Seriously though, how do you get better at chess?

Many respectable chess players I have met often recommend studying tactics, getting a small opening repertoire, studying endgames, reviewing games, etc etc etc. Yet no matter how much I do any of the above, I cannot seem to get better, and in fact, I even seem to get worse.

I go from playing very respectable games for my skill level in 10 minutes rapid, to going to 15|10 and making my worst blunders in months game after game.

Please try to say something other than burnout.

barglegargle

And for the record, I only put this in 'For Beginners' because that's where my play has been for the past two years.

I started 4 months ago and I find I rarely lose because I get outplayed, and usually lose because I make very obvious blunders. I give up material or don't see a pin or a fork.

That pretty much sums it up for most to be fair, I've changed my game and reviewing every game recently till this morning I lost a game to lack of board vision, then played angry all day without reviewing any games. Discipline and blunder checking. And asking what my opponent is intending, and wat opertunities my opponents last move has created.... These are all vital but getting them as a solid habit needs work.

Improving Your Chess - Resources for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/improving-your-chess-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell

I got to where I am (~2300) by studying tactics, analyzing my own games (especially the painful losses) and playing over annotated games by the Old Masters... say, from Morphy to Alekhine.

Once you get past 2000 or so, opening study becomes almost essential, to some extent.

Perhaps, my opinion is too straightforward but there are three stages: opening, middlegame and endgame. Success of debut is what you have learnt from books, number of hours played and battle for center. So, there is no much IQ. Middlegame is your IQ power, logic and experience. In fact, it is chess. Again, endgame is number of hours played. So, the best players of opening and endgame are sailors and prisoners whereas middlegame are mathematicians and businessmen. As a result, to play a whole game successfully you have to be reach logical sailor who escaped from prison.

Studying tactics and endgames is a very useful but somewhat sterile way to improve. I suggest adding something to your training routine. Choose a great player from the past and play through as many of his or her games as you can. Try to understand their style and philosophy of chess. Try to understand why that person made his or her moves. Also, if you are going to play online, play games with 1-3 day moves. It's very difficult to reflect upon the game and understand its nuances if you are playing rapid and blitz.

Same way you get better at anything.....practice, study, training.......effort over time. And the earlier you realize there's no easy way, the better. 

@1

"no matter how much I do any of the above, I cannot seem to get better"
++ Most important is to check your intended move is no blunder before you play it.
As long as you hang peieces and pawns all the rest is useless.

"going to 15|10" ++ Good

"making my worst blunders in months game after game" ++ It is a matter of mental discipline. Always check your intended move is no blunder before you play it. Sit on your hands.

"For Beginners because that's where my play has been for the past two years."
++ You get your play out of beginners when you start blunder checking.

Other than working with a coach, the two most effective things you can do are:

1. Playing OTB tournament games (the best training possible according to Mark Dvoretsky)

2. Playing through hundreds of games on a real board. 

The latter would be especially important at your level. Most people don't see the value in this kind of training, because it does not fit clearly into any category in their "Opening-Middle Game-Endgame-Tactics" training schedule, but it is the best way to eliminate beginner blunders and develop a better board vision. 

i! It's difficult to answer your question without knowing you nor your games. If you can't improve the reason could be anything from making tactical mistakes, lack of theoretical background or just fatigue.  You should analyse your games- especially those lost. Then detect the main weaknesses of your play and work on them. If you improve them, then your overall play and results will be better. A Chess Coach would help you in the process.

Good luck!

Chess became much more fun for me when I improved from losing by obvious  blunders....to losing by being outplayed. Something for you to look forward to.

I mostly practice with daily chess, puzzles and bots, to give myself time to think and see certain patterns. To me it is like playing an instrument: if you can't play it slow, you definitely cannot play it fast.

The best thing is to analyze your games and play slower games. I started out playing 10+0 which is not bad but 15+0 would have been ideal for my improvement. I also experimented with certain openings such as 1...e5 against 1.e4 and I tried the Danish. I played a lot of garbage openings by accident until I started watching a few opening videos. The French was the first opening that stuck with me because it was easy to learn yet dynamic. Later on, I adopted the Queen's Gambit because I kept losing as White so tried something new

I did read chess opening books but from my experience, they are only good for a few moves, and then it becomes almost useless unless you are going against a chess master. Understanding the ideas will help you more than finding a novelty in the Queen's Gambit on move 7. But they are useful when analyzing your games to see where you could improve. You check my opening studies if you want to reference and even use them. 

I also watched a lot of chess videos which helped me become more knowledgable 

No matter how much you analyze and study, you still have to pay attention to the game and try to make good moves. There is no substitute for that.

Take a look at this, no comment is necessary

Or this:

This time a couple of comments:

After 7. Qe2 it's time to think. Instead, you play a random move in 2 seconds that loses the queen.

After that, you still have 2 pieces for the queen - not enough, but not nothing either. Why resign? Where is the fighting spirit?

I'm looking forward to it! In the meantime I'll just play lots of 10 and 15 min rapid to hopefully improve

Huh who surrenders after move 2?

How do you go about it?  Are you doing all of this online and just clicking a button to make moves?  There is your first mistake.

To get better, when you study, whether it be openings, tactics, strategy, endgame, etc, you need to get out a board and pieces.  Physically force yourself to make the moves with your own hand.  Believe it or not, it makes a huge difference!

When doing problems, do you look 20 seconds and then check the answer?  Some problems require over 10 minutes to solve, even by the most seasoned players!

I would suggest studying the following books IN THIS ORDER AND WITH A BOARD AND PIECES - NO COMPUTER:

1) Winning Chess Tactics - Yasser Seiriwan

2) Winning Chess Strategies - Yasser Seiriwan

3) The Inner Game of Chess - Andrew Soltis

4) Silman's Complete Endgame Course - Jeremy Silman

5-7 (Can be done In any order)

5) An opening book for White - like an e4 repertoire book or a d4 repertoire book.

6) A book on a defense to e4, either the Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, or 1...e5.  The others are weaker and especially not good for lower rated players.

7) A book on a defense to d4, either the QGD, QGA, Slav, Semi-Slav, Nimzo-Indain, Grunfeld, or King's Indian.

NOTE - while studying books 1 thru 4, pay attention to the opening moves you are playing using opening concepts and figure out which opening structure you have the greatest comfort level with and make those the openings you play.