What's the longest game you've encountered?

[scottrparker]

@dennisk

@nolan

But how many of them could have done it a month later?

Exactly. This may not be the case for everyone, but memory is not a permanent thing for me, nor has it ever been. To give just one example, I used to play numerous card games with my brothers and their wives on a regular basis, including cribbage, hearts, “dirty eights” (a variation on crazy eights), a version of rummy, etc. I could have played any of these games in my sleep back then, but I couldn’t play any of them now without having to relearn them. I would have no idea how to count a cribbage hand, for example. I still remember that the highest-scoring hand is worth 29, but I have no clue what that hand consists of, or how to count it if I had it. But all of that was as easy as walking and talking 30 years ago. If I don’t do something regularly, I forget how to do it, no matter how well I had it “memorized”.

To give another example, a friend of mine is a big Stephen King fan. She has read every one of his books, most of them more than once. In particular, she has read The Stand 7 or 8 times – and can’t remember the names of most of the characters. I’ve read it twice, and I can’t remember half of the names either. Don’t even get me started on Russian novels. I read Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot back in college (that would have been 1973/1974), and of the dozens of characters in that book, the only name I remember is Prince Myshkin, the main character – and even in his case, I don’t remember his first name (I’m pretty sure it wasn’t “Prince”). I don’t remember much of what happened in the book, either. If I read it again now, it would be like reading it for the first time.

Not being able to remember Russian names from a book you read that long ago is understandable. I read Crime and Punishment fifty years ago, and except for the main character, Raskolnikov, I cannot remember the names in that book, either. But the mate with B+N is not rocket science. I think you are convincing yourself that you cannot do it. Try setting up this position: White - Kf6, Bd3, Nf7; Black - Kg8. This position, or one analogous to it can always be reached. Now drive the Black King across to a8. 1.Bf5 Kf8 2.Bh7 Ke8 3.Ne5 Kd8 4.Ke6 Kc7 5.Nd7…you take it from there. Remember this zigzag pattern with the Knight; it’s key to getting this right. I’m betting you’ll be able to finish this off pretty quickly, and that you’ll remember enough to perform it should this ever come up in a game for you.