My chess improvement advise from 40+ years of experience!
Many chess enthusiasts asked me the following question:
How can I improve in chess even if I do not have a chess coach?
Having a coach will surely help but it is a luxury. Even if you do not have one or cannot afford one, that is not a problem.
Here are the 3 easy steps to self-improvement in chess:
1. Self-assessment: Review the last 10 games that you lost. Come to a conclusion why you lost those games. Was it because of opening, middle game understanding, endgame, tactic, nerves, etc.
2. Target training: Once you come up with the reasons why you lost your last 10 games, you can then work on the specific problem areas. Do not waste time studying everything at once. You have to target problem areas.
3. Repeat this process: As long as you continue to lose, figure out your area of weakness and keep working on fixing them.
Do not waste your time, money, or energy playing one tournament after another if you keep on losing without any improvement game plan.
Stop making excuses and blaming everyone else for your losses. Only you can decide how good you want to be. And there is no such thing as having no talent. I have seen people with little talent (I am one of them) becoming strong GMs because of hard work, sacrifice, and dedication.
But if you do not care about fixing your problems then do not expect good results. That is like playing the game of chance and not chess.