Pairing Scotch + ?? for white and Pirc + ?? for black

Sometimes

"What you argued here is that the OP did not intend on playing his opening."

No, that was me showing that they were wanting to study.

Original point from you? NONE

"You did call Magnus a troll, then in the post I've just quoted right here you made an argument - an incoherent babbling mess where you say, in the form of a bunch of babbling boldened slogans, that the OP never claimed to want to play an opening, but merely to learn openings."

Again, this was me replying to your style of post. I was posting something just like you were. If you stayed on topic and discussed different openings instead of focusing on others, we would have had a different conversation.

So far this is all you do.

"OP said..."
"You said..."
"Carlsen said..."

How about something original that YOU say? Where is an original thought from YOUR noggin?

[You made that point clearly in this grammatically incorrect sentence:

"You do know what the difference between learning and playing means? Did the OP say he wanted to play?"]

I guess I could have used "is" instead of "means". This is a chess site, not an English grammar test. In which case, I would find out if the teacher also has a pole up their...

Now, do you have an original thought that doesn't refer to the OP, me, or Carlsen?

Update: I finally made it to 1,000 Elo after a little over 3 months! (a bit anti-climactic, last opponent resigned in 3 moves. But i'll take it! ). Thank you everyone for your thoughts!

In that time, I've also worked my puzzle rating over 2k, and my puzzle rush 5min to 25. I've played out dozens of grandmaster games OTB as well. I was able to attend a chess club first and only time last month in person and lost my first and only OTB game by hanging my queen.

While I do think working tactics, checkmate patterns, and just playing games have been the biggest contributions - I do think I have really gotten alot out of studying opening theory. Who knows, but I think it has been very helpful for my understanding of the game as a whole, even if not making me a better player per-se.

I ended up getting a chessable 1. e4 repetiore course focused on opening fundamentals, which is helpful to have some basic ideas to respond to things like the scandi, french, caro, etc. I paired that with a chessable course on the scotch, with is what I try and work into if opponent plays along.

For black, I ended up focusing on the caro kann against 1. e4 and... drum-roll, I'm making a serious go at learning the KID against 1. d4. I am struggling mightily with it, but am enjoying it as a really challenge since it is so different, counter-intuitive, finicky and difficult to memorize. I have a chessable course, and am also on game 20ish of The KID according to Petrosian which I try and play a game out of every few nights.

So basically, I have an open game for white, a semi-open game against 1. e4 as black, and Indian game against 1. d4 as black. I have really enjoyed this breakdown so far.

Any way, I feel like i am now a beginner! Wooo! Time to keep learning.