You Can Learn to Remember: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life pdfdrive com

memory and games
A
ccording to convention, each square on the chess board is designated a
number and a letter. Numbers (one through eight) run up the side of the board
and letters (a through h) run from left to right. White begins play in rows one
and two; black in seven and eight. (The “pieces” – that is all the chessmen
except the pawns – are given letters: Queen, Q; King, K; Knight, N; Rook, R;

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Bishop, B.)
We learned in the Dominic system (see
p.108
) to designate letters to
numbers (1=A; 2=B; and so on). As each square on the board can be identified
by a number and a letter, this code can easily be converted to initials (and so to a
persona). Perhaps white’s first move is knight to c3 (Nc3). Using the DOMINIC
system, c3 = CC (say, Charlie Chaplin), so the knight moves to Charlie Chaplin.
But how is this memorable? It isn’t – yet. Each chess piece also needs a
persona. Select characters who seem to “match” the pieces. Perhaps the queens
are Elizabeth II; the knights, Sir Lancelot of the Round Table; and so on. You
only need one character for each type of piece (you will need to devise a system
whereby you can recall which of your knights moves to a square that either
could reach; similarly for the rooks). The pawns do not need characters – you’ll
know a pawn’s move as it involves only the square’s persona.
In the previous example, Nc3 gives us Lancelot (the knight) moving to
Charlie Chaplin (square c3). To remember the sequence of play, we need to
deposit each move at the stages of a journey. So, if Nc3 is white’s opening move,
first we combine the two personae into a single image: Lancelot adopts the
action or prop of Charlie Chaplin (Lancelot jousting with Chaplin’s cane?). Then
we place this image at stage one of the journey. Black’s response (placed at stage
two) might be Nf6 – Lancelot singing like Frank Sinatra (in the DOminic
system, six is given the letter “s”). A 12-stage journey will enable you to
memorize an opening gambit; 60 stages, perhaps a whole game!
One of the most effective uses of memory in games is for cards. The box
(below) puts memory techniques for blackjack into practice. However, if you are
gambling, beware! – no system is infallible.
Learning to memorize a randomly shuffled deck of cards is a good way
generally to exercise your memory. “Speed Cards” (memorizing a deck against
the clock) is my favourite of all the heats in the Memory Championships. The
following is the technique I use.