If someone has some direct advice for me how to improve...

I do lessons, drills, puzzles and am watching instructional youtube videos, so I know I'm improving if I continue. Though, what I'm looking for is some more direct advice on how to improve based off of my (rapid) games. So if someone would be so kind to look at some games of mine and can spot some recurring good or bad things, or some tips in general it will be greatly appreciated.

I know I will get the comment: ' Maybe what you need is a coach', but unfortunately I don't have the money for that investment.

Looks like you should use an engine to help identify patterns.

Don't use the engine for every move, but you can use an engine to highlight specific positions that have either missed opportunities or ways to get a calculated stronger position.

Missed Opportunities

Na5 is a common way to attack the c4 bishop. Usually, the idea is to go back one near the edge of the board when one of your bishops is attacked. Bb3 here and Bg3 in the London System.

However, you also have a missed opportunity, Bxf7+.

Look up the Fried Liver Attack. You want go over the pattern, not the exact position to see if you should try it. In this case, there is good reason to play Bxf7+.

After that, the next pattern is opening your side files. Instead of Qxb3, play axb3. Same with the London System, hxg3 opens the other side.

Building a stronger position

This is more subjective I feel. One way to look at it is to not bring the queen to f3 on an open file. If you can see the calculation of 23. Qxh6 to threaten the queen pin, then great.

The idea I have instead is to take advantage of squares your opponent can't easily occupy. Ng6 also forks the rook and bishop. It's not as good as the queen pin, but it can give a smaller more guaranteed advantage. I find that easier to spot.

You can then employ other patterns like bringing a rook to a third file. In this case Bac1. Playing c6 further locks in black's bishop. White has very strong control over the board. Black's king is in peril. It can't castle kingside and the queenside has opened up. White's queen can now possibly take the b7 pawn.

There is a lot of good advice for beginner to intermediate chess players in many of the chess.com forums. For openings, this is enough - memorization isn't necessary, nor is it practical. 

https://www.chess.com/blog/KeSetoKaiba/opening-principles-again 

Generally speaking, I'd recommend:

Studying basic checkmates and "theoretical endgames" so you have a better idea what you should be aiming for and it will also give you more confidence in reaching endgames you know

That worked well for me when I started out. Also, tactics works for many people. Honestly, I did very few tactics when I started out. However, tactics puzzles will probably give most people the most improvement for the least amount of effort towards improving. You can slowly tackle complex topics like positional motifs, pawn structures and opening study once you are a strong to intermediate player; it isn't really that important when starting out. 

We can also play some unrated live chess sometime; I'd be glad to offer some advice. It is free and you can always get your money back

p.s. I enjoy giving back to the chess community by helping lots of chess players out. Perhaps it is because I was lucky enough to have some nice chess friends help me when I was starting out too.

All you need to do to improve is improve your calculation and board vision. Both can be worked by solving tactics. Solve them in your head from start to finish as best you can. Even 20 mins a day of focused solving and you will see an improvement. Reading and playing through annotated master games will also help a bunch and is also a pleasure to do. Try and get your hands on a copy of 'Logical Chess' by Irving Chernev. Far and away the best book for beginners like us. You'll be surprised by what you pick up just playing through the games.

Vote chess can help

Haven't looked at your games, but I know part of your problem, just from the first post. You mentioned that you're playing rapid games. Don't do that. Play slow games.

Whenever you learn any new skill, you have to take the time to learn to do it properly. Only after you're good at it, then you can start working on doing it faster. Chess is the same way. Blitz play will test your skills, not improve them. In order to train yourself to look around the board and stop overlooking things, you need to have plenty of time to do so on every move.

Playing rapid is fine. There is no point in making 10 bad moves in 30 minutes if you can't make decent moves to move 10. You need to keep going back to the beginning and trying again. The focus should not be on completing a game, but rather you should be working on reaching realistic positions you can enter the middlegame with. That is why people recommend the chessables site. If you need something like that, this can help.

To me, it is too repetitive and is like stuttering. I prefer to simply go over the 10 moves in the beginning of a game with an engine, look at the alternatives, and then remember them for next time. When you get up to 15 moves solid without problems, then it's time to add time to the clock and play higher rated players. 

Thank you all for your time taken to post something, some of it was pretty helpful. Now I think I have a better understanding as to where I should be putting more focus into. Hopefully it will help with reaching my 2021 goals

• 2020 goal, don't get COVID
• 2021 goal, don't get mated