By all the answers posted here, I think it's all hard work, study, practice, analysis, and other standard techniques mentioned to increase one's ratings.
Does this mean that a player's gut feeling, intuitive understanding of the position has no meaning?
Does this mean that a player's gut feeling, intuitive understanding of the position has no meaning?
I think something like that doesn't exist for lower rated players, since it's probably a result of years of experience and pattern recognition
Just get a premium membership. You wont have to graph your progress as you'll be able to see that in your stats section. From their just do the tactics trainer for you hour a day. and stay away from bullet.
Exactly Kageri, it’s all about pattern recognition. Low level players can however; recognise some patterns such as when to attack the castled king by sacrificing one of the bishops, or some basic checkmates.
Lenudan, I'd always get the Diamond Membership. It's quite cheap actually, more than drinking a can of coke everyday.
yeah sure Aetheldred, your are right but I had more a intuitive understanding of the position in mind where you can't spot tactical possibilities.
When I analize games with a strong player (IM) he can tell me at once if a move is playable without calculating much and without any tactical patterns. Just deep positional understanding.
Keep playing (if live blitz, do 10 minutes each - don't do standard because there are dcers out there), and do tactics trainer. Premium membership here would help. The ratings will increase by itself.
I'm gaining 100 rating points every year (used to be high 1100s OTB 3 years ago, now in the 1400s) for the past 3 years. The catalyst of the increase was when I realized I had the urge to understand the position as much as possible. Try long time control chess, and critically analyse positions.
1800 OTB is possible to any serious chess player.
hmmm intresting question ....i am playing for 1 year and my rating is just 1270....may be i am not smart.....but if u get a formula to imrove ones rating share it with me too
I increased my LIVE chess rating by 200+ points over the last few months. Here is my method (secret formula):
Last year November my LIVE (30-minute) chess rating dipped as low as 1116 (at the time of posting, it is on 1339). My Turn-Based rating was getting close to 1600. Something was seriously wrong; I got angry and frustrated and decided to take action.
My method (secret formula) for improving LIVE chess was the same as the one I used to increase my Turn-based rating.
In my view, when you analyzing your games, it's NOT about having the computer find the best moves for you. It's about YOU getting into the habit of finding better moves and then checking your results against a computer. I also asked a lot of stronger players for help on the forums etc. I kept track of almost everything I could think of on an Excel Spreadsheet I devised.
So gradually, I started working on improving the critical issues. I started paying more attention to piece safety, castling etc. Once I that improved, I tried improving my time management. And before I knew it, I was beating 1300+ players in 30-minute LIVE, something which was impossible just a couple of months back.
I am still analyzing each and every game that I play. If you don't know your weaknesses, you will not know what to work on next.
Also, I don't agree that Blitz/Bullet will help you in any way. But that is just my opinion. 
theunsjb, Blitz/Bullet helps in case you run into time trouble. It's something you have to practise just in case you have to make 2 moves in 1 second. Think of it as penalty shooting practice in European football. It does not really get you any better, but you have to practise it just in case. Moreover, I have seen the strongest players in chess clubs play Blitz and Bullet games, and I'm talking GMs.
If u do increase ur rating by 300 let me no, i want 2 do the same thing!
I have started to take chess seriouly and would like to see myself 1800+ rated in 3 months time. I am not doing anything new like trainings, etc but have made a point to view the board more closely before making any move. Do you think in general, it is possible to move from 1500 to 1800+ in 3 months. Any suggestions leading to this result will be helpful for me. Pls also note that I can't devote more than 1 hour per day for chess because of job considerations.
I plotted my ratings over last few games and see a downward trend. Is this alarming, or conveys some meaning?
Chess.com online chess rating is possible.
I went from 13-1500 to ~1800 in that period.
What helped was a premium account on this site for tactics trainer, just spam that shit. Other things that helped was:
1. Chessnetwork on youtube.
2. Local chess club.
3. Chess mentor, I wish I had put more time in that.
4. The "play a position against the computer"-thing on chess.com
5. Analysing your own games, you have no idea how much you will gain from this.
Also this bullshit about blitz and bullet helping reactions is not to be trusted, play online chess if you want to improve the most. Reactions won't help you if you can't find the good move anyways.
Rasparovov, Blitz helps you improve your concentration and reflexes when you are in time trouble. Imagine you are at a tournament playing a 2-hour-game and both you and your opponent have 2 minutes on the clock. At this point whoever is more relaxed and doesn’t panic has the edge. In this case, the occasional Blitz player will not panic and will win the match, as opposed to the other one that has not practised it. However, Blitz games should never become a substitute to your study, but a complement to it.
Rasparovov, Blitz helps you improve your concentration and reflexes when you are in time trouble. Imagine you are at a tournament playing a 2-hour-game and both you and your opponent have 2 minutes on the clock. At this point whoever is more relaxed and doesn’t panic has the edge. In this case, the occasional Blitz player will not panic and will win the match, as opposed to the other one that has not practised it. However, Blitz games should never become a substitute to your study, but as a complement to it.
Not to mention u get familiar with loads of different opening,ur tactics impprove,ur intuiton improves.
Amen to it, Likhit1
Intuition in chess is only pattern recognition
If u do increase ur rating by 300 let me no, i want 2 do the same thing!
yeah me too
Intuition in chess is only pattern recognition
That's true. (But not only in chess 
)
Rasparovov, Blitz helps you improve your concentration and reflexes when you are in time trouble. Imagine you are at a tournament playing a 2-hour-game and both you and your opponent have 2 minutes on the clock. At this point whoever is more relaxed and doesn’t panic has the edge. In this case, the occasional Blitz player will not panic and will win the match, as opposed to the other one that has not practised it. However, Blitz games should never become a substitute to your study, but a complement to it.
However blitz takes time away from long analysis which will give you the knowledge of what to do so you can quickly take these decisions. I do not think blitz is something you want to use your time for if you're gonna improve fast.
Keeping your head calm in stressed situations can be practiced in other ways, and how many times do you end up in such big time trouble that you're blitzing moves by seconds? There's usually an increment anyways.
Rasparovov, Blitz helps you improve your concentration and reflexes when you are in time trouble. Imagine you are at a tournament playing a 2-hour-game and both you and your opponent have 2 minutes on the clock. At this point whoever is more relaxed and doesn’t panic has the edge. In this case, the occasional Blitz player will not panic and will win the match, as opposed to the other one that has not practised it. However, Blitz games should never become a substitute to your study, but a complement to it.
However blitz takes time away from long analysis which will give you the knowledge of what to do so you can quickly take these decisions. I do not think blitz is something you want to use your time for if you're gonna improve fast.
Keeping your head calm in stressed situations can be practiced in other ways, and how many times do you end up in such big time trouble that you're blitzing moves by seconds? There's usually an increment anyways.
Long games on the internet are pretty boring anyways.Blitz is not harmful but is useful.I recently read an article by Dretch(GM Conrad Holt)on chess.com where he says that saying that blitz is not useful or is bad is nonsensical.Even my IM coach told me that Blitz is ok.Even though i agree that Analysis and Blitz shud be balanced.
I have started to take chess seriouly and would like to see myself 1800+ rated in 3 months time. I am not doing anything new like trainings, etc but have made a point to view the board more closely before making any move. Do you think in general, it is possible to move from 1500 to 1800+ in 3 months
No,
If you take chess seriously better to take the necessary time to train properly and get experience think more like 12-19 months not 3 months.