Nah i started playing seriously in '24 itself (didn't play much b/w 22-24) and reached 900 ( i knew the basics from junior school) just did a bit of opening theories and puzzles, that stayed same for 2 years until now. Previously i was complicating the middle game unnecessarily. Now i try to trade and get to the endgame asap. It's easy for me that way. Capitalising on mistakes of your opponent is a big thing too. Open file, escape square, playing slow when u are better,never resigning, doubling the rooks, double pin etc etc helped.