I realized the only way to be a competitive player was to become a human database. I would have agreed with you five years ago. Today, Magnus Carlsen is known

I realized the only way to be a competitive player was to become a human database. I would have agreed with you five years ago. Today, Magnus Carlsen is known for being less booked-up than most elite players, playing openings just to get in the game, while rated #1 by a significant margin. So maybe there's hope. Beyond a certain point getting better at chess simply means you got better at chess and nothing else. No argument there. And isn't that true for most things in life?