short term memory% e!eating the information is a way to ;!ut it bac-6 in your wor-ing memory – if you sto! re!eating the number disa!!ears% @on6t worry< it will not ha!!en again after you learn mnemonics% Fven thou we are starting small it is always good to -ee! an eye at the !ri$e so to s!ea-% =f your intention is to a!!ly the techni#ues to chess let me show you the road that lies ahead% =f your interest in mnemonics is not chess(related .or at least not eclusively chess(related don6t worry you will learn many methods to memori$e different things for different !ur!oses% Fach one of them is a necessary ste! toward our goal but all of them can be used se!arately% 8esides the techni#ues can be easily .but not effortlessly ada!ted to other !ur!oses% "his is our roadD Birst we will see how to tem!orarily memori$e a small list of items% "hat will show that there are different ways to remember and with some !ractice can be indefinitely e!anded to memori$e arbitrarily long lists% "he missing lin- between this sim!le eercise and a >emory Aalace ade#uate for chess is the Aeg system% =t is the Aeg system that really facilitates memori$ation and that allows memory cham!ions to memori$e a dec- of cards in less than 30 seconds% * ;!eg6 is basically an image often a !erson that you imagine in lieu of something you want to remember% o after you have the >emory Aalace under your belt = will show you how to create some !egs – as there are some tric-s to ma-e the !rocess easier% * !eg system will also facilitate the !rocess of transforming tem!orary Aalaces into !ermanent ones% Binally we will wra! it all u! by creating !egs s!ecifically for chess% ur first techni#ue the >emory Aalace has a very long and !roud tradition that goes bac- .allegedly to *ncient +reece% =t has been called by a number of names such as mind !alace and the method of loci .loci meaning ;!laces6 in :atin% ometimes it is facetiously called the @ominic Hotel when used in con4unction with the @ominic ystem but in my o!inion none of these names have the same ring to it as ;>emory Aalace6% :egend has it that the !oet imonides was attending a ban#uet and as he was absent from the hall disaster struc- and hall ceiling fell not only -illing but also rendering the all the guests unrecogni$able% *s the story goes the families of the victims – unwilling to ris- ta-ing the wrong body and mourn for a >ontague who was actually a 9a!ulet –
as-ed imonides if he could identify any of the bodies% *s it was he said he could identify all of them% He did so by correlating the !osition where a guest was seated to his !osition% *nd that would have ins!ired imonides to develo! the >ethod of :oci%
imonides being lured away from the deathtra! by the ghosts of 9astor and Aollu as told by 9icero% = did mention that it was a legend didn6t =? )hatever the truth of the legend there are clear records of it dating from the omans and the !anegyric of the >emory Aalace has been sang by none other than >arcus "ullio 9icero who in De Oratore tells us the nice anecdote about imonides and the crushed dinner guests% 9icero was an enthusiast of the art of memory and dedicates several !assages to its history and use%
9o!y of @e ratore by 9icero recorded by hand on vellum 9icero who lived in the final days of the oman e!ublic and died with it in &3 89F described – over 2000 years ago – the basic ideas behind the >emory Aalace and while much !rogress has been made since then it is truly fascinating that in its essence the method has not changed – it has only been com!lemented%
>arcos "ullio 9icero former consul of the oman Fm!ire is also one of the most influential writers of all time *nother oman orator Tuintilian who lived in the =m!erial !eriod a few decades after 9icero also describes the >ethod of :oci in his nstitutio Oratoria% He em!hasi$es the im!ortance of the ars memoriae – as the romans called mnemonics the art of memory – as memoria is one of the five canons of the !ractice of oratory%
ust as famous omans such as 9icero and Tuintilian wrote about and used these techni#ues over 2000 years ago the same techni#ues can be and are used today to memori$e a full cha!ter of >oby @ic- as in the illustrative video above Aresently there is a !lethora of -nowledge and information available regarding the mnemonics and the >emory Aalace in !articular – not to mention scientific literature
that e!lore the to!ic% *n increasing number of )orld 9ham!ions now ma-e a !oint to share their im!rovements to the classical techni#ues and fine(tuning and hel! develo! the mnemonic6s community collective -nowledge% ne world cham!ion in !articular @ominic 68rian created the a!tly named @ominic ystem which hel!ed him win the world memory cham!ionshi! no fewer than eight times% Aeo!le li-e @ominic 68rian or onas Lon Fssen and other memory cham!ions are not savant or anti(social autistics li-e @ustin Hoffman in ain >an counting cards without even thin-ing about it% >any of them are regular run(of(the(mill nerds – li-e you or = – and some are distinguished gentleman such as >r% 68rien% =n fact there is no reason to even sus!ect they have a !articularly good memory 68rien even states !oint blanthat he used to have a !oor memory suffering from dysleia and *@@ as well% Fnhance Cour >emory by @ominic 8rien .' "imes >emory )orld 9ham!ion :i-e all other memory techni#ues the !rinci!les behind the Aalace are eceedingly sim!leD to ta-e advantage of what the human brain remembers easily .images and locations and to circumvent what it remembers !oorly .random numbers or items% X*ll memory methods and tric-s use the !rinci!le of avoiding what is taing and focusing on what is naturally easy for the human brain% ow that you are familiar with the conce!t of a >emory Aalace we must see how to use it in !ractice% 8ut first so that we can have a baseline to com!are with our im!rovements let us test our memories #ithout using any methods or tric-s% :et6s try to memori$e ten items the old fashioned way% = 4ust googled a grocery list and ty!ed it bellow – read it twice and don6t use any techni#ue that you may already -now< but if you thin- it will hel! you can read it slowly or re!eat the items continuously or do anything you would normally do when trying to remember a similar list% *fter reading it twice cover it count to ten out loud .this is an im!ortant detail and then write down all the items you can rememberD 1% 8read 2% 9hocolate 3% Honey &% "ea 5% range uice ,% 8utter 7% 9offee '% 8iscuits G% Fggs 10% ice o how many items you got? =f you are li-e most !eo!le you remembered between four and si .most li-ely the first and last items and two or three between% =f you organi$ed the items in categories you !robably remembered a few more% = 4ust too- the test as well – for the first time in years = memori$ed something without using a memory techni#ue and = must say that = didn6t e!ect it but = had to consciously avoid using my Aalace and it wasn6t easyE "he !rocess has become
automatic in ways that = had not reali$ed before now% *nyway a!!arently = have a com!letely ordinary memory as = could only remember si items even though = had 4ust ty!ed the list% h well = su!!ose the cat is out of the bag now% "hen again the whole !oint of memory techni#ues is to be able to avoid doing what we 4ust did% )e will try again but net time we will use our !alaces%
"o!ics memory techni#ue memory Beedbac- and mail to our news service Alease use this account if you want to contribute to or comment on our news !age service
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Memory Techniques: An Introduction 5/30/2017 – Have you ever read about some genius who seemingly had a memory reserved for movies or fiction? Have you ever wished you had some of that even if you have a good memory now or can barely remember the number of your mobile !hone? "he fact is that these seemingly im!ossible feats are well within the gras! of anyone if they learn some basic techni#ues of memori$ation% Here is an introduction% >ore%%%
(ideo
The otvinni& System in the )n'lish o*enin' "he setu! for )hite recommended by Laleri :ilov is solid and easy to !lay – the thematic moves are almost always the same onesD ge2 0(0 8g5 .or 8e3 d5 Td2% :ater according to 8lac-6s setu! things continue with f& or even ac1 b& and !lay on the #ueenside% tarting with the classic 8otvinni-(!ass-y :eiden 1G70 the author describes this universally em!loyable setu! in 7 videos .K intro and conclusion% Liew
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s!ace!robe , hours ago emember the match as!arov vs the )orld on the @ate 1GGG%10%22 ? )ouldnt it be a thrilling event to re!eat this event with one of the 5 to! chess !layers 1% 9arlsen >agnus 2% o )esley 3% ramni- Lladimir &% 9aruana Babiano 5% >amedyarov ha-hriyar %
fons 5 hours ago )ill = find true enlightenment at the end of this road? )hens the time = for- over all my belongings?
-enard 5 hours ago hmmm where did = !ut my car -eys?
":@ 3 hours ago Y-enard D i seem to be able to remember &0 moves of emi(lav theory but always forget the damn -eys .and mobile !hone D
ay:o!e$ 2 hours ago = en4oyed this tease of an article with references to history but theres no memory rule offered% = missed 4ust SeggsS on the list% 1
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Memory Techniques: Creatin' a Memory ,alace +os and +on/ts ,/10/2017 – "he idea of learning to create and use techni#ues li-e the >emory Aalace is both enticing and intimidating% )here to start? How eactly should one go about it? )hat are the mista-es one can ma-e and should avoid? *ll this and more is answered in this net article in the series on >emory "echni#ues teaching how to build a >emory Aalace with some eercises to test yourself% "he author also e!lains what is needed to a!!ly these techni#ues to chess%
1 9omments @iscuss >ore on to!ic >emory "echni#uesD >emory Aalace from oman times to today >emory "echni#uesD *n =ntroduction
9hess8ase 1& @ownload Fveryone uses 9hess8ase from the )orld 9ham!ion to the amateur net door% =t is the !rogram of choice for anyone who loves the game and w ants to -now more about it% tart your !ersonal success story with 9hess8ase 1& and en4oy your chess even more%
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By David Fadul "he basic idea behind the >emory techni#ue is almost too sim!leD Birst you choose a !lace that you -now very well then imagine yourself wal-ing around the !lace you chose and !lace ob4ects that remind you of the items as you move around% *nd although that may sound too sim!le to register = was able to com!letely screw it u! the first time.s = tried it% )hich ta-e us to my first mista-eD 0MyMista&e1: do not sim!ly imagine yourself !lacing ob4ects on the Aalace% 9reate a scene instead%
)hen = created my first Aalace = tried to store information by !lacing the ob4ects = actually wanted to remember .and sometimes even writing notesE somewhere in my Aalace< so if = wanted to remember ;bread6 for eam!le = would imagine myself !lacing a !iece of bread on a table% *nd then = would be frustrated beyond belief when = reali$ed that while = remembered !utting something on the table = could not remember what it was% Jnfortunately bac- then information was much harder to find and = had no idea how to actually use a >emory Aalace% "Fl !roblema de imaginarse colocando !or e4em!lo un !eda$o de !an en la mesa de la cocina es #ue la imagen de un !eda$o de !an .!robablemente no le afecta emocionalmente ( o nada% Aor otra !arte los artZculos al a$ar son muy difZciles de recordar ( asZ #ue son letras n[meros y !alabras al a$ar% o what you must do is use images often !eo!le .!ersonally = !refer !ublic or famous individuals and not !ersonal ac#uaintances to increase your emotional res!onses as emotions are much easier to remember% "he human brain has a very strong reaction to other humans and as far as how your emotional reaction registers in your memory it does not seem to differentiate much between a !erson who is actually there and a !erson you imagine is there% ince your goal is to elicit an emotional res!onse you will get a better result if you choose easily recogni$able !eo!le about whom you already !resent some emotional res!onse even if mild% eual attraction is obviously a very !owerful force so you can choose some celebrity you find a!!ealing% However even though it is !owerful don6t overdo se a!!eal% =f you only choose models you will eventually mi them u!% "ry also adding !eo!le you hate in the middle such as a !olitician or !eo!le you admire such as an actor singer athlete or an ins!iring historical figure%
= am com!letely aware that some !eo!le can be embarrassed with the !ros!ect of creating such silly images and scenes% =f it hel!s watch onas Lon Fssen the 2013 and 201& world memory cham!ion being slightly embarrassed as he tal-s about his card memori$ation techni#ue .at 0D&'%
*lso remember that you do not need to share the details of your Aalace with any one so have fun and e!eriment% *t this !oint don6t !ut too much effort into choosing the images as those will be only used this time% =n the net article = will e!lain how to create a !ermanent set of !egs .which is the technical term for the images for now 4ust get ten famous !eo!le and let us move on% ow choose your very first >emory Aalace% =t can be any !lace that you remember etremely well – a !lace of which you -now the eact layout% =t can be the house where you grew u! the school or college where you studied the house of a good friend that you used to visit or even the house you are living in right now% >y >emory Aalace .for tem!orary lists with ,0 items or less is the a!artment = lived with my !arents when = was 17% =f the list is larger .u! to 250 items = use my grand!arent6s house where = lived as a -id which was much bigger% 9hoose now< but don6t worry too much% =f you still haven6t decided 4ust use your current living !lace .our list is very short so the si$e of your !lace won6t matter% 8y the way how did you do with the list? Bor some !eo!le memori$ing ten items can be done without any memory techni#ue – it is due to our tendency to grou! items together which ;deceives6 our short term memory since it will treat a grou! as an individual ob4ect% =f you did get all items right how many do you remember right now? =f you want you can !ause here and try the list again using your Aalace this time% =f you cannot see yet how to do it yourself read ahead and = will show you how = used my Aalace to memori$e that same list .of which = shamefully forgot &0M a moment ago% *nd don6t worry< = will !ut another list at the end for you to test yourself% *s a reminder here is the listD 1% 8read 2% 9hocolate 3% Honey &% "ea 5% range uice ,% 8utter 7% 9offee '% 8iscuits G% Fggs 10% ice bviously = will ma-e a verbal descri!tion but -ee! in mind as you read that the memori$ation !rocess is entirely nonverbal rather focusing on the visual sensorial and emotional as!ects of the scene%
Detailed description of my memorization am standing in $ront o$ the door o$ my old apartment% The door is opened by Angelina &olie holding a piece o$ oldlooing bread in her hand she opened the door #ith her
le$t #hile holding the bread in her tight hand* she tries to nibble at it* but the bread loos #ay too hard lie the bread that the roman soldiers ate%
ourdough bread was a core !art of the diet of oman soldiers move on% To my right* sitting on the couch* Donald Trump is eating a chocolate bar% t loos hal$ melted and old* and the chocolate doesn’t loo very good either% notice that he let some o$ the chocolate dirty the couch my mother #ould be very angry* she loves that couch% To my le$t* on the balcony* +ate ,erry is sitting on the balustrade% am not a$raid o$ heights* but the #ay she is leaning maes me uncom$ortable% #al a $e# steps to#ard the #all #here the anti-ue cucoo cloc hung% .ear it* see "arac Obama% /e seems aloo$* but interested in the cloc% n one hand he is holding a cup o$ tea and #ith the other hand he tries to ad0ust the cloc* #hich is running slo#% A $e# drops o$ the tea drop $rom the cup% "y the smell it seems lie herbal tea% hate herbal tea% barely have to move to see my $ather’s old bureau% 1or some reason* it had a glass door* so can see inside as i$ it #ere an a-uarium% On the table there is an old monitor% 2r% 3obot ($rom the sho# #ith the same name) sits on a chair in $ront o$ it% The room is slo#ly $illing #ith orange 0uice and 2r% 3obot is trying to hac his #ay out o$ it% t loos bad $or him% go into the itchen and see that 2arlon "randon is sitting by my itchen table%
"y the sin* /ugh 4aurie is popping a pill and #ashing it do#n #ith cold co$$ee% dislie co$$ee and the idea o$ drining old* cold co$$ee maes me nauseous% n $ront o$ him there is a plate o$ biscuits* sprinled #ith 5icodin% There is a live chicen seating near the $ridge and a !hinese #oman 6 very young and #earing one o$ those conical hats 6 is standing next to the #ashing machine%
*nd those are the ten items after encoding = too- a five(minute brea- returned here and wrote down all the items = could remember% =t too- me 4ust over a minute to encode the list which is an abysmal time by any standard – but it is three in the morning% *side from the late hour there is another reason for my bad timeD = had to create the !egs on the fly% = have a number of images that = use in my Aalace but they re!resent my !references and would !robably be meaningless to you% o = chose a number of famous individuals% h = almost forgot it too- absolutely no effort remembering all the items in the order they were listed and = was 100M confident that = had made no mista-e% = can also -ee! the list stored for as long as = want to%
Explanation of imagery o that you can follow my choices for the images let6s go over each one = used so that = can e!lain what = was doingD 2irst of all I try to ima'ine the 3hole environment as I remember it$ I ima'ine myself 3al&in' touchin' thin's seein' details noticin' odors I even feel my emotional reactions$ The more of those details you add to a scene the better you 3ill remember it$
*s you are getting started there is no harm in overdoing it as you !rogress you will start having a notion of how much you need to focus on each image and the amount will !robably vary de!ending on whether the list is tem!orary or !ermanent% "he first image is self(e!lanatory% = chose *ngelina olie an actress that = find talented and attractive and had her hold the item% = normally find that the first entry in a list is easier to remember so = do not !ut too much effort into creating it .but even then = add some visual cues such as her hands holding the !iece of bread as overconfidence is a dangerous thing in memory% = have been watching ome the famous H8 series and the memory of the legionnaires eating though bread 4ust !o!!ed into my mind so = used it% emember that = was not narrating = 4ust imagined a hard !iece of bread% =n the second image = used the emotional memory of how much my mother li-ed the couch% otice that it is not a very !owerful emotion and that is why = added some visual detail% Cou may have noticed that = did not mention the item on the image with ate Aerry in the balcony% "hat is because as = was choosing the !eg = remembered an old e!isode of /o# 2et 7our 2other where ate Aerry !lays a character referred to as ;honey6 due to her naivet\% ince this is a tem!orary list = ran with it% =f = had wanted to store the list !ermanently = would have !referred a more direct connection as = could forget this one% Ces if im!ro!erly created you can remember an image but then forget its meaning which is very annoying%
"he image of bama and the cloc- evo-ed no emotion so = focused on the smell of the tea and on the !hysical interaction with the cloc-% "he image of orange 4uice inundating an office li-e an a#uarium is the only ;silly6 image in this list% >any teachers of mnemonics li-e to em!hasi$e the use of silly images in memori$ation !robably because it is less aw-ward to discuss than violent or seual imagery but = find that using ecessive silliness tends to somewhat dilute its effect so = !refer a mi of different -inds of images% "hat is what is most suited to me but as you develo! you will need to find what wor-s best for you whether it be li-e me or with ad4ustments of your own% *lso notice that the image em!hasi$es the fact that the item is a li#uid but not that it is orange 4uice – or even any 4uice% )hen = was still getting used to the method .or if there were something li-e water in the list = would add more to the scene that em!hasi$ed the fact that it was s!ecifically orange 4uice%
illy images – used !arsimoniously – are a !owerful mnemonic tool !ea-ing about embarrassing images if you do not -now the relation between >arlon 8rando and butter = certainly will not be the one to tell you% "he rest is very straightforwardD = too- a ris- !utting two items in the same !eg .coffee and biscuits but = was running out of s!ace in the -itchen and didn6t feel li-e going to a new room to store a single item% = certainly do not advise doing such a thing unless the items are already grou!ed thematically such as was the case of coffee and biscuits%
"he connection between a chic-en and eggs is obvious but the only reason why = could leave a chic-en hanging around unattended and not forget it is because = recently saw a Baceboo- !ost with a horrendous !icture of a chic-en and that is still very much burned in my brain% Binally the stereoty!ical 9hinese rice farmer is more than ade#uate as the last image since the last is the easiest to remember% till it often ha!!ens the easiest connections are the one we forget so = imagined the hat filtering the light that hit her face as this sort of small visual detail is useful to reinforce the memori$ation% *s you !robably noticed a >emory Aalace is etremely !ersonal% ormally many of the associations = create would ma-e sense to me and to me alone% @on6t worry if you cannot con4ure a lot of different associations at first% = myself cannot thin- of any emotional association or any unusual association .li-e the one between 8rando and butter on the s!ot% =nstead focus on sensory !erce!tion es!ecially visual detail of the image% Bocus on the smells !ay attention to how the images interact with the environmentD remember that your Aalace is the location and the images come and go de!ending on what you are memori$ing so ma-e sure they interact% "hat alone will ma-e you memori$e more items in a list if for no other reason because you will s!end more time thin-ing about them% 8esides understand that there are no hard rules as to how to create images% "he way = did it was one that by trial and error = discovered wor-s for me% * few !ointersD you can !lay with the items in the list% Bor eam!le = used a chocolate bar to re!resent chocolate but the actual item could be chocolate !owder or something else that clearly said chocolate to me% =n the same way = imagined herbal tea but the item could be any tea% >ost of the time normal memory will fill in the ga!s i$ you are familiar with the item and you access the information relatively soon after storing it – which is standard !rocedure with tem!orary lists% *lso =t is often hel!ful to thin- of the scenes three dimensionally even if you are trying to remember a drawing or another two dimensional image%
In this article I used the *e's only to increase my emotional res*onse .and to subtly introduce the conce!t of !egs but an actual !eg is a !ermanent symbol an image associated with one ob4ect or conce!t that you memori$e fre#uently li-e onas6s association of the *ce of clubs with ate from :ost as shown in the video above% *lso with !ermanent !egs .and some !ractice tem!orary images can be !laced with much less attention to detail but that is a sub4ect for the future%
=f there is one thing = ho!e you ta-e from this e!eriment it is thisD *fter you get used to a!!lying this method to a ten(item list it is really easy to e!and it to a list of twenty thirty a hundred or however many you want% "hat is incidentally the difference between memory tric-s and memory methods% = could teach you a memory tric- that would allow you to memori$e ten or twenty items with no effort: 5ust create a funny story involvin' the items – no need to create a !alace or !egs or anything else% *nd trust me it would wor- at least for ten items or twenty% "he !roblem is that as the list of items increased in si$e the memori$ation would become increasingly difficult% Burthermore such sim!le tric-s would not hel! you one iota in memori$ing something as com!le as chess% )ith the >emory Aalace the o!!osite ha!!ens% "he first module will be the most time( consuming to create .it may ta-e u! to an hour but the second will be faster and third even faster% *nd with a Aalace it is u! to you how many items you want to be able to store% 9hess and other more com!le enter!rises .such as s!eed memori$ation of dec-s of cards re#uire s!eciali$ed !egs to be done efficiently% Bor that reason = will only show how to a!!ly mnemonics to chess after we cover !egs% *t the end of this article = will give two sam!le lists to eercise withD one of ten items and another of twenty% "a-e your >emory Aalace for a test drive% *s you do try to avoid another mista-e = used to ma-eD 0Mista&e": do not overcrowd your Aalace
@on6t try to fit five images in the same s!ace% =nstead try to associate one image to one !art of the Aalace or an ob4ect in it – so that you can always visuali$e every image individually% >oreover follo3 some order so you can al3ays remember 3hat comes ne6t in each ,alace you create$ = li-e to follow the shortest !ath from an entrance to an eit%
7vercro3din' is never 'ood
=n the Aalace = 4ust used the locations would beD Bront door couch first balcony cloc- bureau my !arent6s room second balcony my !arent6s closet my !arent6s bathroom my room balcony no%3 my bathroom the -itchen table the sin- another sin- the washing machine bac- door% =f the list is very small as ours was = may go straight from the bureau to the -itchen% 8efore = had these ;sto! !oints6 memori$ed .and yes they have to be memori$ed in the old fashioned way = often s-i!!ed an item sim!ly because = would forget that = had !ut something say on a balcony% *fter = memori$ed the sto! !oints .which = see as the structure of the Aalace it sto!!ed ha!!ening% *fter you test your Aalace you may want to choose your own sto! !oints in it% 9hoose ob4ects that say something to you and don6t hesitate to write down a list of locations – remember the greater the effort invested in the groundwor- the better the results% =f you already tested yourself with the first list you !robably reali$ed how useful the techni#ue is for tem!orary memories and are as-ing yourself how that could be a!!lied to !ermanent memori$ation% "he two !ractices that hel!ed me the most in creating
!ermanent Aalaces were creating a structure .the ;sto! !oints6 = 4ust mentioned before using it and having a !ermanent set of !egs% = will e!lain the Aeg system in the net article% Cou may also be as-ing yourself why if this techni#ue is so efficient and so sim!le why it is not widely used by the general !o!ulation? )ith so many memory cham!ions claiming to use the >emory Aalace and other mnemonic techni#ues it is hard to doubt their efficacy so what gives? =f = had to guess = would say that most do not care enough to try it and ule X1 is one of the reasons% >ost !eo!le !refer to delay effort the longest !ossible% =ncreasing effort now to rea! rewards later is not something most are willing to do% Bor now let us try ourselves and our >emory Aalaces% >a-e sure you write down how long it ta-es for you to encode the list and count to ten out loud before writing down the items you remember .counting out loud is a way to ;reset6 your wor-ing memory% Cou can !ost your results in the comments% =6ll memori$e the list too and let you -now my results in the net article%
10-item list 1% 9innamon 2% *s!aragus 3% etchu! &% almon 5% @eodorant ,% tea7% =ce cream '% Ai$$a G% "ooth !aste 10% alad dressing
20-item list 1% *!!les 2% Aears 3% Aie hells &% uts 5% 8a-ed beans ,% 8asil 7% +arbage 8ags '% Aa!er a!-ins G% >achine oa! 10% !onge 11% 88T auce 12% live il 13% 9ream 9heese 1&% :emon uice 15% Hot auce 1,% Aeanut 8utter 17% Aasta auce 1'% lives 1G% Aasta
20% alt
"o!ics memory techni#ues memory !alace memory Beedbac- and mail to our news service Alease use this account if you want to contribute to or comment on our news !age service
See also
Memory Techniques: Memory ,alace from .oman times to today ,/3/2017 – "he >emory Aalace is a name that has grown steadily into the mainstream of thought and culture% )hat not many reali$e is that this system dates bac- over 2000 years and was written about in detail by intellectual giants such as 9icero who was an enthusiastic !ro!onent% =n this first !art on the >emory Aalace you will be introduced to what it is and its history .and how it can eventually be used with chess% >ore%%%
See also
Memory Techniques: An Introduction 5/30/2017 – Have you ever read about some genius who seemingly had a memory reserved for movies or fiction? Have you ever wished you had some of that even if you have a good memory now or can barely remember the number of your mobile !hone? "he fact is that these seemingly im!ossible feats are well within the gras! of anyone if they learn some basic techni#ues of memori$ation% Here is an introduction% >ore%%%
(ideo
,lay the )6chan'e (ariation a'ainst the Caro-ann "he Fchange Lariation .1%e& c, 2%d& d5 3%ed5 cd5 &%8d3 is a sim!le and easy to learn answer to the 9aro(ann% 8y clarifying the central tension )hite gives himself a clear !lan of attac- using the half o!en e(file and the e5 s#uare% "his is far from easy for 8lac- to meet as 8obby Bischer an "imman )alter 8rowne and other leading +randmasters have demonstrated in their games% 8lac- too has his resources but he needs to -now what hes doing% n this @L@ you will find a clear e!lanation of the strategy for both sides as well as answers to !o!ular treatments such as &%%%c, 5%c3 Tc7% )hilst the main focus is on the )hite side of this o!ening you will also find ways for 8lac- to defend% Liew
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