Every chess player was once a beginner and a bad player at first... Once you get a little better you'll be like me, not a beginner, but still bad lol... anyways... First of all if you want to improve it's recommended you play longer time formats... don't play blitz and bullet.... play 15|10 or even 30min (if you have the time), but nothing shorter than 10min... 15|10 is the most recommended because it gives you a decent amount of time without making the game last forever... take your time before you make a move, because you have plenty of time to consider lots of possibilities... eventually you'll be able to spot moves faster, but that only comes with time and practice...
Tension and breaking the tension are somewhat more advanced (but not really that advanced) concepts, but basically you only want to break the tension, ie, capture a piece or pawn, if it benefits you somehow.. whether it's you winning a pawn or freeing up a square to put one of your pieces in a better square, or finding a tactic that gives you an advantage...
"The idea is extend your forces towards the center, develop key pieces, castle if possible to connect rooks, then attack?"
Your opening principles are correct... that is basically what you should try to get out of the opening... after that, yes, try to attack, control more space, etc etc but specially at your level, until you get to some 800-1000 all you have to do is not give up any piece and wait for your opponent to hang a piece, because they will 9 out of 10 times, then you capture a free piece for free and you have to learn how to convert an advantage, which is usually done by trading down into a winning endgame (think of a team sport you like playing...if you're playing 5 vs 4 you have an advantage, but if you're playing 2 vs 1 it's a much bigger advantage, even though you're still up just by one)... promoting a pawn and then checkmating your opponent
Which is why it's important to know basic checkmating patterns
2rooks and king vs king
Queen and King vs King
Rook and King vs King
It's also worth checking some basic tactics like forks, pins, discovered attacks and removing the defender (there are many more, but I think this are the most common)
Watching masters playing masters is fine and can be entertaining, but it's hard to absorb much knowledge from it... in terms of improving and learning, it is more recommended watching them "climb up the rating ladder" (john bartholomew), or "building up good chess habits" (chessbrah) or Daniel Narodistskys speedrun... in these youtube videos they go through every rating explaining concepts, ideas, most common mistakes, etc...
good luck with your chess and most importantly have fun
Hey,
I'm a beginner and quite bad. I know how the pieces move and that's about it
But one thing I've noticed in watching videos of high level games is this: you'll often have lots of building "tension" - usually in the center. However in games that I play whether against humans or the bots, it seems like if there's an opportunity to take, me or the opponent does so as soon as possible.
I realize that often a pawn is protected, either by a knight, another pawn, a bishop, etc when developing your opening. But if the opponent takes a center pawn that is protected, how do you punish them overextending? And conversely, how do you know when to start busting open the center versus continuing development?
The idea is extend your forces towards the center, develop key pieces, castle if possible to connect rooks, then attack?