The best way to improve consistently?

Hey all

I've been playing on the website for a number of months and am really struggling to crack 700 rating (hovering mid 600's). When I first started I was stuck at 300-400 and have improved a little since then. I'm just not achieving the rate of improvement that I want to be.

I play almost every day, 5 or so 10 minute blitz games a day. I watch some videos on Youtube about different openings and stuff, but I get overwhelmed by the sheer number of openings and never really stick to one. Before playing in the last couple months I'd only played occasionally with a family member and only new some of the rules, so it's been a learning experience.

Any tips?

"..., you have to make a decision: have tons of fun playing blitz (without learning much), or be serious and play with longer time controls so you can actually think.

One isn't better than another. Having fun playing bullet is great stuff, while 3-0 and 5-0 are also ways to get your pulse pounding and blood pressure leaping off the charts. But will you become a good player? Most likely not.

Of course, you can do both (long and fast games), ..." - IM Jeremy Silman (June 9, 2016)

https://www.chess.com/article/view/longer-time-controls-are-more-instructive

Also do tactics every day. Don't worry about the clock, just take your time and work out the solution. If you get it wrong, check why your move was incorrect. This is a great way to train yourself to find patterns and tactics that you will later be able to find in your own games. It'll also teach you various concepts in action such as pins, forks, skewers and other concepts. 

10 min is a little too quick for you at your level. Time is needed to check whether a piece is hanging or not, a move is good or not and so on.

Also, rather than learning the full openings at your level, I recommend sticking to basic game principles even in the opening (develop pieces to the centre etc). This should at least suffice for your games at your level.

You can try playing against players, say, 200 or 300 rating points above yours for the time being.

Blitz was the path I took when I started out (I played many games and observed patterns thereafter). Coupled with game observations, basic checkmating and endgame skills and lots of tactics training, I gained experience along the way,

It's a matter of will for some players, and for most players, 15|10 should be a good start.

I think we've found the problem.

Watch these videos, will help you tremendously: 

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MCBnhtCk_bTZsD8GxeWP6BV

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLl9uuRYQ-6MBwqkmwT42l1fI7Z0bYuwwO

"... for those that want to be as good as they can be, they'll have to work hard.
Play opponents who are better than you … . Learn basic endgames. Create a simple opening repertoire (understanding the moves are far more important than memorizing them). Study tactics. And pick up tons of patterns. That’s the drumbeat of success. ..." - IM Jeremy Silman (December 27, 2018)
https://www.chess.com/article/view/little-things-that-help-your-game
https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-start-out-in-chess

You have to go through your games and see where you went wrong than do a computer analysis which will suggest different lines and blunders or mistakes you missed in your game which in turn will boost your rating, but don't just scroll through computer report think why computer said it was a bad or a good move and so on.

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chess is very good game

One thing I've tried to do is play as many book moves and good/excellent moves as possible whilee minimizing mistakes and blunders based on analysis of previous games. I've kind of improved from 800ish  to 950ish. Still trying to crack the 1000s.