New to both - guidance assistance?

I'm new Chess.com and an amature chess player and was wondering the best possible way to utilize my diamond membership on the site. There's so many resources available I'm unsure which to focus on - Tactics, Strategy, Videos, browsing articles and the forums...

I know that I'd like to spend adequate amount of time with all Chess.com has to offer, but possibly there's something a newbie should be focusing on more than others to improve their game?

Everyone is going to tell you the same thing: tactics, tactics, tactics; and they are not wrong.  On the other hand, there is plenty of time in your chess career to address whatever your weaknesses are.  For now I'd say run through the site like a kid in a candy store and grab whatever you are interested in.   The tactics trainer can be a bit much for a beginner in rated mode, so if the time factor is bugging you just ignore it or go to unrated mode in settings.  Lots of tactical courses in Chess Mentor to build up your pattern recognition, but if you have always been interested in strategy, then try one of those courses.  The video courses are the same thing.  Watch what you want and enjoy the site.  The conventional wisdom seems to be that beginners spend too much time on openings, but if learning the Najdorf Sicilian has always been a goal, then go for it and most of all enjoy yourself.

I'd recommend GM Wolff's tactics courses in Chess Mentor before tactics trainer. He has ~30 lessons on each different tactical motif - fully explained.

great that you ask! we're actually creating "Study Plans" right now and hope to have those online within a few weeks!

I do tactics until I get tired of screwing those up, then I do Chess Mentor, and screw those up for a while.

This sounds great!

Thanks for the replies everyone. Right now I'm focusing on Chess Mentor and then the Tactics Trainer. I've watched a lot of Pruess, Rensch, and Shankland videos and they're great although sometimes over my head.

I'm much in the same situation, a new member since May and just coming back to chess, although I've never really seriously studied it. All of the comments above are good, one thing I'd add though is play games! Seriously, study is important and can be fun, but I think you'll find the most satisfaction if you get involved in games. The 3 day format works best for me due to other commitments. But regardless, you can find lots of nice folks willing to play and be able to make connections as well. Hope this helps, best of luck.

Jack

I think the Tactics Trainer might be a bit frustrating at first for a beginner. If you're going to use it, set it on "unrated" mode, and make sure to use the "stop after each problem" setting so that you can go through the solution moves, read the comments.. just to make sure that you've fully understood the idea behind the puzzle.

Chessmentor is a great tool. Set it to list the courses by rating, and start with the lower rated ones. There's a couple of them on basic checkmate patterns and one on Introduction to tactics which will give you some ideas that will make it more enjoyable to use the Tactics trainer. There are even 2 courses made for total beginners (showing how the pieces moves, etc...)

The video lessons can be a great tool, but unfortunately, most of them are for intermediate / advanced players. Go through the beginners videos list and find the series on development, the one called "A cautionnary tale", the "Amazing games for beginners" series, and the "tactics do grow on strategy" ones. A beginner can get a lot out of them.

Welcome, and have fun!