How hard to improve?

Did you go through your blitz games and study something new after 50 games of blitz?

A second good point: post-mortem (and not just jumping on to the next blitz game) can be helpful, even if the analysis is superficial.  I played a ton of blitz games with an IM, and I had him explain after each one what I did that made things go very badly.  Each lose has a reason.  Quickly finding it and moving on can be a help.

I do this, but its HARD with a computer because you have to just look at each move, not just 'oh that's a blunder'.  I use chess.com's computer for the 1st analysis and if i want more I can always use an engine.

But often in my case it boils down to a blunder. 8/  I'm getting better about hanging pieces.  I would love to analyze my games for en pris.

Regarding the Scotch... yea, its awesome. I love it.  You just have to watch what you're doing.  I haven't played the Scotch Gambit much (gambits are scary) but I am at least familiar with it.  I am biased towards the Scotch though b/c of Kasparov and only b/c I admire him.

I don't know how helpful you are going to find this post...

I confess that I haven't read a single reply to your OP so I am possibly repeating people.

At your level you should not be finding it hard to imrpove. You should litterally be improving after every game you play. That said, perhaps you should identify exactly what your level of play is a little better. When I play blitz games I blunder about 10x per game and I could beat you 130% of the time, so to say that you blunder at least twice a game is an enormous understatement.

Don't learn opening lines and don't play blitz. If you're still not improving then something is seriously wrong.

I'm going to venture a guess at your age -- under 30? ;-)  I'm 42.  Its possible also... sadly... that I stink at chess. 8)

However i also know teh quality of my studying isn't very high.  That could be it too.  This is such a tough sport to improve in, but oh man, what a sport. 8) I really love how often there are no right answers.

Also, I'm only trying to improve my Standard rating.  I don't care about blitz and will play blitz sometimes with weird openings just to get a feel for them so my rating there is awful.

I completely agree that age has everything to do with it.  When I played tournament chess, I was travelling with a couple of kids (8 and 13).  I studied all the time, non-stop, and they maybe studied an hour or two per week and played blitz at the chess club for two 8-hr sessions per week.  With my 30+ hours of study, I gained a little less than 300 points on both of those years (1000 to 1300 in the first year, 1300 to 1600 in the second).  The 8 year old went from 999 to 1437 and 1437 to 1702, while the older brother went from 1609 to 1890 and 2116.  All of this is USCF classic time control rating.  A 25 year-old can't hold a candle to a young teenager's ability to make progress, and the situation is probably all the worse when it comes to comparing a 45 year-old's ability to a 32 year-old's.

30 minute games are bad for you if you're bad at time management. Try playing 10 minute games until you get better at playing under time pressure.

I'm in my mid early 40s .  I may not improve b/c well... young brains are better at a lot of things.  And chess, although played young, and studied young, I didn't do that much.  There's God given talent too to contend with.  My kids are improving rapidly and I have told them that if they just play regularly and study just a bit when they get older they could easily beat me one day.

But I will not stop playing.  I really enjoy it, it sharpens the mind, and reminds me of my younger days.  I play chess because I enjoy it, I study it because I want to ask God for his book explorer when I get there because one day we will know if white technically should win every single time when playing the ultimate opponent who has the entire book of possible moves. 

I gained 668 points in a year and I'm fairly sure what I did is not possible for anyone over about 30 years old. But improvement in general? Probably people of all ages can improve, but it becomes much harder it seems.

Please refrain from posting religious views, especially incorrect ones...

As for the perfect game. It is a draw. That is all but proven.

Excellent example showing how Opening are important.

Blacks king is in the center exposed and black will have to deal with his king safety well into the middle game. Allowing white the chance to develop with some tempo.