A new beginner

I recently became obsesses with chess but that alone doesn't help my rating and I'm still at the 700 range  

I'm still at that point of hanging up a piece and realising it half a second *after* doing the move...wish me luck.

Good luck..I know that feeling on the hanging pieces as well. The obsession can pull you in and enjoy the game

All I can say, is breath deep and do tactics.

I remember going to a chess master "from the old country" in the Boston area. I brought a few OTB games on paper scoresheets so he could play them and show me what I needed to do...

Instead of setting up a board he started reading one scoresheet - quickly - after another... rustling the paper and looking increasingly agitated.

After maybe only 3-5 minutes, he turns to me, hands the paper scoresheets back and declares "I cannot help you."

I asked "Why? What did you see? What can I do?"

He replied in a soft tone "I can't tell you how you play chess because you lose so many pieces so quickly. You need to stop losing pieces so I can see how you play chess. For now, do tactics until you can play a full game without losing a piece or more, for no reason."

Man, that stung.

But, I turned my attention to tactics, and after a lot of work, stopped losing so many pieces (took a while). Then I went to another chess master "from the old country..."

He, in contrast, was able to see how I played chess (again, simply reading the paper scoresheets, and muttering unpleasant phrases), and that was brutal as well. But, the lessons stuck with me, and I was able to improve...

I'm still striving to improve, that's chess