In many cases 'it depends' which I know isn't a helpful answer. For example, if your opponent lacks space to manoeuvre their pieces to good squares, then trading off pieces only helps solve their problem, so you might avoid simplifying until you've gained an advantage from the position.I do tactical puzzles every day which over 9 months has really helped strengthen my calculation skills. Consequently I'm much more confident with the pieces so less inclined to simplify for the sake off it. Though in the past I preferred simpler games as it made calculation easier. It all comes with time and experience. I also find playing through annotated GM games helpful. Logical Chess is a good book of games for beginners. It can be instructive to see how GMs provoke and exploit weaknesses.
I have the same problem. I have no idea what to do after developing my pieces. The coordination just breaks down if I move them anymore.
I am convinced that anyone who has the gift of expressing himself in writing, also has the gift to learn and improve at chess. If one also has the gift to learn advanced mathematics, it should suffice to acquire the missing skills and understanding of chess.
@Motor: I took a look at one of your recent games, and I noticed that you hanged your queen. It is a classical symptom of inexperience and it is typical for us verbal and auditory learners. We need to hear and read the explanations of chess, so we should be happy - Chessbooks were made for us.
If you want to get better, you will need to play and study chess as well. I've written a guide on how to do so:
https://www.chess.com/blog/nklristic/the-beginners-tale-first-steps-to-chess-improvement
As for the openings, you are correct, memorizing openings at this point would be a waste of time, as you can use that time more effectively. Instead you should stick to opening principles. In the upper link you will find what the opening principles are (although you probably know this), but you can check this post as well, there you will find how an improving player should proceed in the opening in more detail:
https://www.chess.com/blog/nklristic/surviving-the-opening-first-steps-to-chess-improvement
Your biggest issue is hanging pieces. I'll give some examples below.
https://www.chess.com/live/game/5729011378 Move 2 pawn on e5, which thanks to your g6 move forked the king and rook too. It's actually the goal of that trap.
https://www.chess.com/live/game/5729781562 Move 13 you hung your knight on c3. Move 19 you also hung your knight on e5.
https://www.chess.com/live/game/5729833049 They could have just taken your e4 pawn on move 5, but missed it. Hung checkmate on move 18. (Rook to d2 was required to stop it.)
https://www.chess.com/live/game/5729850709 Hung your bishop on e5 through lack of protection (2 attackers vs 1 defender) move 16. They hung their knight for a pawn move 20, your bishop could just take their rook on h1 and if they rook your rook on a8 you'd recapture the knight that did it, putting you ahead. You hung your c5 pawn on move 31 and your b2 bishop on move 32 to the same knight, which was now forking your rooks.
These are 1 move blunders where you simply need to move/defend the piece, or simply not put it on that square.
There are numerous openings in the game. There are many sound lines that you won't have set-ups like the Ruy Lopez available. You don't need to have the full opening memorized though, even if they play to let a Ruy Lopez happen, they can go off book many ways, even with mistakes, and you have to adapt to punish them. Just make sure to understand the basic ideas. See how you want to get your pieces out, and roughly where you want them, getting a feel for what opposing moves may cause you to deviate from that plan as you play more.
The openings aren't what are calling your games.
I have a YouTube channel dedicated to helping players break the 1000 rating point barrier, and focusing on the basics including the psychological side.
I'm also happy to do recorded lessons for the channel, no charge!
Hi. A few things that helped me (bearing in mind my rating is 1400). Critically evaluate trades. What's in it for you?. Watch John Bartholomew's Chess Fundamentals series on YouTube, he has a video on trades. Become comfortable with holding tension between pieces and pawns and use this to improve your position. Learn a bit about weaknesses such as backward pawns and weak squares, these make good targets to build a short term plans around. Generally, finding a target to plan around is a useful. It unifies your moves and provides a basis for decision making. I just started reading Amateur's Mind by Jeremy Silman. It's a good introduction to Imbalances and longer term planning in chess that might help. Probably aimed at 1200+ player. You can preview chapters on Amazon.