1) solve tactical puzzles until you can solve them with ease, this requires deliberate practice until you reach the level of unconscious competence, give yourself twenty minutes daily.
2) go through master games . There are applications that contain a large database of master games, analyze them from the opening phase of the game until the endgame, try to understand the purpose of “every move” especially the player who won the game, if it is difficult for you to understand the reason for each move . ask the computer to play a different move , only then will you understand why a certain move was played. Try experimenting with different lines in same game. In these games you will notice patterns . Try after the end of the game to recall them to make sure you understood them.
3) study lessons and videos on chess. com . There is a lot to learn from these lessons . You might think you it all, but chess knowledge is very broad
4) play with humans and computers and try to understand why you won or lost the game, you can play the computer on chess.com where it identifies your blunders , mistakes and inaccuracies
5) check out the chessedge channel on YouTube it is very beautiful.
6) the most important thing to remember is that in order to master something you need 10000 hours of deliberate practice in your domain , that is approximately three hours daily for ten years . But don’t don’t focus on becoming a master, enjoy the journey and hopefully you’ll reach your goal.
7) try to be familiar with chess openings , develop a chess opening repertoire and understand the purpose behind each move in the opening. you will notice the moves that have been time tested give you good defense for your pieces, good pawn structure , good advantages like space , restrictions against opponents pieces,etc . other moves that get out of the main line or variations out you in trouble.
8) study endgame theory
9) finally , what I mentioned above is known to a lot of chess players but what makes a master is to continue and “never give up”
Good Luck
A bit about myself...
Chess has been a lifelong hobby and I tend to go through phases where it dominates my life. It's safe to say, I have never been more interested in the game then I am right now, which is why I really want to crack down on getting good. Throughout the years I've bought chess books and printed out information, tactics, puzzles to study.. and it always gets shelved. Right now I am looking for a routine and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Ideally, I'd like to practice a little bit of everything, every day. But what exactly should I be practicing?
I know tactics are really important, but most sites (including this one) provide random tactics and I never know what to look for. Is it 2 move checkmate? Is it attacking a castled king? Is it a something else? How many moves is it? I tried working with the custom unrated tactics but even still, I think a lot of the stuff is too advanced for my poor brain to figure out.
What tactics should I be focusing on?
I know the opening principles, but how can I study a few common openings effectively?
Middle game is my biggest problem. Seeing the whole board just doesn't happen.
End game is bad as well, but not as bad as the middle game. If I somehow manage to get ahead, it takes me 30+ moves to finally checkmate because I can't see mates quickly.
I've played a few games on here if anyone would be willing to analyze to maybe see where I mess up.
Any tips/advice is tremendously appreciated. I'm just another novice looking to improve his play, but with the insane amount of information online, I don't want to start a study the wrong way and waste time reading the wrong books. I really want to hone in on a real good plan and effectively practice to see improvement.
Cheers!