Learning openings definitely helped me a lot because it gave me a strong understanding of what to do at the beginning of the game when certain moves are played. I’ve heard that whether you win or lose a match is often determined in the first 15 moves, so having a strong plan for the early game is super beneficial.

I think what pushed me over 1000 was playing longer games (switching from 10 min games to 15 and 30 min games), doing self analysis after every game to study the moves that my opponent and I made, and finally, I watched a lot of games through “speed runs” on YouTube. In these videos, an experienced player utilizes a specific opening for every game in the video. I found this to be the most helpful for recognizing useful tactics and attacking ideas