For instance, in the last game you lost, you could’ve won the Queen with a simple pin.
Instead, you grabbed a pawn and hung mate in 2.
This was despite having about 10 minutes left on the clock, so time pressure isn’t an excuse, you just got lazy when converting and threw the game.
Getting better at converting advantages into wins will up your win rate significantly.
When playing longer time controls, you can feasibly evaluate the position by looking for candidate moves from both sides, quickly calculate in short bursts a few ply deep into each of the continuations.
Example: Here, here, here, I’m safely winning his Rook.
If I grab that pawn he goes there and it’s a forced mating sequence.
If I castle Queenside he could double up on the open file and start a big attack that I’m unsure if I can defend against, whereas castling Kingside is much safer in this instance.
This is how you make brief plans, so you never feel lost in a position.
Studying pawn structures can also teach you about typical middle-game plans, such as the famous minority attack in the Carlsbad structure.
By having a sensible short term plan based on your observations of the position, it’s harder to blunder.
Practice doing this in long time controls until it becomes second nature.
If possible, practice against a higher rated player or a a strong engine, because they are more likely to find the best way of playing a position, giving you a smaller margin of error when you play, forcing you to try and play as accurately as possible.
Also, you aren’t the odd one out in your puzzle rating being far higher than your rapid rating, it’s extraordinarily mundane.
Just look at me for instance, 2400 puzzles and 1400’s rapid.
Though, I haven’t played rapid in 5 months, and I feel as if I’ve been improving, so maybe it’s not entirely up to date.
Good luck with your improvement! :)
I try to play a 15 minute game or two everyday but I feel like I'm just not improving. How do I apply my tactics skills to games?