Improving my Chess games

So I've been learning chess, and I got all the rules down and how the pieces move.  However I'm lacking in strategy and tactics.  I did win one game of Chess on "Chess Titan" (came with Vista) but I think that was a fluke.

I'm one of those people who learn best by doing things rather than listening to lecture or reading books after books etc.  I don't know why, If I do something by hand and get it right, then I can see the process of how I go it right.

I'm not sure is memorizing a bunch of openers is the right way to go, I won that one game of Chess by basically choosing two possible endgame I'd like to see happen, and then trying my best to make it happen.  (One of them was the two rook, other was Queen and Rook).  I guess I'd like to be able to anaylize the board and then make my best move from there.  That way I can be flexible in my tactics.

So, any suggestion?

You're right in thinking memorizing openings is pretty useless.

Luck you, you're a hands on guy... one of the best ways to improve in the beginning is simply to play a lot of games.  You need the experience of many games.  Review your games for mistakes -- try to adjust your thinking too.  After every move by your opponent were you checking to see what they threatened?  When you consider a move, are you trying to find your opponent's most annoying reply, or are you choosing a move hoping he falls for a trap?

Solving tactical puzzles is the other primary method of improvement for all players up through a fairly high rating.

Eventually you'll want to get into a book and learn some things, but tactical puzzles and playing games are two good ways to begin.  You should also know how to checkmate with a queen and king vs a lone king, and how to checkmate with a king and rook vs a lone king.

Study tactics.

There is tactics trainer on here, chesstempo.com is good, and there are tonnes of books out there.

So I've been learning chess, and I got all the rules down and how the pieces move.  However I'm lacking in strategy and tactics.  I did win one game of Chess on "Chess Titan" (came with Vista) but I think that was a fluke.

If you have just finished learning the laws of chess and the moves, of course you’re lacking in strategy and tactics.  With each level of play one must keep learning more about both of them.  Depending on what level the Chess Titan was set on, it may not have been a fluke.  The lowest level is not that difficult to defeat. 

I'm one of those people who learn best by doing things rather than listening to lecture or reading books after books etc.  I don't know why, If I do something by hand and get it right, then I can see the process of how I go it right.

You may be a tactile person. Tactile:of or connected with the sense of touch : vocal and visual signals become less important as tactile signals intensify. I can understand that, because I am a lot that way myself.  I had to teach myself chess because I knew no one that knew anything about it.  I had to read books, (this was before computers) and I set up a chess board and moved the chessmen according to the moves in the books.  That was before algebriaic notation, too. 

I'm not sure is memorizing a bunch of openers is the right way to go, I won that one game of Chess by basically choosing two possible endgame I'd like to see happen, and then trying my best to make it happen.  (One of them was the two rook, other was Queen and Rook).  I guess I'd like to be able to anaylize the board and then make my best move from there.  That way I can be flexible in my tactics.

It is good to have an understanding of the openings, but to memorize them is a bit too much if you just learned the moves and laws.  It is better to learn, and even memorize, the prinpciles, or rules of thumb.  Yes, you will need to read some books to learn what they are.  I will give you a few about the opening of a game.

Place pieces (pawns are not pieces) show be developed as quickly as possible where they can develop their greatest power.

Pawn moves in the opening game service only as an aid to development of your pieces and as a means of fighting for the center, keep such moves at a minimun. 

Learning such principles is far better than memorizing openings. These principles will aid you in developing your pieces and give you knowledge to build strategy and tactics. I am not saying that learning the openings is a waste of time, but to memorize openings without knowing such principles as above is a waste of time. 

Consider the following:

Learning to play chess

"Chess rules and exercises - 5 hours

Elementary endings - 5 hours

Some openings - 10 hours

Combination - 20 hours

Positional play - 40 hours

Practical play with analysis - 120 hours

  "Having spent 200 hours on the above, the young player, even if he possesses no special talent for chess, is likely to be among those two or three thousand chessplayers [who play on a par with a master]. There are, however, a quarter of a million chessplayers who annually spend no fewer than 200 hours on chess without making any progress. Without going into any further calculations, I can assert with a high degree of certainty that nowadays we achieve only a fraction of what we are capable of achieving."

-- Em. Lasker, Manual of Chess

Of course, you can have lots of fun playing chess and never spend that many hours on end, but when you speak of strategy and tactics, the more time spent on things the easier strategy and tactics will become part of your style. There is no way around it, books or watching training videos and using the helps available on this site is necessary to improve.

Chess is a lifetime game.  It just ain’t gonna happen overnight.  It isn’t Chutes and Ladders.  No one can give enough advice in these forums. 

So, any suggestion?

There are my suggestions, and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Thanks crosspinner

You're welcome.