I got terrible at chess

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chessmn13
i thought I was decent player at chess now I'm back to 100 rating from 270.I'm not a total beginner I know how to move the pieces and all of that. I guess my biggest problem are openings and controlling the center of the board and I guess tactics what pieces I should sacrifice to get better control. right now I'm on a horrible losing streak which feels frustrating.
RichColorado

You need this book . . .

It's only $9.95 @ Barnes & Noble

HeckinSprout

I looked at some of your games and I think you could go down a rabbit hole with openings and tactics. At your level though, I don't think it's needed.

Some things I noticed.

In many of your openings, you are putting a pawn in the center of the board and then on your 2nd move defending it with a bishop. As a general principle, pawns should be defended by other pawns, and in the opening you want to defend your central pawn with a knight. Your bishop is a long range attacking piece. And limiting it's potential by essentially turning it into a pawn isn't helping your game.

A lot of your issues are board awareness - not immediately seeing that an opponent's piece is hanging and snatching it up, or moving your piece to an unsafe square. You're playing a lot of rapid which is good. Before making each move look around the board and make sure that you aren't hanging pieces. Likewise, look for any pieces that your opponent has hanging. I think if you made checking for hanging pieces each turn a habit it would do a lot to improve your game.

ChessMasteryOfficial

Learn and apply the most important principles of chess. - (core of my teaching)
Always blunder-check your moves.
Solve tactics in the right way.
Analyze your games.
Study games of strong players.
Learn how to be more psychologically resilient.
Work on your time management skills.
Get a coach if you can.

FatRatScat

HeckinSprout makes good points. I'd advise anyone under 500 NOT to sacrifice pieces! Follow Botvinnik: sacrifice your opponent's pieces. Chess is mostly a materialistic game.

FatRatScat

It's occurs to me that players under 1000 should learn traps. Traps are "garbage" chess where you make a poor move assuming your opponent will not see the threat your move

FatRatScat

makes. This practical chess for low rated players.