Stuck at 1200 roughly

Not sure I can add much value after the CM's input, but I can try.

I'm not a Dragon expert, so check on your move 7...Nc6. It looks early and maybe possible sometimes to transpose to another variation. For example, Sozin or Rauzer.

Now for the position above...

Checks- none 

Captures- 

1.Bg5 x Nf6 (protected by e7 & Bg7)

Bg5 is unprotected, you could threaten it with:

a) h6 (might can play in next move or so) or

b) Qa5 (might be blocked by Bb5 or Nb5)

Where could it go or how could white protect it in each case?

2.Bc4 x f7 (protected only by King)

You could protect it with rook & king by

c) O-O (also addresses King Safety and possibly a mainline variation move)

3.Nd4 x Nc6 (protected only by b7)

You could protect it again with

d) Bd7

You could capture Nd4 with Nc6 (If you choose not to capture, you need to calculate if White does on next move).

e) Nxd4

White could recapture with Qxd4

In this situation, I'd go with O-O knowing that white could play Nxc6 and bxc6 protects d5 (a center square) from the c3 knight and opens the b-file for queen side play.

pfren, thanks but actually, I Analyzed all of them , to determine where I went wrong.

Some were blunders (I discount them)

Some were losing end games (Need to work on endgame)

Some were strategical bad choices (this is where I want to improve)

Some were opening blunders (Need basic work on opening traps).

I have noticeably changed my working method and now spend more time on puzzles rather than playing rapid. 

perpetuallyPinned,

Yes I agree with 0-0, but Nxc6 and bxc6 would give me an isolated pawn on the a file, which either I let it die because my rook has better things to do than defend a mere pawn, or I sacrifice a rook to defend a pawn.

7. ... Nc6 is fine as a move order, and in many cases the proper move order, although Nc6 and 0-0 seem interchangeable. 

8. Nxc6 is not a problem, but should be welcomed. After bxc6 you've gained some important things too:
- you have an extra pawn to use in the center giving you much more control over the center. It even guards the weak d5 square that white would love to use for his knight. Also, black wants to play ...d5 in the Sicilian, after bxc6 that's only a matter of time. After ...d5 black can take over the center. 
- you gain a half-open b-file. That makes the pawn on b2 very weak. And white has to be weary of playing b3, cause that really weakens that long diagonal a1-h8 that's already occupied by the black bishop. 

Don't simply let them take that a-pawn, there's seldom any reason to gift your opponent anything at all, let alone a full pawn. Giving up the a-pawn, means that in the endgame, you'll have to worry about their a-pawn being a passed pawn that can storm its way up the board. Play for example Qc7 to guard a7 and use the rook on the b-file. If they do play b3, you could use that a-pawn as a battering ram and push it with ...a5-...a4. 

This is interesting point of view of what is gained, thank you very much !!

I was focused on the lonely pawn and did not the see the other "gains". I try to never give a pawn for free, excepted sacrifice for time or attack for example. 

<400 ?

@RAU4ever earned Superman award for the replies

Thanks

A very good example of the kind of blunders/strategic errors I do when I play and not because I lack time, but because I am wrong : 

SantiagoJones1 vs. Charly738 | Analysis - Chess.com

annotate your game

done and thanks

Charly -- I feel your pain!  A nice heartfelt OP.  I do have some specific suggestions for you.

Once a person learns some opening principles, and are getting decent at tactics (never stop doing them -- and, btw, I prefer the puzzles at chesstempo.com). . . one often faces the problem of "now what?" because the plain fact of the matter is that at towards the end of an opening  often there are no tactics!  So . . . now what do I play?

What you need, imho, are introduction to strategy books written for your appropriate level.  You mention Michael Stean Simple Chess, Nimzowitch My System -- those are too hard for a 1200-level player, for the simple reason that they assume you already understand a lot of strategic motifs.

@RussBell posted earlier in this thread a link to a blog entry of his that lists a ton of resources for strategy.  He gives good advice and you can't go wrong following it.  Check it out.

Among other things he recommends the following sequence for strategy books:

1. Play Winning Chess, Sierawan
2. Weapons of Chess, Pandolfini
3. Winning Chess Strategies, Sierawan (or Back to Basics: Strategy, Valeri Beim; or Elements of Positional Evaluation: How the Pieces Get Their Power, Dan Heisman.)

I can speak from experience: I read parts of Stean, Simple Chess, and Nimzo's My System.  But I wasn't really getting it (I understood Stean, but I knew that there was a lot I was missing, and I wasn't absorbing a whole lot).  So I decided to try Pandolfini's Weapons of Chess.  I found it awesome.  I think it's a terrific intro to strategy (BTW, RussBell still insists that Play Winning Chess should come first).  I posted my review of Weapons here:  https://www.chess.com/blog/sholom90/book-review-weapons-of-chess-bruce-pandolfini

where I explain what I found so good about it.  (I took a quick look at Stean after I finished Weapons, and -- lo and behold! -- it made a lot more sense!  But I *still* think that there are books to read in between Weapons and Stean).

Here's a simple question: do you understand the concepts of bad-bishops?  Outposts and how to use them?  Blockades and minority attacks?  The pros and cons of an IQP?  When a knight is stronger than a bishop and when the bishop is stronger than the knight?  Weak squares?  If the answer is no -- to any of those -- then you will gain immensely by Weapons.  These are strategical building blocks that other books assume you already know.

(BTW, I'm currently reading Weeramantry, Best Lessons of a Chess Coach, which I think is a perfect follow on to Weapons -- I'll be posting a book review of that when I'm finished with it.  I think Weapons and Best Lessons is a good sequence).

Good luck on your journey and keep us posted!

I strongly recommend “How to Reassess Your Chess “ by Jeremy Silman. It’s an EXCELLENT middlegame book!

Yes.  That is where I am stuck.

Indeed, that book gets rave reviews from all over.  See, e.g., https://web.archive.org/web/20140708095832/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review769.pdf -- that said, however, a number of folks think it's best suited for those 1500, 1600, or (as Dan Heisman suggests - https://www.danheisman.com/recommended-books.html) even 1700+

The difficult concept I remember (older edition) was the fantasy position...visualization of what you'd like to achieve. Most lower rated players have few clues about what to "look for".

A friend of mind sent me a quote from the author himself.

"How to Reassess Your Chess, 4th Edition was designed for players in the 1400 to 2100 range." - IM Jeremy Silman (2010)

Do puzzles from a chess book, not online. Online puzzles aren't human approved so they will only do the best computer move. In a book, it will force you to find all the variations to the puzzle so you will improve your calculation. 

When you study, I recommend putting it on Lichess so you can refer back to it. I study openings so I find a good book and study from it. Here are two of my completed studies with the French Defense and Queen's Gambit. They should give you some context on what your studies should look like with respect to the book. Of course, I do add my own things to these studies if I find them helpful like a Trick variation in the Advance French. 

Also, improving takes time and it gets harder the higher you are. In terms of openings, they both seem very good although I would add a few more openings to your repertoire to study because people for example against e4 can play the Sicilian, the French, the Caro, and the Petrov.

When I just got into the 1300s, it didn't last long as I kept tanking to the point that I was below 1200. That's when I decided to try something new and see if I liked it. It's how I got into the Queen's Gambit and the way I got from 1300 to 1500 was actually puzzling in a chess book. 

Do tactical puzzles and play long time controls so you have more time to think on your move. Since you have a full time job and spend 30-45 minutes a day on chess, you can spend 20-30 minutes doing puzzle rush or etc. And limit yourself to 2 games at most per day and straight away analyze the game and learn from your mistakes. It might take time, bit trust me, you will improve

At 1200 level tactics and openings matter so foucus on that