I finally learned how to study tactics right and finally improved my rating

@chicken : if you get a CT subscription, send me your name in a private message, and I'll be happy to help you with designing your training there

Thank you. I sent you a message.

I'd argue that it's probably easier to get to 1700 with a solid foundation of positional play than with pure tactics training.

I personally haven't focused on opening study at all since taking Chess seriously and JUST started worrying about tactics. Now I'm being guided by a NM friend to focus on tactics and creating a basic opening repitoire.

You probably need some sort of foundation of Chess theory in order to CREATE the positions that turn into clearly tactical situations. You need to be able to see what to do when the game's slowing down.

"centipawns" as dictated by houdini.... lol. hhnngg1, you don't really know anything about chess. 

If you have no tactical errors in 5 minutes blitz it's because of how you're playing, ie. super safe. It has nothing to do with chess skill. Why would you think it does? I mean clearly you don't get enough time to go through all the moves. If you claim you're not even making tactical errors in most 5 minute games, and yet you're studying chess tactics for standard games? It makes no sense. 

Of course it's more about tactics than strategic gain... because all you're doing is playing blitz! 

I think he said no blunders.

Blunders > Tactical Errors 

No he said where he wouldn't lose by more than 12 "centipawns". I'm not sure what you'd consider a blunder but I'd consider losing a piece one. Having said that idea of "centipawns", as if a computer was telling the absolute truth, is really very immature.  

I have no doubt that if he's playing the king's gambit or SMG he has tactical errors more than that all over the place. 

My blitz is much higher than his, and I have tactical errors all over the place in openings like that if playing five minutes. 

Best part about this post is his blitz is back to 1100

lolz, so you mean we shouldn't start giving instructional lessons when we hit that 1200 "norm"?

I got to USCF A class on opening principles, no tactics, and studying middle, and endgames.

I have a subscription to chesstempo; this allows you to download the exercises done incorrectly. Agreed that going over the puzzles you missed the first time works wonders, as a premium member, I am considering not using the tactical trainer at chess.com for the exact reason you cannot download tactics where you make errors.

@ I am second:

You are serious? You must have picked up tactics by studying the middle games and endgames, and playing games.

What, specifically, did you study? What books etc?

this is called the Woodpecker method,as was coined in the book pump up your rating.

I think this method has merit,when you just do new tactical puzzles all the time all you're doing is working on your calculation skills.In order to improve pattern recognition though,one has to do the same puzzles over and over until you can solve them in mere seconds (especially the ones you get wrong,to correct erroneous thinking).

Right now I'm doing a set of 100 moderately difficult puzzles.I'll keep doing them until I can solve all of them in one session.

And for those of you who have a CT subscription:does CT allow you to make your own set of puzzles and just drill those?Also....can you upload your own puzzles,like from a book?

For CT: Yes you can make a set of puzzles and drill those.  No you can't upload your own (I don't think).

Use Chess Hero if you want to use your own puzzles.  You can load a pgn file.  Great piece of software.

Serious as a heart attack.  What i did worked for me, that doesnt mean it will work for everyone.  My method of study:

Silmans Complete Endgame Course

Chess Training for Post-beginners: A Basic Course in Positional Understanding 

Andy Soltis's book on pawn structure

Running my games through Fritz to see where i was losing the advantage.  It was consistently early middlegame. 

Tactics Training - I watched a Igor Smirnov video on piece interaction/when a piece is on your side of the board.  So until recently, my whole tactical training was looking for piece interaction and then calculating out all forcing lines.

Opening Principles

"Be like water"

Bruce Lee

Basically be able to adapt to anything.  This is why i have no chess style.  My style is whatever is going on, on the board.

This got me to USCF A class. 

I just played around with this just now,but can't figure out how to input my own puzzles in it.How do you make a pgn file of a puzzle?

Please have a quick look to my new chess tactics training book, published with GM John Emms, The Chess Tactics Detection Workbook, Everyman Chess, 2015. A preview of the book (16 pages) can be downloaded to get familiar with the books concept. Go to the homepage of Niggemann Schachversand (link below), search the book and download the "Leseprobe".
https://www.schachversand.de/startneu2.htm

OP here with a 4 month update from my original post. 

Happy to report that the method of studying small tactical problem sets with the specific aim of repeating the ones I got wrong is still paying dividends. 

Blitz has creeped up steadily and gradually from 1150-1200 4 months ago to 1300-1350s now. I have good days and bad days, but I can now even play 3-min blitz respectably whereas before I couldn't even make the time control.

I will add that at the 1250+ level, the highest yield book for me was "tactics in the endgame" which is a small short tactics book by Asim Peireira you can get for $2.00ish on Amazon kindle. Unlike other endgame books which do pure endgames, this one is late-middlegame tactics without pure endgames, so still with a few pieces left in most positions. At least from my perspective, in the blitz games I'm playing, it was crucial to see potential fast finishes in winning positions, and by doing the tactics in this book, I felt that I've been slightly tactically better in the late middlegame than similar rated opponents - who usually outplay me in the opening and early middlegame. The first half of the book was too easy for me, but it gets a little harder later on, and was just right for me at 1200+ to now.

In 3 and 5' blitz, I'm not good enough at my ELO to get to pure endgames where excellence in pieceless endgames is required - most of the time it's a wipeout for one side, but you still have to win it with the time control. I've won a lot of games with literally 10-20 moves all premoved with <3sec left in won positions where I have a piece and pawns against no pieces and pawns, and I felt that this book helped a lot in seeing the wins faster.

Interesting book recommendation.  Will add to my wish list.  Amazon is almost giving it away.