Best way to improve

I know this has been asked a million times... but can anyone make any suggestions for me to improve my game? I'm using Chess Mentor and Tactics on chess.com a lot, plus watching the videos. I'm probably playing too many tournaments, as I find I'm often forgetting what strategy I may have had by the time I get to my next move on a lot of games.

I also find that it's difficult for me to apply what I'm learning here on chess.com. I think that's largely down to basically a complete lack of real-world games I can play over the board. Or maybe I'm just rubbish lol.

I've tried Blitz, but understand that's not really the best way to improve. I'm thinking either longer length live games, or playing a chess computer?

Play games, do analysis, do drills (like tactic puzzles) and learn new ideas (books, articles, videos, etc).

In the beginning it's hard to analyze games because you don't know what to look for. You can use an engine to find missed tactics. For positions that were interesting/confusing to you, you can write down how you thought about that position and post the game in the analysis section of chess.com for feedback. E.g. did you think white or black was better, did you think your move was good/bad, did you think your opponent's move was good/bad, that sort of thing.

Might find some useful stuff here too:

https://www.chess.com/article/view/study-plan-directory

psionmark wrote: I know this has been asked a million times... but can anyone make any suggestions for me to improve my game? I'm using Chess Mentor and Tactics on chess.com a lot, plus watching the videos. I'm probably playing too many tournaments, as I find I'm often forgetting what strategy I may have had by the time I get to my next move on a lot of games.I also find that it's difficult for me to apply what I'm learning here on chess.com. I think that's largely down to basically a complete lack of real-world games I can play over the board. Or maybe I'm just rubbish lol.I've tried Blitz, but understand that's not really the best way to improve. I'm thinking either longer length live games, or playing a chess computer?

Thanks for the feedback and ideas, folks.

If you want to become an OTB player, then joining a real chess club is the most important first step. There you'll find good guidance.

If you want to become a better Internet chess player, then drilling tactics and building a good opening repertoire would help a lot.

If you're completely lost, then maybe hire a chess coach to help you ?

...also if you're over 30, you probably need to improve your chess vision : try attackers exercise on chessgym.net

It's better to play slower games too from time to time (30' and more) if you want to make real progress as an adult.