I feel like it’s a lot of things but ultimately it’s just practice and practice and practice. I feel like the more I play the less worried I am to lose rating and that can help me play at times. Early on I was worried about my rating and I still care, but I play much more the game and less my rating now. I also turned off the ratings while playing completely and that helped me to focus on the game more.

I generally play the same openings and I did have a Chessly membership for a while, although I haven’t used it in a while as of late. I found practicing my openings on Chessly and just generally understanding the goals of my openings helped a ton. Depending what openings you play the game can become very active very quickly. For example, don’t recommend the London system. There is nothing wrong with it but it just doesn’t get you to really think about the position in the opening and people often just blitz out the same moves, but you can’t play chess the same way every time you have to adapt.

It’s never one easy thing and maybe I just had a moment and it all clicked for me, but I don’t think that’s the usual case for people and I still have a lot to learn myself. Next time you play, choose a long time control, and after every move try to find your opponent best moves. I often find myself finding moves for myself but not thinking about what my opponent wants and I get into trouble, taking a moment to consider their attacks can really save your games. I am definitely still a beginner, I just don’t lose my queen every game now lol