The Ultimate Tried and True Method for Insanely Fast Improvement for Beginners

Chess is a huge thing now, and because of the internet it is becoming more and more popular and there are more and more beginners entering the game who are serious about the game. There are many such players in our club, and so as the club president I would like to share the tried and true method to rapid improvement, especially early on, in the beginner stage. I hope everyone in this club will find this helpful.
So, after you learn how the pieces move, the values of the pieces, the stages of the game (opening, middlegame, and endgame), and have played a few games, you might be frustrated and overwhelmed by the 64 square board and pieces and pawns. The first thing you should start with is learning principles. You want to control the center of the board - that is, the four middle squares:

Controlling the center:

If you control these squares, your pieces will have freedom to jump forward and attack your opponent.

So how do you control these squares? The answer is to put pieces and pawns in places that control these squares:

White has the knights on f3 and c3, and black has them on f6 and c6. As shown by the arrows, they are controlling these central squares. The pawns are doing the same, as are the bishops. The pieces are developed actively, and both sides are ready to castle - which brings us to the next thing to know.

Castling the king:
The king is the most important piece to keep safe, so it should be kept away from the center of the board, where it might get checkmated, and should by tucked safely in the corner by castling.

Notice that castling also allows the rook on h1 to come to f1 and get into the game, as well as getting the king safe.
It is important to note that castling the king to the left side of the board, which is usually known as castling queenside or castling long, is also possible and is preferable in some positions:

Castling queenside is harder, as you must move more pieces to make room for the king. It is also slightly less safe, as the king is closer to the center than if it was castled kingside. However, it depends on the position.

This phase of the game, for those who do not know, is called the opening. After that comes the middlegame.

Basic Strategy and Tactics
In the middlegame, it is important to move pieces forward into the opponents territory and attack them. I cannot stress this enough. So many beginner players end up being scared of blundering pieces, so they try to keep pieces close to their king and be safe. However, this just allows the opponent to capitalize on their passive position, attack them, and checkmate them. That's why you should be the one attacking. And how to do that? The answer is by moving your pieces forward into the opponent's territory and create threats, such as this:

White has just played Qh5 and is threatening Qxh7 checkmate. If black plays a random move, white will play Qxh7. The knight will be defending the queen, and the king will have no squares.

Of course, black could notice the threat and prevent it with h6, attacking the knight and blocking the queen's access to the h7 square, but at a low level, usually below 1000, many opponents will simply miss this threat, and you will be rewarded with an easy win.

Here's another example:

Black has just played Qh4, threatening Qxf2 checkmate, when the bishop defends the queen and the king has no squares. If white plays a careless move that does not defend the f2 square or block the queen or bishop's access to it, such as Nf3, than this checkmate can be executed. Again, the opponent could notice it, and play a move such as g3, attacking the queen and blocking it's access to the f2 square. but at beginner level many opponents will not and you will be granted an easy victory. Here are a few more examples:

White has just played rg4, a careless move that blunders re1 checkmate. The white king has no squares because the black stops it from moving off the back rank, and the king cannot escape the scope of black's rook. Instead of rg4, white could've played rh4, checking the white king and forcing a rook trade (ei kd4
rxe4 kxe4). Or he could've played kb1, so that after re1+ the king would have access to the a2 square.

Learning basic checkmates like these will be crucial to your chess improvement. It is also important to see hanging pieces and avoid hanging them yourself, as shown below:

White has just played Qe5+, blundering his queen! Black can simply play Qxe5, and be up a queen in a completely winning endgame. Here's another example.

Black has just played ra1, blundering the rook, when he could've played rh8#! This is another example of capitalizing on hanging pieces, but also avoiding hanging them yourself.

So how do you get better at seeing hanging pieces and checkmates, but also avoiding them? Of course, playing chess games is the best way to improve at chess, but there are many other training exercises that can greatly improve your game, and now I will show you the best one - puzzles!

Puzzles and Puzzle Storms/Rushes

These are tactical exercises that help you get better at exploiting hanging pieces and checkmates! In a puzzle, you are shown a position where the imaginary opponent has made a blunder. You must exploit their blunder by forcing a checkmate or a gain of material. Sometimes, it is in one move, but as you get better you will be able to solve puzzles that are multi-move sequences which force the gain of material or checkmate. On the Lichess page, simply hover over puzzles, select puzzles, and solve away! If you get it wrong, don't worry, you can try again and/or see the solution!

Another good way to do puzzles is puzzle storms (puzzle rushes on chess.com). In puzzle storms, you must solve as many puzzles as possible under a time limit. If you fill up the bar by getting a streak, you gain time. This is especially helpful in fast time formats, when tactical sequences must be seen and exploited quickly. It's the same on chess.com, except there is no bar, and if you get three incorrect, that's the end of your run.
When I began doing puzzles and puzzle rushes, I gained 300 rating in one summer, so this is a tried and true method!

Time Format: Which one to play?

This is a common question. At beginner level, it is best to start with rapid chess, which ranges from 10 minutes without increment (increment is the time gained each move) to 30 minutes with no increment. In between there is 15 mins with 10 sec increment (written as 15+10) and sometimes 10+5. 10 minutes is good to start with, but any of them are fine. Classical is even longer, but at this level games that long will just be boring and take a long time. So rapid is best. But once you get comfortable with rapid, you'll want to start playing blitz, ranging from 3+0 to 5+3. This will help you get experience playing in low time, however, you will still want to keep playing rapid or other long time formats, as they are best for improvement. If you only play these time formats, that is sufficient to get to the top level, and many grandmasters have proven this, but after you get comfortable with these, you may want to try branching out into bullet chess, which usually 1+0 but can be slightly longer or shorter. In bullet, speed is crucial and flagging is very important. And seeing tactics fast is even more important. While this time format is a lot of fun and a good way to get used to time scrambles, it is addictive and it does not help with calculation or help with improvement very much (for most people) if not supplemented with at least rapid. So keep that in mind.

Flagging

Flagging is where you move so fast that the opponent runs out of time. The way to do this is by premoving, or making a move on the opponent's turn, and then, when it is your turn, the move will automatically be played in 0 seconds. Premoves are indicated by a blue highlight on lichess (pink on chess.com). While they are useful for time scrambles, they must be used with care, as an unsafe premove can blunder the game, since it can't be taken back. It is best to use them for forced checkmates and recaptures, unless it is a time scramble. A good internet connection (ethernet cable recommended) and a good mouse (I use logitech) with good settings. Usually, it is best to have mouse acceleration on with a slow speed so that your movements don't have to be very precise. This will prevent mouseslips. On Lichess, it is best to increase the board to its maximum size, so that mouse movements don't have to be precise. On chess.com, it is best left at default size.