In this valuing scenario, a Queen is worth a Rook plus a Bishop plus a Pawn or a Bishop plus two Knights. A Rook is worth a Knight plus two Pawns. You get the idea.

#2  Trade Even And Wait For Your Opponent To Make A Mistake
Using the value system in #1, it is usually a good idea to exchange pieces as often as possible as long as the relative values are about the same. The exceptions to this are if doing the exchange disrupts a trap you are about to set or if doing the exchange makes you more vulnerable to attack. As long as you continue to trade even, your relative strength (you vs your opponent) remains about the same.

A mistake is where a player loses a piece without getting anything in return, does an exchange where he or she gives up three or more points more than the other player or where the player's move makes him or her much more vulnerable to attack.

Between players with approximately equal skills, the person who makes the first major mistake will generally lose.

#3  When You Are Winning Become More Aggressive In Your Exchanges
When you are three or more points ahead in the value of your captured pieces, in general you are "winning" . This is the time to be even more aggressive in trying to do exchanges. At this point, every even exchange hurts your opponent much more than it hurts you. So keep setting up the exchanges and do as many as you can.

If you follow this strategy, when you get to the end of the game, your opponent will have less to oppose you when you are trying to get a Pawn to the eighth row or trying to set up the checkmate.

#4  Strategies For The Beginning Of The Game
  A.  Control the center of the board as long as possible. This makes it more difficult for your opponent to get pieces into position to harrass you. The positions in the center of the board in front of the King and Queen are the most important to control.

  B.  Get as many of your pieces out and working for you as quickly as possible. It is generally a bad idea to come storming out with your Queen in the beginning part of the game because it allows your opponent to get more pieces developed faster.

  C.  Try to get your opponent to move in a way that makes castling impossible. This requires getting either the King or one or both of the Rooks to move. An uncastled King is generally more vulnerable and the corresponding Rooks less useful. On your side, try to get yourself castled as soon as possible.

#5  General Game Strategies
  A.  While your opponent is plotting the next move, use that time to figure out what his or her most likely moves will be and your responses. That way when he or she makes the move, you can quickly respond. This will make your opponent feel that the move wasn't as clever as he or she thought and will give you a psychological edge. This tactic, of course, only works on human players.

  B.  Maintain the momentum. If you are responding to your opponents moves, you are losing. If your opponent is responding to your moves, you are winning . For as long as possible, keep your opponent in a position where you are the attacker and he or she has to defend against your attacks.

  C.  All these are general rules. There are times when you will need to throw out the rule book to do something bold and fresh. Use these rules to set up the basic game. And when it is time for your brilliant moves, your opponent will already be in a weakened position to defend against you.