Thank you everyone who has contributed, as well as those higher-ups offering advice! Some of the advice is stuff I have already done or, well, sorta done, while others are steps I have yet to take but probably should. Just to make it clear, I'm not expecting some sort of magic bullet idea that will instantly rocket me to 1500+.
Let's keep this pity party going. Yeah!
Any other sub-1000 players who aren't just "starting out"?
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This is an extremely interesting conversation. I am an older player who started playing chess six months ago. When I started I played games before I was ready to play games and dug myself into a hole rating wise. I play at least one blitz game a day. I am learning to focus and concentrate and not just play. I try to remind myself it is a game and not part of my serious world. The above advice looks good and I will try to remember it. And I will continue to smile at all the people who come on various sites and tell us how great they play and how they progressed so quickly through the rankings. All those geniuses can wait for us slowly advancing players and maybe someday we will meet at the top.
Jun 26, 2019
0
#24
Porphyroh wrote:
I've studied chess daily for YEARS and still have very low rankings. inherent personality flaws can be serious impediments to your game. I have no patience for blunder checks and often throw away great positions with one or two poor moves. I also have a penchant for drama and often make unnecessary sacrifices in order to spice up a boring game. on my occasional good day I can win a series of games into a temporary score boost 2 or 3 times my regular rank, but most of the time I'm stuck. So yeah. I know your pain...
I also have a low performance given the amount of time & effort i spend on studying and i think its more due to those personality flaws than lack of knowledge. But i believe these flaws can be worked on. I have to get in the habit of looking at my opponents threats, thinking about his best moves and plans. Sometimes i lack patience and start to force things unnecessary or fail to do proper blunder checks.
But in general i am okay with the fact that i am improving slowly, i enjoy the game just as much.
When under 1000 you train the following:
-TONS of tactics: this must be your top priority in training. You must solve them in your head. Try easy ones first.
-Openings: focus only on opening principles: develop your pieces (with the idea of controlling the center in mind)and castle. Don't learn openings (just basics like 1.e4 2.Nf3..., not more than a couple moves).
-basic endgames: queen and king vs lone king; rook and king vs lone king; king, pawn and some piece vs king...
and remember: tactics, tactics, tactics...
The important idea behind tactics and attack in chess in general is that you attack several targets at the same time, in many cases the opponent won't be able to defend all of them. For instance when a knight performs a fork, it attacks two pieces with a single move.
You play too fast in your 15/10 games, just by slowing down and looking for undefended pieces to take should be enough.
I’ll check back in with you in two months and let you know.
i’m in a similar situation. And was playing far too many games, spinning my wheels, when I realized my learning curve had hit a wall. It was time to punctuate the equilibrium. So I respectfully, or at least it was intended as a polite gesture, resigned from a slew of games, “enrolling” myself in the Summer of Tactics 2019 course, beginning June 19.
Some rules: 3 or 4 tournaments/ daily games allowed only
No games may be played until at least an hour of tactics practice, preferably two.
Three hours minimum tactics daily. No limit on maximum.
It’s okay if you don’t catch on immediately. Persevere. You’ll get it. And ignore the haters and their yardsticks.
Focus on your studies.
Pay no mind to some silly number on a silly website. It’s one of the least indicative markers of true ability around. Do you see? Are you learning? Are you improving?
One week in, and I’m most pleasantly surprised. Tactics seemed intimidating and sounded so hard. Lol, tactics are so much more beautiful than games, I’ve found. Beautiful and fun.
For anyone with a Kanopy account (available and free through your local public library), Jeremy Silman’s How to Play Chess Series is on there.
Good luck and best wishes to all.
Jun 26, 2019
0
#29
+1 on John Bartholomew's vids. I pretty much went from 1100 to 1200 in one weekend after watching his vids. 30 days ago I was 1,000 rated, now I'm 1350.
Jun 26, 2019
0
#30
Have you considered getting a coach? It might be beneficial to your chess improvement if you can afford one. Message me if you're interested. 
Jun 26, 2019
0
#31
There are a lot of resources out there. What's mainly important is that you are exposed to as much good chess as possible! 
Well, i’ve signed up for a week of lessons, with quite a few different Masters, at an out-of-state chess club I’ve joined, and shall visit in a couple of months. In the meantime, the grindstone here will do. 
I had similar issues... Here are a few simple tips that really helped me push through to maintain a higher level:
Study the endgame first! Learn which types of positions/material imbalances lead to wins and learn how to convert pawn up endgames/ the principle of two weaknesses, etc. Too many players focus on openings, spend 1/2 of their time developing their pieces and don't have time to calculate when the critical time comes. Develop your pieces and castle always looking out for tactics to your advantage.
Control the center! Open files for your rooks, push pawns to create weaknesses.
Don't avoid simple moves. So many mistakes are made when players try to overcomplicate defense or sacrifice pawns that are simple to defend. If a pawn is attacked...defend it if you can. Your attack will still be there next move. Combine attack and defense.
Slow down the time control. We learn the game while calculating and seeing patterns develop. Beginning players will learn more playing one 30 minute game than 6 five minute blitz games. You will have more time to see and calculate.
As your chess intuition grows the faster time controls will become easier for you to maintain a higher level of play.
Best of luck!
dfgh123 wrote:
You play too fast in your 15/10 games, just by slowing down and looking for undefended pieces to take should be enough.
Yeah, I can see how I am going a little fast. Part of it is impulsivity, but I also currently have a very difficult time seeing or planning anything more than two moves ahead, unless it has been prerehearsed or grounded on the hope that the opponent makes a very specific blunder. So when I do try to stop and think, it hasn't gotten me that far.
I will definitely check out Bartholomew's videos!
By the way, speaking of openings and planning ahead, I have a question. Whenever I try to follow the opening principles for beginners, I wind up with something like this:
Of course, in reality, black wouldn't be moving it's knights back and forth, and usually the other side (regardless of which one I'm playing) attacks and disrupts this formation before I have a chance to connect the rooks. Maybe this is my own bias, but I rarely seem to win when I try to follow this template. (Instead, practically all of my wins hinge on "gotcha" moments and my opponent blundering more than I do.) Am I misunderstanding the opening principles?
I'm the same as the one who "dug a rating hole" before I was ready to play. I've been learning and getting somewhat better, I even joined a club and have fide coaches on weekends with us so sometimes I can even show them my games and run through some good analysis. Just keep at it, every game is a lesson
FforEffort wrote:
… speaking of openings and planning ahead, I have a question. Whenever I try to follow the opening principles for beginners, I wind up with something like this: [1 d4 Nc6 2 e4 Nb8 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Nc3 Ng8 5 Bc4 Nc6 6 Bf4 Nb8 7 0-0 Nf6 8 Qe2 Ng8] Of course, in reality, black wouldn't be moving it's knights back and forth, and usually the other side (regardless of which one I'm playing) attacks and disrupts this formation before I have a chance to connect the rooks. Maybe this is my own bias, but I rarely seem to win when I try to follow this template. (Instead, practically all of my wins hinge on "gotcha" moments and my opponent blundering more than I do.) Am I misunderstanding the opening principles?
"... For beginning players, [Discovering Chess Openings] will offer an opportunity to start out on the right foot and really get a feel for what is happening on the board. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
At some point, you may want to look at some of the sample games in books like:
My First Chess Opening Repertoire for White
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9033.pdf
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/vincent-moret/
Opening Repertoire 1 e4
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7819.pdf
First Steps: 1 e4 e5
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7790.pdf
https://chesscafe.com/book-reviews/first-steps-1-e4-e5-by-john-emms/
First Steps: Queen's Gambit
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7652.pdf
impossible to have less than a thousand points.
@fforeffort
This is a really great question, and since no one else has answered it, I will attempt to.
The reason why opening principles are important is because active and centralized pieces lead to tactics, and lack of activity prevents tactics. So when your position is far more active, you should be looking for tactical opportunities. If you are completely stuck, there are three basic places to go:
1: Look for checkmate threats that cannot be stopped.
2: Look to attack pieces your opponent can't defend
3: Look to fork pieces that your opponent can't defend both of
4: Look for pawn breaks to open the position. This will favor your more active pieces.
You can start in the position you gave with number 1 by looking at the pieces you are currently attacking. Your bishop is attacking f7 once, and it is only defended once. This means another attack would threaten to take it. But can your opponent properly defend? This makes an immediate candidate move in the position:
Jun 27, 2019
0
#39
@FforEffort
Here is my simple, two-step plan to improve your rating:
1. Have three opening plans written down that you play consistently. One for White, one for Black against e4 and one for Black against d4. Just your planned first five or six moves is fine. Don't make it a book. It should fit on one piece of paper. Play these openings consistently, as you gain experience with what works and what doesn't, revise, develop, and enhance your plan.
Over time you will learn how to come out of the opening with a modest advantage over a typical opponent because most of them play many random openings and don't get more familiar with the details of a few.
2. Continue to spend some time every day on the tactics trainer. Puzzle rush is good too, if you prefer it. If you just do five tactics puzzles and one puzzle rush daily, and (critically) review and understand the ones you missed, you will discover that as your tactics improve, so does your Elo rating in games. Basically, at the hobbyist level, the better tactical player usually wins.
Those two changes will get you to 1000. This isn't rocket science. You can do it!
Good luck!
EOGuel wrote:
There are a lot of resources out there. What's mainly important is that you are exposed to as much good chess as possible!
Pardon me, but what do you mean by "good chess"? Does this mean that playing against similarly rated opponents who blunder as much as or more than me is "bad" chess that I should avoid? This isn't a sarcastic question. I'm just dense sometimes.
@xman720 dumb question: If I dont understand what an opponent is doing in the opening phase (which is most of the time), should I just keep following the opening principles? Or do I change course and take my best guess on how to counter?
I learned to play chess around 1970, so I'm definitely not just starting out. I've played off and on since 1980 or so. These days I enjoy chess mainly by reading books and playing out the games of great players of the past that I admire. I also have a little Radio Shack chess computer that I sometimes play against. I don't think I've played a face to face game since around 1981-82.