Stuck at ~1500 rating

Hello there,

I think you already guessed my question by reading the title. I am stuck at ratings around 1500 for a while now (ignore my account's rating, I just created it today after being off chess for a while). I understand tactics and see them in my games, I also have some understanding of the general principles (occupying the middle, pieces mobility, weak squares and things like that). 

The thing is my games are somewhat repetitive, like I get the same position dozens of times without exactly having a plan, sometimes I try a new move even though I know it carries some disavantage, just to avoid repeating the moves I used to play. 

I almost always go for Reti opening with White, and Pirc's defense or French defense with Black.

Do you have any good tips to improve my games ? thank you all

My thread is at the second page already..

if anyone has tips don't hesitate please.

Why do you like the Reti?

The opening leads to the King's indian attack which I like to play. Also by simply opening by Nf3 I surprised many, many opponents, some of them just play ..e5 mindlessly and blunder a pawn in the first move.

Wow my rating just jumped to 2400 after I read your comment. Thanks man I am an IM now.

I'm stuck at 1500 too , The world is lucky I don't have a never ending supply of green & bottles of cherry coke.

I'm more and more convinced that the only way to improve is to start studying some opening theory, and take lessons on positional chess, while staying sharp on tactics, of course.

I also started analyzing my own losses with an engine (something I very rarely did), then I try to find the moves I played where the engine suddenly tilts the evaluation in my opponent's favor (in other words I screwed up), and then figure out why it's a bad move.

I hope this helps us.

I mean if you play boring openings expect boring and repetitive games. The Reti opening is very non committal and you don't force the game forward even though you have the white pieces. The French is also just kind sitting back and waiting for your opponents moves to make a response. The queen side bishop tends to be very sad in the French. Don't know too much about the pirc, but when I see it as white I am never afraid of it.

In summary you have chosen openings that while are solid, don't allow for many attacking or risk taking opportunities. The only way to really improve in those types of openings is to really learn the theory (which is boring) and get better at converting endgames after gaining small positional advantages in your game (which is difficult and not always intuitive).

If you like the king's Indian attack, try the kings Indian defense. That opening leads to very attacking positions where both white and black have opportunities to make game winning tactics. Also pick up some gambits or openings that require sacrificial play. Those lead to more interesting games.