Chess tip #2! Develop your back rank and castle

All those pieces along your back row (rank) are "inactive" -- they're not involved in the game, they're not attacking many, if any squares, they're not ready to jump into a fray if needed. As you try to control the center, do so not just with your center pawns, but with your back rank pieces, trying to get ALL of them out before looking for a line of attack. 

Doing so always gives you the opportunity to castle, which you should always do, as it removes your king from the center of the board and puts him out of harms way. 

Once you've gotten your back rank fully developed and you've castled, you can consider the opening game done. You're now fully in the mid-game; you can analyze your respective positions for strengths and weaknesses and start mounting an attack. Unless you're playing Jake and his "fuck it do it live" queen strategy is just ruining up your day. Then... I don't know. I'm not an Grandmaster here, I'm just parroting some common wisdom.