Tactics, such as forks, pins, skewers, and mating patterns.
Solve lots of puzzles
I know those. So I guess I need to learn how to use them more efficiently. But is there anythign else I should learn?
Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/improving-your-chess-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond
Hi,
You always have things to learn and it’s not a set code of knowledge that you must know to reach intermediate, everyone arrives there with a variety of skills. I’d focus on learning one new chess idea a day. After some time, that’s a lot you didn’t know that you now do.
-Jordan
The biggest difference between beginner (class) players and intermediate (class) players (so say: 1300-1500) is how often they blunder pieces. Getting to intermediate is almost exclusively a challenge in preventing yourself from blundering any pieces and learning to always take advantage of the mistakes of others. The first that need to go are 1 move blunders (they just take an unguarded piece) and then the 2 move blunders need to go (the double attack tactics etc.). That's about when you'll be a 1400 player.
Chess really can be brought down to 2 things when you're a lower rated player: getting good at tactics (not losing your own pieces and winning theirs) and making a normal move when no tactic is available. For the last part it's enough to know that you'll want all of your pieces to be active. So rooks to open files, knights to outposts and bishops on long open diagonals not being obstructed by your own pawns. All of the other stuff is not relevant to study at the moment. You won't reach endgames that are equal, so endgame study will do little to help you. Openings can be played on opening principles and you'll likely play a lot better than most opponents.
I wanted to know what to learn to become intermidiate