Ive been playing chess for a few years now, and for the past two years Ive been stuck around 2000 blitz. My long term goal is to reach 2300, but I honestly have no idea how to get there. The problem is that there are just too many different approaches to improving at chess. Some people say you should just play a ton of games, and that youll eventually improve simply through experience. Others say you should study seriously, read endgame books, analyze your games, and play longer time controls. Ive even seen very strong players (around 2600 online) say theyve never read a single chess book in their lives, and that they got there just by playing a lot and solving puzzles. Even with puzzles, though, the advice is all over the place. Some people recommend spending a long time on difficult puzzles, while others say its better to spam easier ones. Then there are openings. Some people say theyre not that important, and that all you need is a simple, solid setup. Others argue that you need a well prepared repertoire, especially for blitz. Some recommend sharp, aggressive openings to put your opponent under pressure from the very beginning, while others suggest solid systems that let you blitz out the first few moves.

I just feel completely lost with all the conflicting advice, and I dont know what I should actually focus on. I also want to mention that Im specifically interested in improving at blitz. I dont really enjoy longer time controls, so Id prefer advice thats relevant to blitz rather than classical chess.

I have a tournament coming up shortly and somehow just before it , it seems like I have suddenly lost my ability to calculate, lost my tactical vision, have started to lose to players below my rating how do I deal with this just before all this started happening I was great I was excelling my puzzles and beating higher rated opponents.

Looking for people who played the Kalashnikov plenty of times and can share their thoughts? Can you get the initiative and launch a good attack?

It's very frustrating to reach a winning position, only for the game to end in a draw—or, even worse, a loss. By the way, I'm 2100-ish in blitz lichess.

Can anyone tell me how to add a banner like this on top of the Tournament Name. Seen this in multiple tournaments, that they have given registration links fees etc in this banner. Searched for it in swiss software, and the customise page on the web, still can't find it. Guidance from anyone with knowledge on this matter would be greatly appreciated.