Learn to play endgames really well, and you should be able to beat him in a materially even endgame. Also, make a point of trading off in ways that create structural weaknesses in his position (doubled pawns, isolated pawns, etc) while avoiding such things in your own position.
--Fromper
I play fairly regularly against a friend of mine who's strategy is blandly predictable: he will trade pieces in any way shape or form as long as the material balance is kept or shifted in his favour, unless his queen is involved.
I am fairly new to the game. I'm seriously considering purchasing membership to this website, but until then, I'm probably going to be lacking some of the basic knowledge, so please correct me in any instance where I am incorrect in my statements and thoughts.
I have a bit more knowledge than he does of the game, so I may be able to recognize a situation where my own knight is less valuable than his, which is why I would trade, but as he doesn't see the placement value of a piece, given any chance to trade a bishop for another bishop, or a knight, he will do so, regardless of it's value.
This seems to me like a defensive strategy. Indeed, most games I play against him, where no blatant mistakes are made, end up in stalemates because nobody has enough pieces to mount a solid offense.
Because I must consistently move my pieces out of harm's way to conserve them (because I want to have SOME pieces to mount an offence with), I eventually make mistakes. My only other option is to play along and turn the game into a pawn promotion race.
While I know this is a very bad strategy to use for a whole game, every game, I haven't been able to think of a way to capitalise on this flaw. Can anyone suggest a weakness in the strategy that I could use to my advantage, given that I don't have enough skill to find one myself?