where to begin?

learn some openings. they can help. i have gotten checkmate in 4 moves with some openings, and make sure when you sacrifice a piece that that is actually the right move

Stick to the opening principles. It’s okay to learn some opening moves, but as you found out, it becomes useless to know too much theory at your level. Work on tactics and basic endgames.

Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond.....
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/improving-your-chess-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

Thanks so much everyone who commented. Really appreciate it 👍

@1

"What would you recommend for low level beginners to help them get better?"
++ Analyse your lost games.
Study grandmaster games.
Study endgames.

"I spent hours going over openings but it isn't very helpful" ++ It is useless.

What all chess players need to do to get better is two things: expand on their knowledge and build habits. Knowledge includes working on endgames (Chess.com has nice drills to work on in this regard), practicing tactics puzzles (again, Chess.com has a bunch of puzzle stuff but there are also some cool Chessable courses for this), game analysis, and to some extent, opening study (I'll discuss this at the end). 

Knowledge, however, is useless without building the necessary habits to implement them. Additionally, building positive habits is somewhat hard to do when many fundamental bad habits are bogging you down. It's very much like trying to accelerate a car by increasing the RPM of the engine while the brakes are half-depressed. 

The goal, then, is to eliminate these bad habits. In psychology, we call this process extinction. Many players stronger than you or I suggest we "blunder check" each move, which, albeit well-intentioned, simply is not sustainable when you aren't used to it. There are so many types of blunders that trying to account for them all each move simply isn't feasible.

Instead, we take a divide-and-conquer method. The first bad habit that you as a beginner absolutely must eliminate is not only hanging pieces, but missing your opponent's hung pieces. I notice that you play thirty minute Rapid games normally. That's good. You will need this time setting to implement the habit. 

What you will do for the next twenty one days (the stereotypical number of days it takes to make a habit) is asking yourself the following questions per move: 

1. Are any of my pieces or pawns undefended?

2. Are any of my opponent's pieces or pawns undefended? 

3. Will my next move hang a piece or a pawn? 

You must ask yourself this every move, every game. If you don't think you can do this for another game, take a break until you can. The long-term gain of transmuting negatives into positives far outweighs the dopamine rush of winning a game. If you've successfully not hung pieces/pawns and not missed opponents' hung pieces/pawns, consider this habit automated.

Then work on automating the next habit. This will require you going into your previous games (say the last ten or twenty games) and looking for all the blunders you made via the analysis feature. You don't need a chess.com subscription for unlimited game reviews as it will be very clear when the position eval bar on the left shifts significantly. You will take all the blunders you made and classify them. But you need to be specific about what type of blunder it is. A counting error in the exchange is different from an underdefended piece. (Dan Heismann's Back to Basics Tactics is a nice book on this subject.) At the end, you need to know the most common blunder type you fall victim to and work to actively eliminate that for another 21 day cycle using the method I have outlined. 

Now a note on openings. You really don't need to study openings outside of game at this level. Just note when the game deviated from the book and examine whether your response to deviation was the best possible move. Over time, your opening tree will slowly become bigger. However, if there is a pet opening problem that keeps annoying the hell out of you, this is where studying openings could help a bit. A very big problem at U1000 is early queen attacks. There are many videos on this topic, and studying them will help you at least survive a handful of moves longer or even punish your opponent for unprincipled opening play. 

Another point: follow basic opening principles, but not blindly. Yes, you must develop your pieces, but if your opponent is targeting an undefended piece you have and your response is to bring out another piece that doesn't defend it, you just lost material. Tactical considerations (loss of material) outweigh positional (getting a lead in development) most of the time. 

If you do what I have outlined, I firmly believe you will punish a lot of players at your level and improve by leaps and bounds. Best of luck. 

Pandolfini's "Ultimate Guide to Chess" and Yasser Seirawan's "Play Winning Chess" are good books to learn some basics from.

I like books, because studying them takes some time, and that means, you are not going too fast and getting an information overload too easily.

Also tactics puzzles, more tactics puzzles and then some more tactics puzzles.

You should learn most important principles of a chess game. That will give you a solid understanding of a chess game and you will know what to do in every position. Then, you should optimize your calculation so you don't miss tactics in your games. Your rating will skyrocket. I can help you with all of this. Message me if you are interested.

Quest

Here are some tips and recommendations that may help low-level beginners improve their chess skills:

Work on the fundamentals: Chess is a game of tactics and strategy, so it's important to learn the basics before trying to master advanced techniques. Focus on learning fundamental concepts like opening principles, piece development, controlling the center of the board, and basic checkmate patterns.

Practice tactics: Solving chess puzzles is a great way to improve your tactical skills. Websites like Chess.com, ChessTempo, and Chessable offer a variety of puzzles and training exercises that can help you develop your skills in areas like calculation, pattern recognition, and visualization.

Analyze your games: Analyzing your own games can help you identify areas where you need to improve. Look for mistakes you made, missed opportunities, and areas where you could have made better moves. Use a chess engine like Stockfish or Komodo to help you analyze your games and find better moves.

Play longer time controls: Playing longer games (at least 15 minutes per side) can help you develop your strategic thinking and planning skills. In faster games, there is often less time to think deeply about each move, which can lead to mistakes and missed opportunities.

Study endgames: Endgames are an important part of chess, and understanding basic endgame principles can help you win games that might otherwise be drawn. Study basic endgame positions like king and pawn vs. king, rook and pawn vs. rook, and queen vs. pawn.

Get a coach or join a chess club: Working with a coach or joining a chess club can provide you with valuable feedback and help you improve more quickly. A coach can provide personalized training and help you identify areas where you need to focus your efforts. A chess club can provide opportunities to play against a variety of opponents and get feedback on your games.