I need help improving.

I have a rating of around 1000. I know all the intermediate and advanced tactics any chess book or GM Youtube vdeo could teach me, such as removing defenders, forking, weak squares, etc. I am constantly looking up ways to improve in the aforementioned methods, but I quickly realize that I already use the improvement methods listed in them. I'm not highly rated, however, because despite all of this knowlege, I simply give up material constantly, and I don't formulate strong attacks. I've asked several master level players for their tutelage, but none ever respond to me. I got to a rating of 1000 after about 2 months of playing chess. I've been stuck at 1000 for over 9 months. I'm at the end of the road and I don't know where to turn. If no one can help me improve, show me something I missed, or something, I'm going to give up chess, because I seem to be unable to improve past this point on my own. I think, because these generalized tutorials and videos aren't helping, I would prefer someone to take a look at some of my games. But any help would be greatly appreciated because chess is probably my favorite hobby. Thanks to anyone for any support given.

EDIT

Thank you all for the support and comments. I will definately start working on tactics because that seems to be a theme throughout them all. I'm acutally kind of surprised at how supportive everyone is. I didn't expect this much. Thank you all so much again, for the help, and for taking time out of your day to look into my games. I will give your suggestions a go. Also, if anybody reads this, what time settings would you recomend?

Took a quick look at your stats and what jumps out immediately is how many blitz games you've played.  Blitz is great for trying out openings and seeing how well you react to time pressure, but with rare exception, that's not how good players got good.  They did it by playing a lot of slow games, carefully analyzing them, and learning from their mistakes.  The problem with too much blitz for a beginner is you just don't have enough time to figure out what's going on.  Sure titled players love blitz, but they've mostly learned their pattern recognition skills at other time controls.  As a beginner playing blitz you're doing just the opposite.  You're learning to perfect your mistakes.  I know blitz is a lot of fun, but as Nigel Short once said "too much blitz rots the brain".  My quote may not be exact, but you get the idea.

The other stat that jumps out is your low tactics score.  I don't necessarily agree with the "tactics, tactics, tactics" mantra that some people are chanting, but it is a crucial part of training.  Maybe you should do more of that, whether on this site, with one of the many commercial programs available or on another site.  Chess is hard, there's no getting away from that, but I think you can get much better.  Just hang in there.

I like that quote, which I do think is true (despite the fact I pretty much only play blitz chess due to life getting in the way of long games) - 'You're learning to perfect your mistakes.' Yup, that's me.

im not good enough to comment, but something like logical chess move by move by irving chernev might help. also, I found tactics time by tim brennan really helpful. good luck, hope you have a lifetime of great chess.

You need to play slower and think : chess isn't a video game...

My jump from 1000 to 1200 happened a little over a year ago, so I've personally made this journey rather recently - here's a list of things that helped me get there:

(1) Watch your pawns! - A lot of really casual chessplayers (unrated but playing at ~800 strength) think of pawns as totally meaningless....they're the least valuable piece on the board, and, since most of these games are won on the back of blundered pieces, blundering a pawn doesn't seem so bad. This is *WRONG*. Once you begin to defend your own pawns and take your opponent's, you'll see a rating increase overnight - stop thinking "meh, it's just a pawn".

(2) DON'T SACRIFICE STUFF!! - OK, if you can do some kind of cute combination like sac the queen for a back-rank mate, that's obviously fine, but, unless you see your way to the immediate checkmate BY FORCE with NO WAY OUT, do not sacrifice material. I see players all the time dumping their bishop into the f7 square because they saw it in some Paul Morphy game, and they think they're clever - it's not clever, don't do it. The moment I quit trying to play like Paul Morphy and started trying to play like Alison Hart, my rating jumped.

(3) "See a knight, pin a knight" is a bad philosophy - This particular sin was never much of a problem for me, but I see it *everywhere*. Bishop pins knight is a huge theme in chess, but most beginners don't really know why they're pinning - Bg4 just looks grandmasterly, so they play it and hit the clock. Before you pin, ask yourself a few questions: Is this bishop really worse than that knight? Can I put a damaging amount of pressure on my opponent's center with this pin? Is it worth losing my 2 bishops to get this guy out of the pawn chain? - if the answer to any of these is 'yes', pinning might be a good idea, but if you're just pinning to pin, it's not good, so don't do it.

(4) Pushing pawns is not attacking - Pawn storms (like knight pins) are a big theme in chess, and you should *definitely* put them to good use, but just going h3-g4-g5 and hoping it leads to checkmate is NOT a strategy. Pawns leave weaknesses behind them - it's a real thing - develop your pieces, evaluate carefully, and think about whether you're actually going to get meaningful contact - if you go h4-h5, and your opponent responds with h6 (stopping your pawn cold), you've weaknened yourself, maybe dropped a pawn, and accomplished nothing. Make sure you're using pawn storms to break open lines for pieces that are READY to attack, and make sure you're actually going to break something open - otherwise it's no good.

(5) Stop trading your pieces for no reason! - Trades happen all the time, and it's hard to really give 'rules' for when and how to trade pieces, but, generally speaking, a trade should accomplish something you like - maybe you're getting something out of attack by trading, maybe you're getting control of an open file, maybe you're getting the bishop pair, maybe you're doubling pawns - whatever it is, always be able to say to yourself "I'm trading this for this because _____ " and if the reason makes sense to you, fine - you'll make mistakes, but that's what learning is about - just don't trade to watch pieces disappear. 

(6) Don't fear the endgame - Many players say they hate endgames because they're 'boring' or 'too technical' or something like that, but you WILL get endings, and many of them will favor you! Basic endgame books are cheap and easy to find - I got "Winning Chess Endings" by Seirawan (which you can buy on Amazon for $2 + shipping), but there are tons of other ones out there, and they're all going to teach you a lot of the same ideas. Once you learn to play endgames without fear, I can promise a rating increase - most people at your level have *no* idea, they just push pawns hoping one of them will queen by accident (really - it's pathetic once you start noticing).

(7) Talk to yourself about your position - This refers back to a few of my pointers, but it deserves its own little section as well. Once you learn to talk about the position in language ("this is my good bishop, this is my bad one - that move is dangerous, and I must stop it - I have a better structure but she has more space") you're going to avoid blunders a little better AND understand more about what makes your style tick. All of us have a unique chess style that we're trying to unlock, but we don't know what it is until we've played for a good while; talking about what you like and don't like in a position will help you learn to pick openings, to make the choice between two good but divergent options, and how to conduct yourself when things start going wrong. 

I hope this has been helpful - I wish you the very best of luck improving! I definitely know the struggle. 

Your tactics rating (946) and activity (0.6 hours total study) suggest there is room for improvement. It would be worth focusing more on studying tactics for a while.

I hear you. It can be frustrating to put effort into learning something and not see results. Knowledge takes time to apply though, sometimes longer sometimes shorter. For example you learn to mate with a pair of bishops. Knowledge acquired- but it could be months if not years before you get to use it to checkmate someone in a game! You say you know a lot of advanced tactics but you still drop pieces often so maybe you need to work on basic tactics a lot and help pound that in. Back to the basics as people say. I'm still at level zero myself! Have fun learning and keep going!

As someone who jumped from 1000 to 1200 over the last year and a half or so, I will add that you definitely need tactics, tactics, tactics - and importantly, not tactics that are so hard that they're the type you'd never play at the board.

The tactics book "Tactics Time" is perfect for players between 1000 and 1200 on chess.com. Don't be fooled - most of the tactics will even seem 'too easy' but the key is that you need to still be getting them right, not thinking "oh, I could play that" after you see the answer.  Even after doing them like 4x now, it's very hard for me to get 90+% of the problems correct despite none of them being very hard. But when I do get 90%+ right, I make very few blunders in games (blunders meaning even missing 2-move combos.)

All of the above, and I would recommend reading "The Mammoth Book of Chess" by Graham Burgess, learn a bit of strategy, and play 30 minute games. Stop playing Blitz! it won't help your game but it will re-enforce bad habits.

I can only say that your tactical vision is bad. Tactics is everywhere and during a game you face it a lot. Some players think they are good at tactic but in reality they miss a lot. I'm bad at tactics as well and i'm working on it constantly. I saw couple of your games. No disrespect but you blunder severely and miss very simple tactics of your opponents. So that work on tactics and play more carefully.

@op.  You are clearly discouraged and unconfident.  this is a bad mental outlook when going into a battle of wits.   I strongly agree with the consensus that you ought to discover a slower time control and start over again with your rating; playing slowly and carefully.

Dont use Tactics Trainer on here, it will destroy your confidence forever.

Go for the Reinfield book 1001 Ways To Checkmate, dont need a board, you can browse it when yiu have 5 minutes spare, great little book.

I have started to play chess three years ago, while I did know the basic rules since I was 5. Two years ago, I was probably a 1000 player, though I am still officially unrated. Now, after having paused for 1,5 yrs, I am back and rated  maybe ~1400 OTB  (I am playing in a tournament right now, so I will get my first rating soon :)).

Though I am not a particularly strong player, I can share some thoughts on how you might improve.

For me, it was important that chess is (and remains) something entertaining. I loved to watch ChessNetwork's videos and I do think that most of them are also instructive and fun to watch.

Second, I played OTB games (at least one hour for each side!) and analysed them. Try not to use an engine first, only if you are done, having commented the game and adding some thoughts, you  can use an engine to check for blunders. If your engine does not like a move, try to find out why on your own. Highlight what your mistake was and learn from that.

"Winning Chess Tactics" is a very good book, I think everybody should read it. Even if you think you know every basic pattern, it will help you to go over those again. The book also contains puzzles on each topic, some of them are really tricky and nice!

I would also recommend that you train tactics for at least half an hour a day, for example on ChessTempo. Take your time with each tactical puzzle you solve and if you fail, try to determine why you could not find the solution. Try to be aware what the problem with your thought process was.

Ha ha - I'll lose 100 points in 10 minutes and then gain it back....the clock is horribly unforgiving - you lose 8 points for a miss and gain 3 for a hit. Yes, it will destroy your confidence. 

Hello, pleasure to meet you.

I hear you!! I was stuck at around 1000 for the longest time!! It's only recently that I've started to improve a little bit.

I agree with tactics! Wow I hated them so much, I was dragged in kicking and screaming. Lol. I hated the one here because it penalized so much if you didn't perform as fast as it wanted, even if you got the problem right! I've done a few things. I've turned ratings off so the clock doesn't matter. At my level, it shouldn't. I also use chesstempo.com. It's free and I do the problems there a lot. There is no worry about the clock there either. I actually enjoy tactics now and it's fun looking for them in my games now.

Someone here mentioned slow games. I couldn't agree more! I think I have played only a few blitz games (I think by accident lol!). I lose on time pretty much always. At my level, I need to take the proper time. ;) There are some other variables as well. I find I play a lot better when I'm not distracted. I need to be able to focus! It makes a huge difference. If you peek at my archive, you'll see a few games where I kept up with stronger players! (A few of the unrated ones are "teaching" games where they've helped me with ideas. They're unrated so no points exchanged). Having a stronger player to help has been a major role in my improvement.

I found a few groups that have forums where you can post and request help from stronger players.

Good luck!

Bumping this thread to say that I think this is all great advice, especially AlisonHart's -- esp. the stuff about trading pieces for no reason. You're not going to be a great chess player at the start, so don't try to be. Just be yourself. If you exchange pieces with your opponent and get nothing in return, then you're both just pushing wood around. I keep trying to drum this into myself over and over. Eventually it will stick. 

Talk yourself through your positions. Thinking through things methodically, trying to see all the combinations and possible moves, (and most importantly helping yourself develop your own way of doing this), will help you with tactics and eventually will help you at the chess board. Blitz isn't always conducive to this. Constantly evaluating pieces etc has helped me to stop blundering pieces away and given me a deeper understanding of the way the chess board works in each position, instead of just going with my gut. Some people reason their way through a position verbally, some do it visually. Find your own way.

Also, let me make a suggestion that others haven't made! Videos aren't just useful for learning tactics. They can help you develop board sight -- deep knowledge and intuition about the way the chess board works. If you pause the video and look at the position, trying to think it through the way a grandmaster would, your "chess IQ" will improve dramatically. Like doing maths problems over and over, or deconstructing a passage of prose, it will help you to "reason" your way through positions easier.

This is a great book, but honestly, is too hard for a 1000 rated player.

"Tactics Time" is perfect for that level. The tactics you will encounter in that book are EXACTLY the tactics you will see over and over again in play at 1000-1200 on chess.com. 

Even when I was 1400 blitz here, the 10001 Tactics and 1001 Checkmates by Reinfeld was mostly too hard, meaning at a level significantly higher than I would ever realistically play OTB. But they are great books and I am working my way through them now, now that I've gone thru some easier books. When I first started with Reinfeld, my rating went nowhere, despite working pretty hard at it, as it was too hard.