Why am I so bad at chess?

I just started playing chess a week ago, so I know I shouldn’t expect much. I first started when I was 14, and spent a few months every now and then for a few months. I already knew all the rules and movements going into this. I played against good players and played enough to get a decent idea how to play chess. That was 8 years ago.

I just started playing again this week. I know nothing about strategies or techniques or openings. However, I have spent roughly 40 hours this past week studying and trying to improve my game.

But I am so bad.

Like, exceptionally bad.

Just take a look at my profile. I’m literally in the 200’s for blitz. I win about 25% of my games, and that’s against equally as bad players (100-400 ratings)

My question is, why? Do I just not have a mind for chess? Am I asking too much out of myself for getting serious for just a week? I’m learning a lot, but it seems when I play I can never execute check mates, and often miss times to check for 6-7 moves (I see this after reviewing my game with the computer).

Is this normal? Or is this something that points I will only ever be mediocre in chess? Did good players ever start off THIS bad?

Thanks.. it’s just really frustrating.

I can help here, for sure.  The first thing you need to do...absolutely...is stop playing blitz.  I know its an awesome adrenaline rush, mind crack, and as exciting as any third person online shooter...but if you are serious about improving, stop the blitz.  Go slower...try the 15 minute games or at the least 10 minutes, which will allow you to absorb positions much more, I promise it will help you improve eventually....and have patience...this game can take MONTHS to see just a few hundred rating points, and for some it can be years.  But at your level, I would expect a drastic increase after only a couple months.

most of us aren't genius, some people work really really hard for their dreams but most of them never get it, you're really expecting that with 40 hours you're gonna be good enough? I'm pretty sure that I'm not special, but in the last 2 months I've spending all day training, and I can say that I improved a lot. Never give up (sorry if there's any grammaticall error)

watch an awesome youtube channel called "agamantor"...look it up...its so good.  Watch a video right now and let me know what you think...any video.

Don't play e4 , play d4 

I looked at a few of your games. You just gotta be more greedy. Do your best to not lose any material for any reason. You can make an equal trade, but try not to lose anything. The value of the pieces are this:

Queen = 9
Rook = 5
Bishop and Knight = 3
Pawn = 1

And then play games with long time controls so you can practice this:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/for-beginners/the-most-important-concept-for-all-beginners