Exactly how do you get better at chess?

I've been hovering around the 800-900 range for two years. I've tried a lot of things to get better, but I didn't get better. Could you guys help me a bit?

What opening do you use?

The way things are going for me right now, I'm hoping you get better by losing.

Black:e5 or d5(depends if 1e4 or 1d4)or c5

white e4

I skimmed over your last game (the 51 move one), you gave away several of your pieces for free and made several bad trades eg. your queen for a knight. If you can't avoid giving away free pieces or making bad trades, you need to work on that until you don't do it any more. Nothing else matters when you're still doing that.

I meant the first few moves. The one I use is: as white, unless threatened, I play e4 Nf3 Nc3 d4. It's a very strong well-known opening because the knights protect the pawns, and both bishops are good bishops. Plus, both the knights are active, and the centre is controlled. You can do it as black too, on ranks 6 and 5.

ok, it may take a while to get real good but you should take a few openings that are not only effective against lower rated players but also instructive in terms of tactics. yes dreeeeaaaddffuuullll tactics. check videos by thechesswebsite on youtube take my suggestion on the openings:

1. do not play c5 vs e4 just don't you need a lot of theory and probably won't be fun, not that its bad but it will be somewhat ineffective.

2. only play e4, d4 is not as effective. try out the ponziani opening, scotch opening if you like gambits you might want to see the danish gambit or the kings gambit. as black respond with e5 and learn the 2 knights defence, few simple giuoco piano lines and a few simple ruy lopez lines go for open ruy lopez or marshal gambit.

3. against d4 respond with Nf6 and learn the nimzo indian and queens indian only. no need for other ones at the moment these lead to quiet games. learn the king's indian attack as well

4. play long games!!

5. check if all the opponents pieces are protected then check if your's are ok. loose pieces tend to drop off.

6. don't grab pawns instead try giving pawns yourself to trap pieces or other tactics.

7. play safe if you dont wana follow a specific opening: Knight first, bishop next, castle, finish development attack the king.

finally check out videos by GM Igor Smirnov

^ I can't believe you just suggest a 900 rated player to learn the nimzo and queens indian?

Playing d5 against d4 is the best choice for a beginner.

why you want to enter into a random queens gambit position or symmetry?

So you can focus on basic things like development and not giving away pieces without having to worry about hyper-modern stuff where you give up the center then try to attack it later?

who's saying give up the center:

you can get into some queens gambit lines or you can simply go:

The real way to get better is pratice pratice pratice. and when you get done there pratice some more. Sure at first you will lose a lot. I did when I first started to. Now I win more than lose and a lot harder to find people to play. Now that I am getting toward 60 years old. I would have like to have become a chess master but i guess it is not to be. But that is okay. I still love the game. Want to play some time?   Find Me I try not to win to fast.!!!  LOL just kidding. who knows you could win.

What this guy said.

Before you make a move you should check to see if you give away any free pieces. Do this EVERY move. Play long games so you have time to fully look things over. It will become second nature in a short while if you apply yourself.

Dude, I'm not a prenium member, so I can't watch videos.

^ You can find videos for free on Youtube.

best free chess lessons  ever , just go study them  all and your rating will impromve :)

http://www.youtube.com/user/GMIgorSmirnov/videos?view=0

I find some of the above suggestions regarding openings ludicrous. My advice would be:

• learn the basic opening principles and stick to them
• play long games (at least 30 mins) so you can double check moves to ensure you maintain material balance
• analyse your own games for simple tactical errors and get stronger players to look over your games (perhaps by posting in game analysis)
• try tactics puzzles. Not too many (20 a day max) and spend at least 5 mins reviewing each one you get wrong.

if after 2 years u still are at 8/900 something is wrong. #! take your time-don't rush your moves. #2 think about what your doing.try short plans --i'll do this , he does this then i'll do ?  Remember a gift from your opponent should raise a red flag and stealing pawns will bring trouble. Work on openings that allow easy answers---e4,e5,nf3,nf6----practice and keep in mind this is a game.     good luck 

i know the opening principals, play 30 min games each day, analyze my tournament games, and do puzzles.

Some good advice here. Really, at this level you're still playing people who drop pieces for no reason and leave a mate in one on the board. Avoid being one of them, and your rating can't help improving. Then start looking at sharpening your own tactics, and only when you're a lot better do you need to think about learning opening theory, which people treat with far more importance than it deserves. (For instance, any GM in the world could begin 1. a4, Any; 2. h4 against me and still squash me like a bug. The opening doesn't win you games until both you and the opponent are competent and otherwise evenly matched.)