When I played I basically refused to memorize openings and instead worked on developing my own. It was weak, and the highest level players crushed me, but players below them were often so thrown off by the opening that I was able to gain an advantage and win against people who would have soundly trounced me if I had used a standard opening. I ended up getting out of chess when I reached the point where I was primarily playing against those who were unfazed by non-standard openings.
