How to learn chess if you're still a 3-digit rating after a few years I know how all the pieces move and I've learned about castling and en passant. But all I do is play online against other people and get wrecked because I don't know how to &quot;play.&quot;
I make moves like Knight to h3 on my first move because I have no idea what I'm doing (I only learned this move is bad because a nice person pointed it out to me while I was playing against them).
I also manage to mess up situations where the opponent only has like two pieces left and I have like five but I still lose or draw the game. Sometimes I make bad decisions or miss checkmates in one move.
But most of the time, I have the majority of my peices taken from me so the opponent has an overwhelming number of pieces more than me (this happens like 80% of the time unless I get lucky). I have been playing on and off leisurely for a few years now, but I still don't know how to &quot;play&quot; properly.
What am I supposed to do at this point if playing more games does not improve my gameplay?
Very simple.
Join a chess club and play people face-to-face. You'll improve rapidly after that.