Chess Improvement

Hi chess.com forum, I have been playing chess for 7 months already and play at around 1200-1300 playing strength.  Now before you say that I my chess.com rating is 900 look at my games and you will see that I am underated.  A near expert level playerthat has had a lifetime of experience in chess (he is 80) tells me that if I were accurately rated I would be `1200-1300 (Garry Tressler is 1700 uscf correspondence)   .

 I have been studying all day everday for months and have seen little improvement and am not really sure what I need to work on.  Or what the weaknesses in my game are.  I spend my study time going over openings and endgames.  Also I analyze my own games from uscf chess.com tournaments and I look for weaknesses in my game using stockfish to help me at times.  I sometimes feel like I am working on the wrong things.  I cannot get a coach to help though.

(If anybody looks over my games please look at the rapid 15/10 games since that is what I play regularly )

 

Here is a list of the books that I have

 

Win at Chess - Fred Reinfeld

Chess ,5334 Problems, Combinations and Games - Laszlo Polgar

Win at Chess - Ron Curry

Chess Tactics for the Tournament Player - GM Sam Palatnik

The Complete Book of Chess Strategy - Jeremy Silman

What it Takes to Become A Chess Master - Andrew Soltis

MiddleGame - M. Euwe & H. Kramer

Howto Reassess Your Chess - Silman

The Amateurs Mind - Silman

Silmans Complete Endgame Course

Vishy Anand Chess Super-Talent

How to win in the chess openings - I. A Horowitz

 

and other books on different openings such as:

Nimzo Indian

A book on e4 openings 'Starting out: 1.e4 - Neil Mcdonald'

English Opening

The Tchigorin Defense

London System

Torre Attack

and a book on Torre Attack, Carro Kann, and Nimzo all in one.

 

I would like some advice on what areas of the game I need to work on most and please from someone that knows what they are talking about because I take chess and my improvement very seriously.

 

 

 

Possibly of interest:
Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson (2012)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708090402/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review874.pdf

http://dev.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Simple-Attacking-Plans-77p3731.htm
Logical Chess: Move by Move by Irving Chernev (1957)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708104437/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/logichess.pdf
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played by Irving Chernev (1965)
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/most-instructive-games-of-chess-ever-played/
Winning Chess by Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld (1949)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf
Back to Basics: Tactics by Dan Heisman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708233537/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review585.pdf
Discovering Chess Openings by GM John Emms (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627114655/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen91.pdf
Openings for Amateurs by Pete Tamburro (2014)
http://kenilworthian.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-of-pete-tamburros-openings-for.html
https://chessbookreviews.wordpress.com/tag/openings-for-amateurs/
https://www.mongoosepress.com/catalog/excerpts/openings_amateurs.pdf
A Guide to Chess Improvement by Dan Heisman (2010)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708105628/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review781.pdf
Seirawan stuff:
http://seagaard.dk/review/eng/bo_beginner/ev_winning_chess.asp?KATID=BO&ID=BO-Beginner

https://web.archive.org/web/20140708092617/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review560.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/book-review-winning-chess-endings
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627132508/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen173.pdf
http://www.nystar.com/tamarkin/review1.htm

Maybe try My First Chess Opening Repertoire for White by Vincent Moret
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/9033.pdf
https://www.chess.com/article/view/how-to-understand-openings

"... [Starting Out: 1 e4!] may provide the reader with the outline of a repertoire that will require further research, but this is far from the promise to provide everything needed to play the opening with confidence against strong opposition. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2006)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627032909/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen89.pdf

In the book list, many are advance for your level. You also don't have a tactics book that has puzzle for winning material. You need a book that covers basic endgames and  strategies.

 

I suggest you get Idiot's Guide to Chess by GM Wolf and World's Champion Guide to Chess by Polgar. The book by Polgar not only contains mate problems, it contains problems for material gain. The book by GM Wolf covers the basic things you need to learn.  Follow the general opening principles and study the things from the books that I suggested. Solve chess tactics problems everyday.

How about posting some of your games, especially the ones where you can't figure out where you went wrong?

I would think that, for this purpose, it would be good enough to use the beginning of the Silman endgame book.

For more modern coverage of 1 e4 e5, maybe try:

Starting Out: Open Games by GM Glenn Flear (2010)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626232452/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen134.pdf

Starting Out: Ruy Lopez by John Shaw (2003)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627024240/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen53.pdf

Might be easier to try something like:

First Steps: The Queen's Gambit by Andrew Martin (2016)
https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7652.pdf
Starting Out: Queen's Gambit Declined by Neil McDonald (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627005627/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen93.pdf
Queen's Gambit Declined by Matthew Sadler (2000)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708234438/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen15.txt

i agree with kindaspongey's direction

i am in kind of the same boat as op
after my first lessons my coach recommended i put tactics training on the back burner; not stop altogether but supplement it with a book and exercises that help "signal" the presence of possible tactics and combinations

he also introduced me to chessable which, along with kindaspongey's suggestions, pointed in the direction of openings- which, as many may know runs contrary to the general advice here in the forums, opening are "not important until 1800+," and "just stick to opening principles" and stick to tactics...

i understand- to a point; when i played my first uscf tournament games i was appreciative of the much longer time controls where i could use my time to just try and "survive the openings" but i was winging it and my opponents were much more versed in the opening stages which led to better games for them

even in the 30 minute games here i constantly find myself in time trouble as i slog and plod along trying to survive the opening- let alone- take advantage of opportunities which may come up

my coach specifically suggested learning some of the ideas of the italian game and recommended the chessable website as well; the website basically drills positions, moves, and variations of the italian game and one rinses and repeats each day- i constantly flub up and get the move orders mixed up but after a few sessions i am beginning to get a feel for some patterns and plans that i never had when i was winging it on just "opening principles" alone

just by trying to apply some of these ideas and simple plans i find my pieces are getting to better squares and i am not as flustered as i was a week ago

it was never suggested to learn reams of theory nor abandon my own game's analysis and other practice (chernov logical chess otb, neiman's "chess antenna," and tactics practice) but just this little bit of opening practice has bridged a gulf i was really struggling with

best of luck

"... Overall, I would advise most players to stick to a fairly limited range of openings, and not to worry about learning too much by heart. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)
"... the average player only needs to know a limited amount about the openings he plays. Providing he understands the main aims of the opening, a few typical plans and a handful of basic variations, that is enough. ..." - FM Steve Giddins (2008)

Here is my opening repetoir:

As white:

1.e4

Giuoco Piano is my favorite!

As Black

against 1.e4 

1...e5 and sometimes french defense

 

against 1.d4

dutch defense

I am not very good at playing against any other openings and don't have an official defense against them.

Some good suggestions here, Ashton. I think that your best asset right now is the hunger to learn and improve. That comes and goes for a lot of us. I bet there are very few chess books out there that we non masters couldn't learn something from. I think just keep at it, keep soaking up chess info from all available resources and you'll see steady improvement.

It's summer though don't forget, have some other fun too.