Questions from a player stuck at 800-900 for over 4 years

I am currently playing 800 ELO on chess.com, and 1300 at lichess.com. So let's say I am somewhere between 800-900 overall?

Couple of problems I have.
- People seem to say the opening does not matter. However, versus the lines I play (Often London System, Ruy Lopez, Italian game) there seem to be some moves .. where I just end up losing a piece in the first 10 moves
- People seem to say that hanging pieces is the most important part and that I just need to wait until somebody hangs a piece. Well, It seems they don't do it that often.. and I almost always end up blundering when I am playing bad
- When I play bad, I feel like a 400 ELO player.. it's just terrible. When I play great.. I can beat a 1400 on lichess.

My questions are:
- What openings should I stick to at my level? (i do know: London System, Italian game and sometimes Ruy for white. For black I just go with E4/E5 and D4/D4.
- Is hanging pieces something to still look out for?

Opening does matter a lot, though not theory. Acquaint yourself with opening principles and try to follow them in your games. After each game analyze if you indeed followed through with principled play in the opening or not. London system is principled, but fosters the bad habit of not thinking at all in the opening which hinders your progress as a player.
Don't hang pieces, take hanging pieces: of course, this will be relevant to eternity. Though don't expect opponents to blunder them at every move. Just do tactics daily and you will see improvement.
What openings to stick to? My opinion: drop the London. Stick with Italian or Ruy Lopez, whatever you enjoy more. Black is fine.
To reiterate: Really learn (again if necessary) about opening principles and make an attempt to apply them every single game. Afterwards analyze if you did so. Cheers.

Try to find a stronger player who is willing to spend some time helping you to improve. If you don't know anyone suitable, you could pay a coach, but at your level that may not be necessary.

@rob625 said in #3:
> Try to find a stronger player who is willing to spend some time helping you to improve. If you don't know anyone suitable, you could pay a coach, but at your level that may not be necessary.

Yeah a coach might be of value at some point. But for that it is too much of a hobby. I had a poker coach when I played that on high level, but I see where I play chess now as the microstakes of on-line poker.

I mean at least average or above average of intelligence, I should be able to move at least some points in chess :)

I just had a look of some of your recent rapid games here.

You easily start blundering things away as early as on move 2.

Slow down. Playing rapid instead of blitz is good, but if you cannot get rid of of blundering when playing moves within 5 seconds, take more time. Your clock often has lots of time left, but you can also go 15+10 or slower.

Also, general opening principles seem to be absent. Studying a beginners opening book may help, or the chess principles reloaded series by Andras Toth on Chessable.

On the bright side: it will never be easier to improve than on that level. :-)

@AtalanteChess said in #2:
> Opening does matter a lot, though not theory. Acquaint yourself with opening principles and try to follow them in your games. After each game analyze if you indeed followed through with principled play in the opening or not. London system is principled, but fosters the bad habit of not thinking at all in the opening which hinders your progress as a player.
> Don't hang pieces, take hanging pieces: of course, this will be relevant to eternity. Though don't expect opponents to blunder them at every move. Just do tactics daily and you will see improvement.
> What openings to stick to? My opinion: drop the London. Stick with Italian or Ruy Lopez, whatever you enjoy more. Black is fine.
> To reiterate: Really learn (again if necessary) about opening principles and make an attempt to apply them every single game. Afterwards analyze if you did so. Cheers.

Italian game, you have the fried liver. But with Italian game I also end up in a sort of London game. Ruy lopez has that cool pawn run to my bishop.. Not sure :)

@nizzledizzleshizzle the opening does not matter at your level. I’m in the 2000s on chess.com and I still haven’t ever learned a single opening. Just seeing combinations of attacks and of threats your opponents making. I feel end game is more important at my level than opening

@nadjarostowa said in #5:
> I just had a look of some of your recent rapid games here.
>
> You easily start blundering things away as early as on move 2.
>
> Slow down. Playing rapid instead of blitz is good, but if you cannot get rid of of blundering when playing moves within 5 seconds, take more time. Your clock often has lots of time left, but you can also go 15+10 or slower.
>
> Also, general opening principles seem to be absent. Studying a beginners opening book may help, or the chess principles reloaded series by Andras Toth on Chessable.
>
> On the bright side: it will never be easier to improve than on that level. :-)

Haha! You saw my only ever and first ever played blitz game. I normally only play 10 minute+ games of daily
If you check these.. you will see I will at least wait with blundering at move 5!!

Are you seriously arguing with way stronger players instead of respecting their advice? How would that help you improve? This is probably your usual behaviour, now look where it took you. In four years it took you from 800-900 to 800-900.

@AtalanteChess said in #9:
> Are you seriously arguing with way stronger players instead of respecting their advice? How would that help you improve? This is probably your usual behaviour, now look where it took you. In four years it took you from 800-900 to 800-900.

Chill :) Where am I argueing?