Comment by defrost

Chess Grand Masters have large repertoires of memorised openings. They do not play rote games with no understanding.

They run variations, twists and traps, on recalled openings and duel and fool by creating and breaking expectations.

In line with a number of other activities rote core skills and reflexes are foundational but not all, they're essential to practice and to dealing with situations where they don't fit but can be bent to purpose.