Stuck at around 600-700

Foremost, this is not intended to sound whiny like a complaint, I'm just looking for some genuine advice.

I've playing chess on and off for around 10 years, though I didn't start seriously playing until around 6 months ago. I joined chess.com last month (I played a lot over the board beforehand), I've played over 300 games and I'm finding myself stuck at around the 600-700 mark.

I'm rated just over 1400 in puzzles. I know a couple of *very* basic openings - fried liver, traxler, dutch defence etc. (thank you GothamChess) but when I try to learn new openings (currently things like stonewall and Carro) my opponents often play... unusual moves that throw me off and I never know how to respond. I know my endgame checkmates too with queen & king, rook and king etc.

I just have no idea where to focus my practice at the moment. Learning more opening theory seems futile as generally other players of my rating won't play the lines I've studied. I admittedly blunder a fair few pieces here and there, probably more than I should, but I feel that's something I'll learn through playing more. 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Unless it's just "get gud"... that's not useful advice

"I know a couple of *very* basic openings - fried liver" ++

"traxler" - I have no idea if the traxler works at the 600 level, more likey than not they won't play the right moves

 "try to learn new openings (currently things like stonewall and Carro)"  - maybe try focusing on one set of opening for white and black

"'m rated just over 1400 in puzzles" that's normal. puzzles ratings are inflated.

"I admittedly blunder a fair few pieces here and there" that's the main focus. just make sure to have a mental "blunder check" before you play a move.

It seems like you have less experience than anyone else that has replied. only 1000 games total.

Im 700. and yes anything can happen. You could play e4 Ke2 Ke3 and still be better in the opening

I think ratings are not accurate and many really good player  joining starts from beginner level so  in games you sometimes play against about 2000 level players and sometimes really bad going down who thought they are intermediate like me.

Hi, I was stuck around 500 for a while after starting and then once I got around 600 I have spent relatively very little time to get to 800. I'll share with you what I learned that helped me, but first I would say that the traxler is not a basic opening, its a side-line in the fried liver for black side, that i did study a little when I was playing almost nothing but people trying to fried-liver me... but decided it was best to play BC5 instead so I can castle and stop it in it's tracks. The fried liver is also a silly strategy that will only work if your opponent allows it to, but if you play the italian opening and they do, then sure go for it if you see the opportunity, but I would advise studying solid openings like the italian or even the ruy lopez (despite gotham's advice on the lopez, it is a very educational opening to play with and study, just because there is a lot of theory on it doesn't mean its complicated, especially in lower ratings players often respond to it the same way and the ways that the theory don't cover, because they arent responding in the most solid way)

Firstly, with time I started to blunder less, and I would recognise if I was too tired or sluggish and not force ignore my body and try and play a lot of games in that condition, and then with time and practice and opening study I blundered less and less, this is the main thing, I got a lot of wins from my opponent's blunders and gave less away to my own.

Secondly, there are a lot people going for very aggressive and cheesy strategies in lower ratings, so play the most solid openings and realise sometimes you will need to focus on defence, survivability and counterattacking with the pieces you can afford to, and pause your own plans. This helped me a lot. I suspect there are some people who sandbagged to get to this Elo range because I faced opponents around your Elo range that were harder for me now at the 800 range, so don't be discouraged and try to learn from all your games.

Finally, don't rely on cheesy strategies yourself, just learn the fundamentals and tactics and give yourself enough time and care to avoid blunders and eventually your rating will increase, the first lesson I learned was to be more careful and not feel rushed by the time limit and combined with practice and experience I blunder much less now, so my opening study and other study actually comes into play now!

This guy is forgetting that there's theory. With a solid theoretical underpinning you can prevent yourself having to go through the motions yourself of churning through thousands and thousands of games.

Of course dynamic maneuvering and tactical insight also requires skill which is trained through practice, but you need theory to know what you're doing. As in, what kind of endgame will this move take me to. Or: what checkmating pattern does this sequence lead to.

In any sports, you not only need dynamic skill, but also mind power. This is developed through intense and devoted study, not mindless gaming. So yeah, longer time controls help you establish a mental structure that works, before you go off throwing wood all over the place.
The stars are so good at bullet chess because they keep a mental picture of the position, even at lightning speed (the brain is electric, the organic substrate is an illusion because it is made of the same electricity - and the perceiver becomes the perceived - the mind the matter, so matter the mind...).

So yeah, I suggest working on your static structure in parallel to your dynamic skills, and taking advice from an actual chess coach.

getting to about 1200 is learning to not blunder pieces and u r there. Positional stuff only matters when u r about 1350. A coach is also advisable. @stefan_95 is a brilliant coach at low enough cost. But if u do not want a coach then just  stop blundering pieces.

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

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

Thanks for the advice everyone. Yes, speed was one of my biggest weaknesses, so I've started to slow it down a lot. I've also spent less time studying openings and a bit more strengthening my mid-game play, and within a week I'm sitting pretty consistently at 850. Still a long way to go, but all of the advice is really helping!