No longer improving, why keep playing?

There are a number of factors that people don't realize that it takes to be successful:

1) Videos should be limited.  Study books, and study them with a 3-D board, not a 2-D computer screen.

2) Don't just play thru moves.  Actually try to figure out what is going on.  What are Black's and White's plans?

3) SEVERELY LIMIT internet blitz chess.  12 hours of internet blitz achieves less than 1 hour of studying a book at a 3-D board!

4) Play in Over the Board tournaments - This is critical!  The longer the time control, the better!

5) Play in major tournaments with 200-point sections, like the World Open, US Open, Chicago Open (I'm playing in that this weekend), at least one of those each year, along with at least half a dozen weekend tournaments (i.e. 5 rounds that span Friday to Sunday).

6) Find a club, and preferably one that does a long rated game each week.  I play in one on Tuesday Nights that's 1 round a week, 5 rounds make a tournament, time control is Game in 75 minutes with a 15 second increment per move.

7) Play in a few 1-day Saturday events.  Your total games per year should be 100 minimum.

8) When studying, avoid studying opening theory in the beginning.  Endgames, Tactics, Endgames, Strategy, Endgames, etc.

I see you are in the U.S.  Don't know what state you are in, but I'm sure there's tournaments no matter where you are.  Even Arkansas has tournaments.

It's fun, difficult, and takes a lot of patience:)

I will play as long as I still enjoy the game . I have stopped improving some years back but still win more than I lose and still enjoy the game . 

If you have been studying chess 5 to 7 hours each day since February and only a rating of 800, then you do something horribly wrong.

"3) SEVERELY LIMIT internet blitz chess.  12 hours of internet blitz achieves less than 1 hour of studying a book at a 3-D board!"

Step 1 without a doubt.

Arkansas doesn't really have that many tournaments and they are spread out across the state pretty well.

In most areas, one is lucky to have 3 or 4 tourneys a year and getting 100 rated games in would be hard; unless you have a very active local club.

He probably enjoys the game ?

You know, most people start playing a game not to get better at it (although they may well adopt this as one of their goals in the game) but because they think it's a fun game. And they keep playing because they're having fun.

Shocking, I know.

My rating has dropped over 200 points in the last 10 months.  Why?  because i quit studying.  I always said that when chess became more work than fun i would quit studying.  I love the game, and i still love to play though.  Get past the number, and as long as you enjoy playing keep on playing.

I wonder which US state has the least chess activity/membership ?  Alaska ?  I know in the southeast MS has very little activity , maybe the least in the southeast ? I am in Alabama which has little chess activity but I think several other southeastern states have even less ... 

Don't listen to IAS. He still says 'horsie' and 'pointy one'. 

I stopped improving at breathing, guess I'd better quit now 

I quit smoking when I got really good at it. At that point, it was no longer fun and cool.

Dont make me smack you with that castle lookin thingy

No problem. My wife already smackes me knightly. 

I took a look at rated events from last year. There were 3 rated events for Alaska and Hawaii. Followed by 4 for Wyoming.

Mississippi had 70 rated events last year and Alabama 66.

I love the design of the chess pieces.  This alone is what intrigued me about chess back in the 1900's.  Once some folks showed me some moves I was HOOKED!  I play chess because I LOVE 'the game'(everything about it).  I'm not super fond of the tournament aspect of chess(it just doesn't 'do it' for me)  But, I still find chess EXTREMELY interesting. 

We all wanna 'get better', but remember, that also includes the HIGHEST ranked players.  You can ALWAYS 'get better' at at chess, no matter how good you are.  This is also just one more of the many beauties of the game.  

At your level, just playing and check if you don't give pieces away should do the trick to improve in chess until you reach ±1200 or so. Just long games (minimum 1hr pp) should do the trick. 

Study one or two lines in an opening for white and black should be enough to get into a good middle play game. Even I (FIDE 1900) don't know more than 4 openings in total.

Always ask yourself the question why do you make this move, what is the reason behind it?

And as others mentioned as well, (internet) blitz games are not good for progress. 

There isn't much activity in Mississippi, Alabama, or South Carolina, but there's plenty of activity in Georgia for Alabama residents, and plenty of activity in North Carolina for South Carolina Residents.

Columbia is only an hour and a half from Charlotte, get up Saturday Morning, leave at 8, be there by 9:30, play the 3 rounds starting at 10, get out around 7:30, you are home by 9.  So it's not like an hour and a half is undrivable!

So even if Arkansas is spread around the state, you can't expect there to be chess tournaments at every mile marker of every state.

Being willing to travel is also critical - facing different players!

I have played about 2400 games.  I probably have at least 90 or so in Pennsylvania, a good 50 or so in Virginia, 15 to 20 in Texas, 30 in Illinois, 50 or so in Georgia, even 15 to 20 or so West of the Rockies.  Sure a good 3/4 or more of my games are from North or South Carolina, but pigeon-holing yourself to a 5-mile radius from your house won't work if you are trying to improve!  It's just the facts!

Yes, travel is critical if you want to play a lot of chess. Thing is, that travel gets costly and trying to get that many games in can be cost prohibitive.

I'm pretty close to Arkansas. Other than events I run, I have a haul for most tourneys.

Closest ones that may have one or two tourneys a year:

Springfield, MO (though there are very few real tourneys there and I've ran a few of them): ~1 hour
Fayetteville, AR: ~1.5 hours
Tulsa, OK: ~1.75 hours (sometime has more tourneys)
Ft. Smith, AR: ~2.15 hours

Places with more than a couple a year:

Kansas City, MO: ~2.5 hours
Oklahoma City, OK: ~3.25 hours
Columbia, MO: ~3.75 hours
St. Louis, MO: ~4.25 hours
Little Rock, AR: ~4.25 hours

It's not a gripe. I could probably fit more in a year and still do other things (such as spend time with family). However, in many areas of the US, there isn't much choice but to travel and getting in 100 rated games a year, is hard and potentially expensive.