How to get better at chess? [For 1800 - 2000 ELO players]

1. Inability to keep the tension:

Your goal should be to win, not to win without risk. Many times the position will threaten to get complicated and when it does you should back yourself to be tactically sound, not pre-emptively avoid complications and tactics. And if you miss a tactic then so be it, the better player won. But don't compensate for being worse at chess by making bad decisions. Compensate by working harder at grinding puzzles.

2. Inability to evaluate unorthodox structures:

One of the important things I attribute my chess growth to is playing chess960 and playing weird openings in blitz and bullet which have massively improved my understanding of non-traditional and unorthodox pawn structures and chess positions. Most people in my rating range are more familiar than I am at known structures and positions but completely shit the bed when met with something they didnt see on a naroditsky or gothamchess video. Being comfortable in unfamiliar positions is only possible when you don't avoid them and practice playing in those positions. chess960 is extremely helpful in that regard, along with trying new ideas in different time controls

3. Endgames:

I cannot overstate the number of times I was completely losing all game only to make down to a worse endgame and proceed to outplay my opponent and win. Remember that chess is nothing but a decision ttree of moves where your goal is to go down the branch that ends in a leaf that you can win from. Being good at endgames broadens the number of final positions you can target to reach from where you can win without using your brain. King and pawn endgames is the barebones basics. You have to build on that by studying rook endgames, king vs knight endgames, Stalemate traps, drawing mechanisms, queen vs pawn endgames and so on. Remember that being objectively winning means nothing if you cannot convert winning endgames.

4. Not knowing when to think:

Often I blitz through the opening where the price of a move is less and then spend my time in the middlegame where I try to come up with candidate moves and evaluate which one will result in a position thats best. Most of my opponents burn the time only after they are worse or they notice a tactic, at which point the ship has mostly already sailed. Thinking is important to be the driver in deciding which direction you want the game to go as a game can have many transformations

5. Lack of understanding of opening principles:

The reason why studying openings is important is not because memorizing them will guarantee better positions. But because knowing the ideas in different openings will help you look for ideas in openings you DONT know. An opening sequence might be specific but an opening idea is transferrable across all openings. For example knowing when Qa5 check is useful and when its not. Knowing whether to play Bc4 or Be2. When to commit your bishop before your knights and vice versa. All of that can be deduced instead of being memorized if you simply study opening principles and apply the same logic in unknown openings.

Hopefully this helps you on your journey to achieve chess mastery. I myself hope to reach 2000 elo before the end of this year. Keep up the grind mates.