How to improve at chess ?

Hi! I just started playing chess three weeks ago, and I'm having a blast! I reached 700 rating, but now I'm stuck.

I know I have a lot to learn as a new player, but I don't know where to begin.

Can anyone give me some advice and provide me with a list of things I should learn as a beginner?

Thank you!

Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/improving-your-chess-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

@1

"I reached 700 rating"
++ A rating of 700 is a sign of frequent blunders. Always check your intended move is no blunder before you play it. Think about your move, decide, imagine your intended move played on the board, check it is no blunder, only then play it. Hang no pieces, hang no pawns.

"I know I have a lot to learn as a new player, but I don't know where to begin."
++ Study Chess Fundamentals - Capablanca. In 60 pages it contains all you need to know.

"Can anyone give me some advice" ++ Whenever you lose a game, stop playing and analyse it thoroughly so as to learn from your mistakes.

Here is what I did:

https://www.chess.com/blog/nklristic/the-beginners-tale-first-steps-to-chess-improvement

I hope you will find it useful. 

Slow down.

Pretty much every mistake results from playing too fast.

The beginning is simple:

1) Learn and incorporate the general opening principles.

2) Learn the basic winning endgames.

3) Learn the basic tactical patterns.

Puzzles

When I was 700 rating, I bought the Mammoth Book of Chess by Graham Burgess. That book taught me a lot of useful stuff that I didn't know. It covers openings, tactics, strategy, endgames, a bit of everything.

CHESS is not just a game about the pieces, how they move, tactics, Strategy, opening, middle, and endgame theory. CHESS is also a game about Psychology.  Psychology and Chess go hand and hand.  Not very many people talk about this, but it's there.  Yeah, Dan Heisman tells the beginner to learn the big 3 first, before anything else.  Then the big 5.  Once you get good at that, things like chess psychology come into play. 

What I've seen happen to players is that they don't buy books or study chess for themselves.  They just go to a local club, and just play chess, and base their chess education on just playing chess at the club a couple nights a week. 

Depending on how much innate talent they have for the game, they can get fairly good without study.  I did the same thing myself.  I played predominately speed chess, and I improved all the way up to about 1500.  But the progress is slow, and has a cap. 

Once a chess player is in that position, where they are 1500, never studied chess, just played blitz.  They develop "bad habits" (like me) and "faulty beliefs" about the game.  They will sometimes be very stubborn when talking to someone higher rated than them who is trying to tell them to change their game, and for the most part, won't listen to advice. 

That isn't about chess psychology, however, it is related because his chess psychology made him think that he had to play the way he was playing.

The way you think about chess, shapes your strategies, your moves, and your openings.  Everything.  A lot of times when people train themselves without coaching they learn these bad habits and bad psychologies (not really reading the book of chess psychology, however, by doing what they are doing, it is being ingrained into them as they play chess).

Ding Liren is an example of how chess psychology can be good, as he has played games with starting Nh3, just to throw off their opponents.  These people, that I am talking about, are trying to do the same thing, however, they are doing it, when they haven't got good at chess yet, which is bad.  Like Dan Heisman said, these type of moves should be reserved until master level.  Learn the big three, then big five, then get good at them.  If you are not 2000 soon, then you are not taking it seriously enough, which is fine, that could be chess is not a priority for you, like me for the most part of my life. 

That being said, my advice, is to not get in to this situation, learn chess the right way, by playing slowly, and seeking out a coach.  Consider this a warning.

How to improve at chess:

• Play slow games, not Blitz or Bullet.
• Look over each of your losses and try to figure out why you lost. Ask for advice.
• Play over games by the old masters: Morphy, Tarrasch, Chigorin, Rubenstein, Reti, and Alekhine.  Played a hundred-odd years ago, the strategic and tactical themes in their games will be easier to understand than corresponding games by modern players such as Carlsen and Nakamura.

To play well at all, Chess is a game that you absolutely have to study by reading a book by one of the masters or find a coach. Preferably both. Capablanca is available for free at archivedotorg, the Internet archive. I think you can find Nimzovich, and others, for free, also. I studied Nimzovich in my thirties and then cut my teeth playing against the Kasparov Radio Shack computer. Now I'm 64 and really learning how to play the game playing all the different players on here. And there is a lot of psychology in chess.

Have you tried analyzing your games? 

Hire a coach, it will save u a lot of trouble and be a great help in making your road to improvement a smooth and easier one

Kill all pieces

I have the same issue as you: Stuck in the 600s.

#1 thing I'd say for improvement is to enjoy chess. If you're not having fun, you're getting demotivated and you play much worse when upset. On the other hand, when you're having much fun with the game, you tend to play well, and generally won't care even if you lose. I've had a few experiences with both ends of the spectrum, and trust me, chess while mad is not good, its always horrible, and I eventually give up while simply pissed off and about to sleep early. Generally, if you're not having fun, take a break for a few hours, then come back.