how do I not suck?

I like to watch chess streamers on YT I think it's helped me a lot. Eric Rosen is pretty good for that he talks out loud about every move he makes so you hear his thought process. why that move is favorable over another or just general theory.

First, quit playing blitz!! Seriously, stop it now.

I have a YouTube channel called "Chess Boot Camp" that talks you through (mostly) real games, but not from a chess master's perspective, but an intermediate player's perspective.

Start with this one...

"Quit playing blitz" - from the guy who has 7 and a half thousand blitz games on the site.

This is an easy one to fix :0 )

You have to commit to fixing your bad habits.

Ask yourself "what is my opponent attacking" and then find the best answer to the threat before moving.

Practice tactics dilligently so you are familiar with the common themes: pins, forks, skewers, discovered attacks, checkmate threats...

and then practice using both of the above in your games, every single game.

Only play a certain amount of games a day: ( 2 hours etc) and then spend another hour each day reviewing the games you played and looking for the tactical themes I mentioned.

If you do this consistently, you will see a significant increase in your winning or not losing percentage.

As you get better, your opponents will get better so you will have mine further to discover " what they are attacking" and your chess IQ will rise and your playing strength will increase as well.

This should be done consistently and with discipline, not in a sometime, haphhazard fashion, for the quickest and best results.

You can get to 1200 in 30 days or less if you are truly disciplined with this approach!

- all the best!

You're right, I used to play only blitz... but I didn't really start to get better at all-round chess until I slowed down and started playing rapid time controls in the last year. That's why I can share advice from my personal experience.

And... this guy's trying not to suck. He wants to get over 1000 and beyond. I'm rated 1450 in blitz now.

Solve Tactics!! The important idea is to always look for "forcing moves". These are your 1.check's 2.captures and 3.threats. Scan the board for them even if it is a sacrifice on every puzzle. This is the most important place to start. 2nd is openings but don't try to memorize move orders etc. (that's for GM's). Once again, look for a simple setup of pieces and learn some tactics you can use in your opening to win material or get an attack! 

Are you calculating candidate moves and your opponents best reply on every move, for sufficient depth given the position (so for as many moves where there is a sufficiently forcing reply that you can reasonably predict their response). You can develop this on the tactics engine by only moving when you're reasonably confident you have the solution. Do it all in your head until then. Five puzzles a day and after 6 months you will have no problem exploring 3 or 4 candidate moves 3 or 4 moves deep, visualising and evaluating them in your head. You should develop your skills and knowledge to improve. Skills include calculation, visualisation, and evaluation of the visualised position. Knowledge is openings, strategy, tactics, and endgames. But study and play are not the same. It takes time for skills and knowledge that you practice regularly in study to become part of your play. It needs to become habit. To help develop habits try playing practice games where you forget about the rating and whether you will win or lose. Simply pick something you want to improve like piece coordination and, for example, set a goal that you are going to keep you pieces coordinated and defending each other for the first 10 moves. Do this for 5 games in a row say. You should find it will become a more natural part of your play requiring less contious thought. You can then move on to the next one. The key to winning more games is to make your goal improvement not victory.

I'm around 1300 and you can easily make 1200 to 1300 if you play opening principles, dont leave pieces and pawns undefended (especially pieces), fight for the centre, coordinate your pieces, calculate sufficiently to avoid tempo losing moves, dont help your opponent develop, evaluate all exchanges including even trades asking the question what's in it for you, and just play good basic chess, and did I say dont hang pieces.

In no particular order:

-Make it a goal to spend 1 hour on tactic training. Any website will do.

-Find a good book/YT channel/whatever that discusses basic positional principles and shows real games where these concepts exist. J. Silman's books or St. Louis chess lessons are good for that. Focus on only one concept at a time e.g. this week I'll study minor piece use, the other Rooks and open files etc. On this note, studying basic endgame principles will also pay dividends.

-Play games. Time control should be the fastest where you can actually think for each position that arises at the board. If you need 5 minutes, play 5 mins. If you need 30 minutes, play 30 mins. The important thing is to rarely find yourself low on time, in a panic mode and just blitzing moves (which result in blunders).

-Whenever you lost a game (especially long games) go through it again to see where it went wrong. Try to avoid using an engine until you saw all variations/ideas you could up to this point.

-Don't play when tired/sleepy/tilted. It will only lead to disasters.

This is what helped me so far.

Nice video buddy, we should do a collab. 

Yes indeed! That could really work! Let's connect and have a think.

OP wants to better themself not be themself :) which is why they are reaching out.

I'm in a similar position I'm pretty sure the problem is moving the pieces too quick.  A lot of the time I blunder early when I still have a few minutes on the clock.

The problem is often being so absorbed the in the game, plans, and the piece or move that is currently at hand, that it is easy to forget to calculate all captures, checks, and threats for each move.

Fast time controls doesn't help. Slow to improve, fast for fun is recommended. Use slow time controls to give you time to develop good technique and habits. As these become more natural, you will become quicker and they can then transfer into you faster games. You can still play blitz but you are more likely to be playing with your existing skills, rather than improving them. You will improve more quickly if you play some slower games and consciously use these to develop your technique.

The rule I use is that you should play time controls that give you enough time to be confident that, within your knowledge and ability, every move you make is at least a good move.

Doesn't have to be the BEST move on the board, but should never be a blunder that's a direct result of rushing.

Now, masters, who have memorised heaps of theory, and who can instantly recognise certain patterns, may be able to play a 3-minute game and be confident that they're making strong moves every time, but I sure can't. These days, most of my games are 30-minute Rapid, and if I play Blitz I tend to go for 10 minutes each.

🖐