How to best improve consistently at chess

Hello,

I have been playing chess for a while now and I don't feel that I am improving. I tried studying various openings and signature games on YouTube and have even read several books on the subject. Regardless, I have not seen any notable progress in my game stats.

Could I get some advice as to what I should focus on. I am about 1300 on standard chess and 800 on blitz.

Thank you for all advice.

From my experience, just keep on playing. You can't beat experience. You can only relate to Youtube videos and the books when you've been in that situation.

One of the best ways is to play non speed games against players somewhat better than you, then talk about the game afterwards. A local club where people are better (but not overwhelmingly better) is ideal for practice. A personal buddy who is a GM is great

But ok, some questions. You've been playing "a while" without improvement but for some people they mean 1 month (when 1 month is nothing heh). Chess improvement (like most other things) has periods of growth and periods where you plateau for a while. Sometimes all it takes is keeping at it and your results will suddenly bump you 100 or more points.

Also you say you read some books. Which ones? I'm a bit bias here, but I hope they weren't opening books and I hope they were written at your level. Tactics, strategy, and endgame books are more likely to give you a noticeable improvement quickly.

Solving tactic puzzles daily gives you the best short term improvement. Of course don't just mindlessly guess a tactical looking move (as some do on website trainers). Try to work out your opponent's best defense. Also it's important to review the puzzles you've missed.

Which segues nicely into youtube videos. If you just watch a video it's called passive learning. It can give you some useful info, but in general wont improve your play much. Try to increase your interaction. Pause videos and try to figure out what you would play. If there was an interesting position where they didn't make a move you liked then analyze it on your own. If it's an opening video then quiz yourself every few days to help it get into your long term memory. Stuff like this.

I would suggest picking a couple openings and study them til u have memorized. Memorizing patterns is pretty important in chess. As white pick e4 or d4 to start every game with and study the openings that go with that move. As black pick a couple defenses against e4 and d4 and only play those until u know them. Use an engine to study every standard game you play and work on tactics and end games because that is where most under 2000 players struggle most. It may sound boring to play same stuff over and over and obviously you will get random openings from opponents that you aren't prepared for but stick to it and you will find yourself in familiar positions more often than not. I've done this for the last year or so, my rating was around 1200-1300 when I started and I'm 1890ish now. Not to shabby for a years work IMHO.

Tactics, tactics, tactics.  Buy CT-Art 5.0 and work through every puzzle 5-7 times.

Yeah, I'd bet for just about anyone rated under 2000 that doing this will gain you a few hundred rating points just like that.

The problem is just the discipline aspect of it.

IIRC yyoochess is the parent of a strong junior player. I also knew a strong junior player who casually commented that he was working through his 5th repetition of going through through all the CT ART puzzles (and older edition, as this was years ago).

Play long games, preferably OTB

Analyze and look for mistakes and their cause

Work on the causes of the mistakes

If you're still stuck, try some coaching

If you're not getting any better, then you're not learning.

Learn how to learn first.

hicetnunc, you really should stop giving the (arguably) best answer in only 5 lines or less, you make other people look bad.

he's a fekkin genius!

Yeah, he's one of the ones to watch for :)

don't ever punk him with an engine though!

Memorise 10,000 grandmaster games. Sure to do some good. Look where it got Carlson. 

At your level, I recommend http://www.amazon.com/Manual-Chess-Combinations-Vol-1a/dp/5946930451 and playing through all of the games of Gioachino Greco (see http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2013/05/gioachino-greco-on-game-of-chess.html). You can find the most popular Greco games on chessgames.com and other websites.

Ziryab is another good one, for those like the OP who may be new

I like this one if the player already has a concept of what the standard tactical motifs are.  If not, a book like Bain is better since it explains the motifs.  1a is a very good problem set once you know the basics though.

I agree about Bain. Old guys like me learned these motifs from Fred Reinfeld's 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations. Bain is simpler and ideally suited for beginners.

Bruce Pandolfini's Beginning Chess is also good. The problems all have ten pieces or less.

Indeed. He pointed out an elementary endgame error that I posted on my blog last month, which prompted http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2015/02/correcting-errors.html

I just took a look at your games archive. Your last standard chess game here is from 2013. I see only some online chess (where you can use your opening books, databases, move around the pieces before making the move), 5+2 blitz and 2+1 bullet in march 2015.

Do you play anywhere else?

To improve do tactics and endgame training, play standard chess (best somthing like 45+45, but 20+10 is also better than blitz) and analyze your games!

btw: Don`t look at my game archive. I`m not a good example. I know some things how i must become better but actually do least of that things. :(