Chess Course PDF

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

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:

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

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 Kf1 Kg1 Rh1

Kh2 Rg2 Rf2 Re2 Rd2 Kc2 Rb2 Ka2
Ra2 Rc2 Ke2 Kg2 Rh2 Kf2 Kd2 Kb2
Rg1 Re1 Rc1 Ra1 Kb1 Kd1 Rf1 Kh1
Ra1 Rc1 Re1 Rg1 Rh2 Rf2 Rd2 Rb2
Kb1 Kd1 Kf1 Kh1 Kg2 Ke2 Kc2 Ka2
Kh1 Kf1 Kd1 Kb1 Rh2 Kg2 Kc2 Ke2

Rg1 Re1 Rc1 Ra1 Ka2 Rb2 Rf2 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 Nb1 Nc1 Nd1 Ne1 Nf1 Ng1 Nh1

Kh2 Rg2 Rf2 Re2 Rd2 Kc2 Rb2 Ka2
Ba3 Bc3 Be3 Bg3 Bh3 Bf3 Bd3 Bb3
Rg4 Re4 Rc4 Ra4 Kb4 Kd4 Rf4 Kh4
Ba3 Nc3 Be4 Ng4 Bh3 Nf4 Bd3 Nb4
Rb3 Kd3 Rf4 Kh4 Rg4 Ke3 Rc4 Ka3
Bh1 Nf1 Bd1 Nb1 Bh2 Ng2 Bc2 Ne2
Kg1 Re1 Kc1 Ra1 Ka2 Rb2 Kf2 Rd2

Exercise 3
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
a1 Qb1 Nc1 Nd1 Qe1 f1 Ng1 Qh1

Kh2 g2 Qf2 Re2 Rd2 Qc2 Rb2 a2
Qa3 Bc3 Be3 Qg3 h3 Bf3 Qd3 Bb3
Rg4 Re4 c4 a4 Kb4 Kd4 Rf4 Kh4
a5 Nc6 Be5 Ng6 Bh6 Qf5 Bd6 Nb5
Rb6 d5 Rf6 Kh5 Qg5 Ke6 c5 Qa6
Bh3 Nf3 Qd3 Nb3 h4 Ng4 Bc4 Ne4
Qg3 Re3 Kc3 Ra3 Ka4 b4 Qf4 Rd4
Exercise 4
Row 7
(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
Na1 Qb1 Nc1 Nd1 Qe1 Nf1 g1 Qh1

h2 Rg2 Qf2 e2 d2 Qc2 Rb2 Ka2
Qa7 Bc7 Be7 Qg8 Bh8 f8 Qd7 Bb8
Rg8 e8 c8 Qa7 Kb7 Kd7 f8 h7
Ba5 Nc6 Be5 g6 Bh6 Qf5 Bd6 Nb5
b6 Qd5 Rf6 Kh5 Qg5 e6 Rc5 Qa6
Bh3 Nf3 Qd3 Nb3 Bh4 Ng4 Bc4 Ne4
Qg3 Re3 c3 Ra3 a4 Rb4 Qf4 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.

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.

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.

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 7: 0-0 b6 13: c4 e4 19: Bf4 e5

2: d3 d5 8: Re1 Bb7 14: Ne4 Ne4 20: Nc6 f4
3: Nd2 c5 9: c3 Qc7 15: Qe4 Nb4 21: Na7 Qa7
4: Nf3 Nc6 10: a3 0-0-0 16: Qb7 Qb7 22: Ra7 g3
5: g3 Nf6 11: Qe2 h6 17: b4* Bf6 23: g3* Re8
6: Bg2 Be7 12: b4 c4 18: Nd4 Qc7 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.

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 3: d3 Nc6 5: Bg2 Bg7 7: c3 0-0

2: Nf3 e6 4: g3 g6 6: 0-0 Ne7 8: Re1 e5

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.

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

School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Lesson 1 – Preparation: Figurative Codes

In addition the pieces are labeled by one capital letter.

School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Creating Figurative Codes

Rook = Rook (Black Bird)

Castling Long = Castle

Castling long is represented by 0-0-0.

School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Ka1 Rb1 Kc1 Rd1 Ke1 Kf1 Kg1 Rh1

Kh1 Kf1 Kd1 Kb1 Rh2 Kg2 Kc2 Ke2

Practice encoding the following table of FC’s into images.

Na1 Nb1 Nc1 Nd1 Ne1 Nf1 Ng1 Nh1

School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Practice encoding the following table of FC’s into images.

a1 Qb1 Nc1 Nd1 Qe1 f1 Ng1 Qh1

Practice encoding the following table of FC’s into images.

Na1 Qb1 Nc1 Nd1 Qe1 Nf1 g1 Qh1

School of Phenomenal Memory. www.Pmemory.com

Lesson 2 – Preparation: Database Creation

1st Part – Opponent’s Piece

5th part of Canoe + Teepee

You are now ready to begin memorizing moves.

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Lesson 3 – King’s Indian Attack

1st Part – Opponent’s Piece

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Continue memorizing the moves following this format.

1: e4 e6 7: 0-0 b6 13: c4 e4 19: Bf4 e5

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1: e4 c5 3: d3 Nc6 5: Bg2 Bg7 7: c3 0-0

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Your Variations – 4: g3 Nc6

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