Trust me, it takes A LOT of time. I’ve been playing for around a decade, I’m ELO 1400ish, and I still consider myself a nooblet.

The problem with chess is that it’s an ancient game where anything you might try has already been done by someone. Randomly move a horsey, and a skilled opponent will recognize it as either a blunder, or part of a well known strategy. “Ha, I can see you’re trying to play a Venetian Sodomy Gambit, but I already anticipated this, so by moving this pawn you fell for my Cleveland Steamer Trap. Eat shit, noob. Mate in 61 moves!”

Chess is truly an unforgiving game to 99.999% of us.

You will never master it. I sure as hell never will. But as long as we’re having fun, that’s all that matters.

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Now, with that out of the way, I find that most people stagnate at around 700 ELO, because that’s about when the common opener traps stop working. A little beyond that level, and countering them is not only easy, but punishing them is expected. And to move past this level, a basic theory knowledge of the game is important: Learn an opener, and then master that. Not the entire game, just the opener sequence of your choice.

Once you’re able to arrive at midgame without already being behind, you can start developing your more generalized skillset.

My suggestions is that you learn King’s Indian Attack (as white) and Purc Defense (as black). They’re very similar, and they put you in an easily defensible position, and it works against pretty much any opener your opponent might try.

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Oh, EDIT, because I forgot the most important part:
NEEEEEEERRRRRDDD!