How To Learn Chess As An Adult (or, how I went from 300 to 1500 ELO in 9 months)

Re:How To Learn Chess As An Adult (or, how I went from 300 t... by bnralt on Tuesday December 19, 2023 @07:16AM (#38694638)

This is how I feel as well. I did a little studying, but it not only felt like a treadmill, I actually felt like I was using less of my critical thinking skills the more I studied. Stuff like memorizing openings, memorizing the best move a chess engine would give you for certain situations, stuff like grandmasters memorizing entire games - this all seemed to be pretty common. I didn't see the point in putting in work only to enjoy the game less.

Of course, plenty of people enjoy a much more memorization heavy game. But it feels like ruining the fun part of the game to me.

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Re:How To Learn Chess As An Adult (or, how I went from 300 t... by NickC25 on Tuesday December 19, 2023 @09:06AM (#38695618)

I'm 1700-1800ish lichess (Crazyhouse and King of the Hill). I agree with this, but with one caveat. I memorize a few openings just because games can get crazy sharp pretty quickly, and there are a few patterns or move orders in the opening to memorize just so you aren't mated quickly.

I don't memorize games several moves deep, just 3-4 maybe 5 depending on the opening, which especially in Crazyhouse as there are only probably 3-4 good openins.

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