I've been playing chess online on Chess.com for about 6 months and I'm stuck around a 1200 rating. I've tried watching some videos on YouTube but I feel like I'm missing a real strategy. What are the best tips for making serious progress?
At 1200 you're not lacking strategy, the problem is you're still making basic blunders and hanging pieces. Focus on pure tactics with a few puzzles a day on Chess.com itself (they have a puzzle section), learn simpler openings like the Italian or French instead of watching chaotic videos, and most importantly review your games afterward - you'll immediately see the gaps.
Then try some slower games (15 minutes not 3), so you actually have time to think instead of moving on instinct.
The trick that nobody mentions is playing much slower, like rapid or classical, so you actually have time to think instead of moving on instinct. At 1200 the huge difference is that you make moves without asking yourself "why am I doing this", and in fast games this is even worse. Try playing 10+ minutes per game for a couple weeks, analyze after with the engine only your worst games (not all of them, it kills your morale), and you'll see your rating jump almost on its own because you start seeing patterns you didn't even notice before.
What I see missing is the post-game review: after every game, especially the ones you lose, watch the replay and stop when you make a move that seems odd to you. You don't need to analyze everything - 5-10 minutes is enough to figure out where your reasoning went wrong. Most people watch videos about openings they don't even need yet (at 1200 you win or lose earlier anyway), but they never review their own games, and that's real blindness.
What a lot of people skip over is understanding *why* you're stuck at 1200 and not whether you're missing tactics or strategy - those are two different problems. Anyone who says tactics are enough at this level is partly right, but jumping straight into exercises without reviewing your lost games first is like shooting in the dark. Try this: after every game (especially losses), rewind the replay and pause the moment you see a move where you're like "wait, that was bad," then ask yourself what you should've done in those 10 seconds. You don't need to analyze everything, just 3-4 critical moments per game, and after a month you'll see if your rating shifted - post-game review is seriously the invisible trick that barely anyone does consistently.
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