Life In 19x19

I would like to hear from anyone who has used a memory method of some kind in attempting to become stronger at go, chess or another deep strategy game ... for example, mnemonic coding or substitution, visualization, scheduled repetition, any of those things other than brute force studying of the thing itself. Tell me what you've done, how well it worked, whether it made studying more effective or efficient, whether you made it up yourself or were taught by someone else and whether you've used it to teach others. Also let me know if you know someone else worth getting in touch with.

Thanks,

Andy

Understanding generates memorisation.

• Using spaced repetition software.
• Training program devised by namii
• Intensive tsumego sessions 1 and 2
• I also used dailyjoseki for a while (spaced repetition for joseki.)
• I've been doing n-back training, which supposedly may (or may not, research is not really clear) improve working memory
• I've been reading on "mental techniques" of chess, poker (specially for losing/winning streaks) and (lately) backgammon (I wasn't aware backgammon was so much fun, btw), trying to find applications to my learning of go
• Edit: quite likely will add a randomisation element to some of my go choices in the near future

What I've found so far?

• Spaced repetition for tsumego only works because you are doing a lot of tsumego, not because of remembering (more or less.)
• Intensive stretches (i.e. reaching slightly farther than usual for really long sessions in a short span) seem to work best, as in "most short-time gains." After such sessions my play feels much sharper during the next 2-3 days
• Constant study (like my 4 months of almost daily, not-too-difficult tsumego) seems to bring the most constant gains (these days my tactical play when playing unfocused is at least as good as my tactical play when I played focused 6 months ago.) Yes, concentrating on the game is usually where I fail worse.
• Diversifying training is good enough, but sharpest play is after intensive or constant tsumego solving.
• Blitz is useful when trying game plans (go for moyo, go for Kobayashi, approach everywhere, etc.) Only when backed with reviews of fuseki and large blunders later
• There's not much point in trying to find coding ways (peg methods, memory palaces, etc) for go positions (or chess positions.) Chunking should happen naturally, where the code is the position.

Rote memorisation can only get you so far, and, in general, memorisation using more effective tools gets you to the same place somewhat faster. Probably the best areas where memorisation is useful is joseki, fuseki and endgame (just like in chess, actually) but like in chess, knowing the main line gets you nowhere unless you can justify the moves to a deviating opponent.

RobertJasiek wrote:Understanding generates memorisation.

This is so, and when I was learning go I avoided memorization. For instance, when I started studying a joseki dictionary I started on the large knight's response to the knight's approach to the 4-4, because nobody still played it and I would not be tempted to memorize it. When I started studying tsumego with the Maeda series, once I got through the problems that were appropriate for my level, I waited weeks or months before going back to them, so that I would not just remember the answers, but would have to work out a lot of them again.

However, I now think that there may well be a place for memorization in go. Ancient memory methods relied heavily on imagery. It is quite possible that the poetic names for some ancient problems and tesuji acted as aides memoire.

RBerenguel wrote:Rote memorisation can only get you so far, and, in general, memorisation using more effective tools gets you to the same place somewhat faster. Probably the best areas where memorisation is useful is joseki, fuseki and endgame (just like in chess, actually) but like in chess, knowing the main line gets you nowhere unless you can justify the moves to a deviating opponent.

An important point. If you understand the joseki you know how to handle the deviations, and you know that you know that. Why memorize sequences?

RBerenguel wrote:Spaced repetition for tsumego only works because you are doing a lot of tsumego, not because of remembering (more or less.)

A good point, but I would not be too sure of that. One learning technique that I used was overlearning, by solving problems that I had already solved. IIUC, spaced repetition is a form of overlearning.

The overlearning technique that I used works this way. Suppose that it takes N tries to a problem before success. After that you overlearn the problem by adding N/2 more successes. I kept track of successes by Xs and failures by check marks. (I also crossed through a check mark to make an X, after the first success.) Sometimes I waited so long between repetitions that I failed on problems that I had succeeded on before.

RBerenguel wrote:There's not much point in trying to find coding ways (peg methods, memory palaces, etc) for go positions (or chess positions.) Chunking should happen naturally, where the code is the position.

I quite agree. For fun I wondered how to construct mnemonic images for a joseki sequence. For instance, let the image for the 3-4 point be three mice running through a door, and the image for the 5-4 point be a hive of bees over a doorway, etc. Now make up a story for a joseki sequence. Are you kidding?

I do think that language is good for organizing, understanding, and memorizing go positions and plays. If you really understand go terminology it is hard not to be a good amateur player.

What I don't understand is the need for visualisation when Go itself is so visual. In fact, I find it quite easy to "visualise" joseki sequences or easy tsumego problems with a limited number of stones with closed eyes, but this is probably not what you meant. Go proverbs are basic mnemotechnique, of course, but this does not really seem to be the thing you are after. In fact, it seems a bit like you are looking for a method to get better at Go without "brute force studying" Go itself, I doubt such a method exists. There is, however, a thread in L19 somewhere that a friend of someone reached 5 dan just by continuously memorising professional games for a year or so.

The one field where a memory method would help me, I believe, is keeping track of my score estimates (for each of my groups and the opponents groups) during the game.

tapir wrote:The one field where a memory method would help me, I believe, is keeping track of my score estimates (for each of my groups and the opponents groups) during the game.

Interesting idea. There is where number images could help, eh?