My 2 cents on improving

1) I played too many games. Chess certainly isn't a video game. 

2) I didn't take the games seriously. I didn't play in my best state of mind. I didn't play solid openings or follow solid opening principles. 

3) I thought doing puzzles was the trick. But everyone does it and almost nobody sees significant improvements. 

4) Puzzles should be understood, not just solved. 

5) The most benefit I will achieve from solving puzzles is derived from how assidous I train. Solving easy puzzles faster & faster, while puting a considerable effort to accomplish this (let's say 1-2 hours every day) is the best source of improvement, for anyone rated intermediary to advanced. 

6) analyzing my games (making a dossier of blunders and personal blind spots) 

7) choosing a GM whose style made an impression on me and play through his games. 

Thanks for reading and good luck! 

Thanks for your advice.

I guess everybody’s experience is different. For me, I always l slid backwards when I stopped drinking and not having fun.

Happened to me twice, once climbing from 800 to 1200 and fell back to 1100. Then rose from 1100 to 1400 and fell back to 1300.

Started drinking, partying and blasting music again and back into the 1400 club. Hopefully party my way to 1500 soon. Wish me luck.

Hi,

This is why people may solve lots of puzzles and not see a significant improvement. Learning patterns is great but the real benefit is learning to break a position down, understand what’s going on, then finding the right idea/move(s) to take advantage of the position. 

-Jordan

Solving puzzles definitely helps and it's very practical. 

And playing long time control once or twice a week.

( Regular if possible) with a player slightly higher rated. 

Problem with puzzles; you know there's a quick win.  there's a tendency to make the first sacrificial check you see, which solves at least half of the beginner puzzles.
Real games; are you in a puzzle now or not?

my goal in puzzles: no surprises.  if I make a check and the check is blocked and I didn't see that coming, I didn't solve the puzzle.  The goal is to analyze the position, not just for my move, but for the best responses to my move.

My other personal feeling (as a beginner trying to improve): I'd rather play a clean game and lose on time then win because my blunders were outnumbered by the opponent.  Once I can play clean games I'll naturally get faster.  On the other hand, playing rapid, sloppy chess is less likely to lead to improvement except to play even more rapid, sloppy chess.

That's a good perspective and cheers on your chess journey!

This is exactly what I needed to read, thank you!

"  On the other hand, playing rapid, sloppy chess is less likely to lead to improvement except to play even more rapid, sloppy chess."  Your understanding this already puts you ahead of so many players   We do need to realize though that getting better may not be a priority for some players, although if you choose sloppy style and you want to become less sloppy you have to choose a way to play that allows you to be less sloppy

That must of been me lol. 

The  only time I play sober is doing puzzles. I’ll cope with being sober OTB with plenty of peppermint tea when I cross that bridge.

The Exact solution is needed but don't dispair if you don't see the moves. It's already great that you are looking at it, trying to differentiate between two moves. Can't remember who said it but his/her advice was to memorize a game by heart, then to replay it over and over until you have strong opinions about what went wrong, which moment was critical, etc. Only after, you could consult a computer. 

1)a4

2)Kc4

Just to nuance what would otherwise be terrible learning advice (especially if you're learning a medical profession...): the point is to never stop enjoying the process.