Taking it up a notch

Hi all, 

I've been a complete chess addict for since December last year, when I joined chess.com I went from 1200>400 very quickly! I was also losing to my boss every day (he showed me how to play properly), he beat me about 100 times before I beat him.

Anyway, I've gradually climbed my way up, I go up and down between 780 and 850 at the moment. I've played through the majority of the lessons available on here, I've also played the tactics trainer a little. I haven't studied any games, I know how to use the queens gambit well, and I have been using the french defense. These are really the only openings I properly know other than the four horse defense. 

I just want some advice on how best to improve, am I going to get better by playing game after game or do I need to start studying? I thought playing was the main way to improve but I feel like my growth has sort of stagnated now. Thanks.

Yeah you start off at 1200 

Learn the basic principles from reading and apply them when you play.

Study the games of a GM from before 1950, whether that be Morphy, Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, or Euwe.

Avoid the latter generation guys, like Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Carlsen, etc.  This is the computer generation where opening theory has been analyzed much farther in depth.  You don't need deep theoretical battles, you need the basics.

Thanks all, I'm going to dig up some classics then.

Analyze games from the players Thriller suggested (I will also add Reti, Nimzowitsch, and Tartakower - none of them world champions, all of them very important). When you analyze, turn the engine off, set up the pieces, pick a side, and play the game from their perspective - guess each move before it happens, and, if you guessed differently, figure out why that was wrong (or IF it was wrong). Once the game is over, analyze it with an engine; sometimes the engine will agree with you and disagree with your 'teacher', and sometimes the engine will reveal secrets buried in their moves that you hadn't been able to see. Try to memorize the entire game move-by-move - think of it as a drama; if you remember the story, you'll remember the moves. 

This is time consuming, and not all of the games you go through will be very thrilling, but it teaches you so much about your own style, the style of the person you're 'playing as', and the types of mistakes that each of you are prone to. Play through losses as well as wins....there's something very powerful about watching a legendary player fail - especially if the move YOU found was the same move that sank the legend himself! 

Thanks Alison, some really good advice there, I'm going to do exactly that.

I started playing about 6 weeks ago and my ranking went down from 1200 to 500... Now, 6 weeks later i have a rating of 850 and never go below 800. The best tip that I could give you (since I have the same rating you do, except I did it way faster) You should watch a lot of Youtube videos of Masters playing chess. I enjoy watching squarology and Daniel Rensch a lot. give it a go! Sometimes i watch GM analyzed games like games from carlsen and kasparov. Thanks for the tip of watching classical games :D Im going to start watching Capablanca games then :D

If you're interested in a longer term study plan, I've done one here: http://becomingachessmaster.com/study-plan/

I have beat someone who beats his master during my very first game, how ? I took my time to play, if I had to play quickly I wont be able to beat him. Take your time, watch everything you can do, then think about he is gonna play and repeat until you cann't. Train your mind to do that and you will do it faster and better.