How have you improved??

What's up everybody. I've been playing online for close to a year without instruction, and trying to improve my game in general and OTB. What would you say are the most important things to look for in a coach, or in progressing in general? Any experience you have on the topic is valuable. Look forward to hearing your responses. - J

Hello! Honestly I'm not a highly rated player, but I could give some tips on how I've improved. I've been playing chess and studying seriously for 1 and 2 months without coach. What I've done is basically studying tactics and endgame mostly in the start, then went to opening theory and lastly middlegame and strategy. My tip for you is to play slower time controls like 15+15 or something like that. Fast games like 3+0 or even faster won't help you improve. Try not to hang your pieces. Practise calculating ahead like 5 or 6 moves, it should be fine for now. Try to find candidate moves and evaluate positions correctly. What I was doing was also watching Agadmator's Chess Channel and Suren's chess channel on YouTube. After plenty of games I watched there I implemented strategies, enhanced tactical play and opening knowledge and logical play. Also if you want to improve really fast, make sure to read chess books. Those are really useful. I'd recommend Chess Fundamentals by Jose Raul Capablanca, My system by Aron Nimzowistch... You can also buy some puzzle books if it's not a problem. Make sure to often play with players who are somewhat higher rated than you, but not too much higher rated. As you can learn from them, and you can also give them tough matches. That's what I was doing to improve. You should find books mentioned in Algebraic notation because most of the copies are done in descriptive notation which can be hard to read.
Have fun studying and good luck!
I'm sorry if I've made any grammatical mistakes during the writening of this post.

Also I forgot to mention you can watch chess games by Grandmasters on YouTube. Make sure to analyse your games after you finished playing them. I'd suggest doing so with a friend and with Stockfish 9. Try to find better moves to replace inaccuracies, mistakes and blunders.

owu

Tons of theory and kilotons of praxis.

Thinking Techniques (written by Dr. Ferguson ~ 1982)
BEFORE EVERY MOVE...THINK:
1. What new threat(s) has my opponent's last move created? How can I answer it(them)?
2. Is my King safe? Is my opponent threatening to checkmate in the next few moves? Can I checkmate my opponent?
3. What threats can I set up? How?
4. Have I seen this position or a similar one before?
5. If so: who stands better, and what is the best plan for continuing?
6. If not: what are the outstanding features and elements of this position, and what plan(s) and method(s) of achieving it are availabe?
7. What is my plan? What specfiice positino would I like to obtain? How can I achieve my goal? How can I imporve my position?
8. Which move is best? Can I capture material without penalty? Can I employ an tectical device?
9. Is it safe to move my piece to the square I'm thinking about?
10. Did I remember to start my opponent's clock and write down my move?

One of the best ways to try and improve is to play a game with stockfish level 7 on Lichess. Then you analyze the game without the computer's help.

@Dario19503 is also correct by saying "I've been playing chess and studying seriously for 1 and 2 months without coach. What I've done is basically studying tactics and endgame mostly in the start, then went to opening theory and lastly middlegame and strategy. My tip for you is to play slower time controls like 15+15 or something like that. Fast games like 3+0 or even faster won't help you improve. Try not to hang your pieces. Practise calculating ahead like 5 or 6 moves, it should be fine for now. Try to find candidate moves and evaluate positions correctly. What I was doing was also watching Agadmator's Chess Channel and Suren's chess channel on YouTube. After plenty of games I watched there I implemented strategies, enhanced tactical play and opening knowledge and logical play. Also if you want to improve really fast, make sure to read chess books. Those are really useful. I'd recommend Chess Fundamentals by Jose Raul Capablanca, My system by Aron Nimzowistch... You can also buy some puzzle books if it's not a problem. Make sure to often play with players who are somewhat higher rated than you, but not too much higher rated. As you can learn from them, and you can also give them tough matches. That's what I was doing to improve. You should find books mentioned in Algebraic notation because most of the copies are done in descriptive notation which can be hard to read.

@Jmgordon #1
Looking at your Lichess ratings it looks like you focused on playing blitz. It is a little bit of a surprise that your blitz rating is higher than your Rapid rating.
You did an amazing amount of puzzles but tactical skills apparently leave room for improvement (looking at the current rating).
You have been on Lichess for almost a year, so you're not a brand new beginner to on-line chess.
In this case I would recommend to do some research about your weak and strong points.
You can do that yourself or with chess friends or a chess coach.
HTH

1 year* and 2 months of studying I meant.