Hi all!
I'd like to start trying out some openings in a more rigorous way in my game -- I watch a lot of GothamChess' videos but at the moment I don't take notes and just try to remember the main ideas and apply them in my games. If I did start being more rigorous in going down each line, is it considered cheating to note down a few lines and then use them in my game? I would imagine it's cheating since something like that isn't allowed OTB, but I have no idea how I can get used to playing these openings without having a reference sheet for a couple games if that makes sense?
Thoughts? :)
If you play correspondence matches, you can use opening books, opening databases, personal notes, general chess books, youtube videos, a board at home to play moves on, etc. It's a greaty way to learn opening ideas.
@Joey-Bonzo you can do it on casual games, but I'd prefer to know it if you were my opponent, so I think it's also nice if you let your opponent know in the chat that you're doing that or do it with a friend who knows it.
But yes, in general if you do casual games you won't be accused of cheating if you do anything that would be "unethical" in a rated game (read an opening book, hand and brain, etc)
Thanks for the responses! Yeah I think playing casual games + letting my opponent know I'm using an opening book is the fairest way to do it then! :))
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I didn't think you could use youtube videos in correspondence games because you are then getting advice from another chess player.
I don't use anything in games that aren't correspondence because it's against the rules. You just have to practice the line over and over again until you memorize them. That is why my correspondence rating is so much higher...I have a database of over 5 million games & many correspondence players don't use a database. That, and they often let their time expire.
I would recommend that even if you start studying openings in a more rigorous way by reading books you discard memorization and focus on ideas always, I remember hearing that advice from Magnus Carlsen and Jan Timman, and it makes a lot of sense, since at the end of the day, chess is about understanding what you are doing, and not about reducing the game to a matter of memorization, by the way your level is very low, so you shouldn't pay attention to openings in a rigorous way because it's a waste of time, focus on your tactical skills would help you improve much faster.
blunder prevention > tactics > endgames > openings
You should memorize your opening theory.
To quickly recall opening theory, I'd suggest you to build opening repertoire over
chesstempo.com.
It uses spaced repetition so you will come back time to time to recall the moves.
Give it a try
chesstempo.com/opening-training/