Lesson #1 and Nostalgia.

As a kid I used to play chess, and I loved counters, so what I used to do was set up a bunch of traps, and then take my opponents piece, I don't remember winning or losing, but I only remembered that I played with my brother.  The only checkmate I knew was using the rooks and queens to put the opponent in checkmate.  Those things I used to call counters were actually just blunders by my opponent, same for me.  

So first of all, don't blunder.  If you want to become a good player, this is one of the first things you must learn.