Study guide to get to 1800

The way I see it is there are 5 basic categories to study when you're new:  openings, endgames, tactics, strategy, and annotated game collection.

Choose openings as one of the last things.

That's my basic advice.

Oh, but I guess you asked for a "way" to study, not "what" to study.

I'd say get a well regarded book, and set up a board. Play over every line of analysis in the book, and take notes in a notebook about useful ideas, moves, etc you're learning. After you've read the book, review your notes and revisit the parts you thought were the most interesting / instructive.

If you play a lot, review your games, and study 5 books like this, then that's likely enough for most people to get to 1800... but at the same time you should expect it to take years. I know theoretically you could read 5 books in 5 days, but it doesn't work like that  Chess takes a lot of time.

Different people improve at different rates, but I know that answer doesn't help

So for most people I'd guess 3 to 5 years.

Depends how long you’ve been playing as well. If you’ve not been playing long and are 1250 then you might get to 1800 quite quickly. It you’ve been 1250 for 5 years already: totally different story. 

You’re doing very well then but see how it goes. No amount of predicting by anyone else will propel you there faster.

James makes good points.

One important tip with chess (and everything in life) is it's enough to do a little every day. A little bit every day builds up tremendously when done consistently for years. 1800 is a good goal. Now have fun by finding something you can do today, and just work towards it one day at a time like that.

Use a real board and pieces when studying.

Focus on quality of study, not quantity.  Doing 300+ tactics a day rapidly, and not understanding the themes, and how the tactic developed wont help. 

Do your own analysis.  Only use an engine to check for blunders, and missed tactics.

Get someone stronger to go over your games with you.

Play OTB tournaments.

People like this always pop up in these topics by the way...

People who are... disingenuous about when they started or how much they study.

This person may have started taking chess seriously for the first time last summer. This person may have improved many 100s of points, and may give good advice...

but this person was not a beginner (which means learning how the pieces move) 6 months ago.

Yeah, well, like I said: there's always one 🙄

One @thunderkingg tip that's sure to make your rating rise fast:

Make a 2nd account (or have a friend do it), and make it resign 40+ games in a row on move 1 to your primary account

https://www.chess.com/games/archive/yoimamaster?show=live_blitz&gameType=live_blitz&rated=rated

Actually there's another trick

And that's to do it with not 1, but 3 accounts

https://www.chess.com/games/archive/acceptmychallengeplz?show=live_blitz&gameType=live_blitz&rated=rated

https://www.chess.com/games/archive/mobamba10?show=live_blitz&gameType=live_blitz&rated=rated

Of your 180 wins, about 150 of them have been from your opponent resigning on move 1

Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining.

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But to your credit, I didn't think this extremely childish and primitive way of cheating still existed.

I'm starting to seriously doubt chess.com ability to catch this stuff.

Whatever happened with that match against that nut job?

Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean. Me vs kibi?

Most people prefer the CG Gainer study guide. There are numerous claims that some scrawny player gained 30 in 1 month and now intimidates inside the club. It also has many other benefits that dominate late night television. Ask the nearby peddler of this, kindaspongey. Try it for free with a money back 60 day trial period.

Yep

The moment I found out it wasn't his primary account (he has at least 2 active accounts on chess.com, even now) I made fun of him for a few hours in my topic and then blocked him. There are more accounts in addition to this he used to spam my topic. I reported all of them and they're all still open. What's funny is there's a non-zero chance they'll come down on me for saying so in the forums, meanwhile I'm only talking about it while his multi accounts remain open (probably due to VPN trickery).

There was a lot of odd behavior behind the scenes involving private messages to me sent by both of his active accounts. Stuff like asking me my real name and trying to get me to bet money on the games through pay pal. Like you said, a nut job.

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