Not sure where to "Begin"

I looked at your last three loses, and you lost them not really to the opening (although how you played the opening did contribute greatly to the losses). You are losing games because you are losing king safety, and not developing. You did not lose them because of blundering pieces. When it comes to the opening if don't know what you are suppose to accomplish in the opening phase then learning a specific opening won't help much. It looks like you have not learned well the lessons of king safety, and development. These are two things the opening is suppose to accomplish. You need to learn the opening principles well as a whole also, and make sure to apply them to every move in the opening. When learning a specific opening you need to learn the ideas and why make the moves. This will help more when your opponent makes different moves. Of course it may change the position enough where you are on your own, but that is why you should know the opening principles like the back of your hand. These will guide you no matter what. In the opening you will want to focus on three things above all else. These are 1. Opening principles 2. Tactics 3. Not blundering material. Doing these three things will get you into playable positions even when your opponent plays different moves than they are suppose to.

Here is my analysis of you game against koko1raffat:

Here is my analysis of your game against arasi68:

Here is my analysis of your game against Bohtaro:

When it comes to what you should focus on to improve: 1. Is to work on development, and king safety especially in the opening. 2. Is tactics this is the case for just about everybody. 3. It was hard to tell from those three loses what else you are very weak on, but in general you will need to know the basics of the endgame: this includes the principles of the endgame, overkill mates, and the basics of king and pawn endgames. 4. start learning the basics of chess strategy.

Here are some resources to help in your improvement:

Opening principles article

Chess Vibes beginner's course playlist (I would watch videos 12-17 on the playlist (10 and 11 may be good to for you)

Chess Vibes Endgame Course playlist (I would learn everything in this playlist after you work on keeping king safety and development)

Chess Vibes Strategy/tactics playlist (has a ton of good information that can be applied in all parts of the game. This playlist also help you with the opening phase of the game)

What to learn after the rules (A great article written by IM Silman on what to learn after the very basics)

Chess Tactics definitions

Good and Bad Pieces article (a good article to help evaluate how good your pieces are)

Basic article on pawn structure

Basics of coming up with a plan

Basics on how evaluate a position

Principles of the endgame (make sure to learn this first when starting on endgames)

Here are a couple of games I played in a tournament where I analyzed my opening play in positions that I knew little to no opening theory in. The first game I am playing a 800 rated playing (these are USCF ratings) My USCF rating is in the 1200 range. He goes into a variation that is not played at my level often. I am black in this game:

In the second game I am playing a 1000 rated player. I was still learning the Ruy Lopez at the time, and was pretty new to it. So when we went into the 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 line I did not know how to play it due to the opening I was playing before did not allow for that response. I am white in the this game.

Hope this helps.

I looked at your last three loses, and you lost them not really to the opening (although how you played the opening did contribute greatly to the losses). You are losing games because you are losing king safety, and not developing. You did not lose them because of blundering pieces. When it comes to the opening if don't know what you are suppose to accomplish in the opening phase then learning a specific opening won't help much. It looks like you have not learned well the lessons of king safety, and development. These are two things the opening is suppose to accomplish. You need to learn the opening principles well as a whole also, and make sure to apply them to every move in the opening. When learning a specific opening you need to learn the ideas and why make the moves. This will help more when your opponent makes different moves. Of course it may change the position enough where you are on your own, but that is why you should know the opening principles like the back of your hand. These will guide you no matter what. In the opening you will want to focus on three things above all else. These are 1. Opening principles 2. Tactics 3. Not blundering material. Doing these three things will get you into playable positions even when your opponent plays different moves than they are suppose to.

Here is my analysis of you game against koko1raffat:

Here is my analysis of your game against arasi68:

Here is my analysis of your game against Bohtaro:

When it comes to what you should focus on to improve: 1. Is to work on development, and king safety especially in the opening. 2. Is tactics this is the case for just about everybody. 3. It was hard to tell from those three loses what else you are very weak on, but in general you will need to know the basics of the endgame: this includes the principles of the endgame, overkill mates, and the basics of king and pawn endgames. 4. start learning the basics of chess strategy.

Here are some resources to help in your improvement:

Opening principles article

Chess Vibes beginner's course playlist (I would watch videos 12-17 on the playlist (10 and 11 may be good to for you)

Chess Vibes Endgame Course playlist (I would learn everything in this playlist after you work on keeping king safety and development)

Chess Vibes Strategy/tactics playlist (has a ton of good information that can be applied in all parts of the game. This playlist also help you with the opening phase of the game)

What to learn after the rules (A great article written by IM Silman on what to learn after the very basics)

Chess Tactics definitions

Good and Bad Pieces article (a good article to help evaluate how good your pieces are)

Basic article on pawn structure

Basics of coming up with a plan

Basics on how evaluate a position

Principles of the endgame (make sure to learn this first when starting on endgames)

Here are a couple of games I played in a tournament where I analyzed my opening play in positions that I knew little to no opening theory in. The first game I am playing a 800 rated playing (these are USCF ratings) My USCF rating is in the 1200 range. He goes into a variation that is not played at my level often. I am black in this game:

In the second game I am playing a 1000 rated player. I was still learning the Ruy Lopez at the time, and was pretty new to it. So when we went into the 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 line I did not know how to play it due to the opening I was playing before did not allow for that response. I am white in the this game.

Hope this helps.

What can I even say? You are an absolute legend. Thankyou so much for taking the time out of your day to do this for me. I'll respond to this post when I am getting better so you might be able to see how much you've helped me!

@1

"some basic openings" ++ Not useful

"and tactics" ++ very important

"where to begin" ++ with endgames

"an opening" ++ not useful

"plays random stuff" ++ Then you have to think.

"Is there a certain place to begin?" ++ Endgames

"A certain way to hone your skills?" ++ Analyse your lost games and learn from your mistakes.

Fall back to principles, center, piece activity and king safety. Know on which side of board to play according to your openings. Play where the principles guide you. Make an opening repertorie that exposes you to variety of different positions to play. You will often find yourself doing everything you are supposed to do and still not converting the advantage or finding the winning blow, analyse that and learn that. There is where the chess improvement lies.