1. TACTICS
2. STATEGY
There are two ways to learn tactics, and both require an extensive amount of LABOR on your part. One is play chess this will definitely improve your game experience. The other is book study.
What you need to do is get a puzzle book with tactical situations.
(Example: "1001 winning chess sacrifices and combinations" by Fred Reinfeld).
My study program goes as follows:
This is a one week process:
Saturday study and solve 15 to 20 puzzles (2 to 3 hours work)
Sunday study 15 to 20 more puzzles (2 to 3 hours work)
Monday thru Friday review these puzzles like this:
**In the morning review Saturdays puzzles
**In the evening review Sundays puzzles
Continue doing this all week and begin a new batch on Saturday and Sunday. And do this week after week. If you have bought the book I mention; each week do puzzles from each different chapter (there are 20 chapters). And you will see an extremely rapid increase in your game. It is very exciting!! (and worth it !!)
Strategy comes next after you know a little something about correct opening procedure and have some strength (ability) at handling tactical situations. Again I recommend the book.
"The Amateur's Mind" by Jeremy Silman. Trust me this book will help point you in the right direction. But here I can help you with 3 major forms of strategy in chess. These 3 are:
1. Posting a piece and weak squares
2. Controling the center and space
3. Battle between Bishop vs. Knight