Overwhelmed beginner

Hey everyone, just recently started playing although I apparently had signed up on this site years ago. I have now been playing probably every day for 2 weeks or so and am just really trying to learn. My first goal is to get 1200 rating. I have been reading on what beginners should do but I feel overwhelmed at all the information.

My question to you is what is the best way to achieve my first goal? Just play play play, read a book, only do tactics, just watch games, etc.

I would really like to make a few friends on here and maybe chat over games on Skype etc if anyone is interested in studying.

Any help is appreciated!

Yasser Seirawan has made many (seriously. A lot.) YouTube videos for learning chess, some for beginners. You could try that.

Also, a mistake I kept making when I first played (and still sometimes make) is that I would only look at what I wanted to do, not what they were doing.

I hope this helps.

To maintain the starting rating of 1200 you have to be better than about 40-50% of all players. Here is a chart: http://www.chess.com/livechess/players?type=Standard.

Keep chess fun. Make it fun to learn not work to learn. I liked to play good player and ask them questions as game played. Learn how good player sees positions will grow on you. OK but play often but not fast chess. Let yourself work each position in mind and turn ideas in head. When you lose you give them to good player and ask what you missed. You learn best by experience but to grow you have to know what misses you make so not do them again. I help maybe!

Moswild, I am not sure if your % rate is a bit too generous for a 1200 player?? It sounds more like a 1500-1600 player? When you take a 800 player to a twelve hundred player, thats only five clicks away, but 1200 is 8 clicks away from a 2000 player and thats not counting masters and above!

A beginner?  Quick, bombard him with all the information in the world!

Seriously, the game itself is a great teacher.  It's a good idea to look at tactics puzzles to start out with, but nothing beats playing games to learn the basics of the game.

I am sure with that 40%-50%. The rating given to a player after a game is equal to that deduced from his opponent so the average 1200 rating does not change. There are few exceptions, e.g. players at high level get/loses less rating and also new players are given/removed more rating so the average is moved a little - but look at that link, the average is 1304 in standard: http://www.chess.com/livechess/players?type=Standard.

"Just play play play, read a book, only do tactics, just watch games, etc"

Yes.

For now the best advice for you would be to watch out you pieces. Don't give them away so easily!

Try to work on eliminating/reduce simple blunders like missing simple forks,missing one mate moves etc. Solve easy tactics problems. There are tactical motifs like pin,fork,skewer,double attack, discovery etc. When you solve puzzles, it should be a combination of puzzle that mates the king and puzzles that wins material.

Develop your pieces,put your rook on open files, in endgame bring out your king, look at the whole board, always study your opponent's move, before you make a move check if it has a tactical drawback,unless you have a reason not to do so, castle. Study basic endgames like opposition, mating with king and rook  vs lone king, mating with two rooks against a lone king etc.

Develop develop develop 

Give up bro you aren't smart enough for this game!

Your goals shouldn't include silly numbers imo (like 1200 or whatever)

If you have only played two weeks then be patient. It takes more games than that to get over simple oversights like hanging pieces and overlooking mates in one.

Just play play play

My advice: tactics, tactics, endgames, and tactics.  Maybe pick up something a bit outlandish like the king's gambit.  Spend a day or so picking a system to play (don't spend too much time on this).  Then play games, do tactics puzzles, review your games, and do the occasional endgame practice.  When you start to get tactics and understand initiative then you can focus on the more positional aspects.  Right now tactics will take you everywhere, and learning how to attack is good so be aggressive.  Really the turning point for me was when I finally learned to coordinate my pieces, and playing gambits and hairy positions taught me the value of piece coordination and time; after doing all that learning pawn structures and positional things was more beneficial and comprehensible because I understood when to open the game (and how to handle open positions), and how to make my pieces active.  

I would offer advice, but the truth is that I don't remember what I did to get better.  Just love the game, and studying, doing tactics, and just playing don't feel like a chore.  I've been playing for about 2 and a half years, and I've gone from utter beginner to 1528 USCF in that time, (and I feel like I'm still getting better.)

One thing I can say is that I think it helps to be young.  I learned the rules when I was young (maybe 10) but didn't start playing for real until I was 19, (I'm 21 now).  I really wish I had started at a younger age, because I feel like a very important factor in getting better is having a young malleable brain.  I don't know how old you are, but even if you are an adult I wouldn't get discouraged by it.  It's still possible to improve, it's just harder.

Most important thing is to have fun

Awesome thanks for all the advice everyone!

once you're past the most basic areas, this is the next thing