How to place pieces well in chess?

Hello!

I am a 1400 rated USCF player and would like to know some strategies to placing pieces well. After playing and analyzing my games I realized that I was making a lot of mistakes, mainly not knowing where to place my pieces and the idea behind the better moves. Sometimes I don't give my all when playing, so it would be great if I got some help . If you could see my games and tell me what's going wrong that would also be great!!

Opening Principles:

1. Control the center squares – d4-e4-d5-e5.
2. Develop your minor pieces toward the center – piece activity is the key. Centralized piece control more squares.
3. (King Safety)
4. Connect your rooks. There should be no pieces between your Rooks.

The objective of development is about improving the value of your pieces by increasing the importance of their roles (Piece Activity).  Well-developed pieces have more fire-power than undeveloped pieces and they do more in helping you gain control.

Now we will look at 5 practical things you can do to help you achieve your development objective.

They are:

1. Give priority to your least active pieces.

• Which piece needs to be developed (which piece is the least active)?
• Where should it go (where can its role be maximized)?

1. Exchange your least active pieces for your opponent’s active pieces.
2. Restrict the development of your opponent’s pieces.
3. Neutralize your opponent’s best piece.
4. Secure strong squares for your pieces.

Don’t help your opponent develop.

There are 2 common mistakes whereby you will simply be helping your opponent to develop:

1. Making a weak threat that can easily be blocked
2. Making an exchange that helps your opponent to develop a piece

Pre Move Checklist:

1. Make sure all your pieces are safe.
2. Look for forcing move: Checks, captures, threats. You want to look at ALL forcing moves (even the bad ones) this will force you look at, and see the entire board.
3. If there are no forcing moves, you then want to remove any of your opponent’s pieces from your side of the board.
4. If your opponent doesn’t have any of his pieces on your side of the board, then you want to improve the position of your least active piece.
5. After each move by your opponent, ask yourself: "What is my opponent trying to do?"

General Ideas.

1. Stop playing blitz, and bullet.  Play longer time controls of at least G45, or longer.  
2. Follow Opening Principles:

• Control the center.
• Develop minor pieces toward the center.
• Castle.
• Connect your rooks.

1. Study tactics...tactics...tactics.  One of my favorite quotes is this: "Until you reach Master, your first name is tactics, your middle name is tactics, and your last name is tactics”.
2. Double Check your moves.  Before making a move, ask yourself: "Are my pieces safe?"
3. After your opponent moves, ask yourself: "What is my opponent trying to do?"
4. Analyze your games WITHOUT a chess engine, then have someone stronger go over the games, or post them online for review.
5. DO NOT memorize openings. Learn and understand the pawn structure, and piece placement for the opening you wish to learn.
6. Learn Basics Mates:

• K vs. KQ
• K vs. KR
• K vs. KRR

1. Learn Basic King and Pawn endings.

• KP vs. K
• Opposition

1. Have Fun!

I believe that before placing pieces, it is important to consider all the possible variations. One does not simply place a piece down, rather one must visualize the board before the said piece is placed. Calculation. One must grab the piece with said dominant hand, and calculate the variations of grip strength in the fingers, otherwise said piece will have a potentially higher probability of falling from your fingertips, literally. This of course would be a disaster, so before even considering the possibility of picking up a piece, one must work out the relevant muscle groups that will improve one's said grip strength.

Therefore, the muscle groups flexor digitorum superficialis, flexor digitorum profundus, and flexor pollicus longus are relevant to our discussion. I will link the relevant exercises here https://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/ss/slideshow-hand-finger-exercises , where in particular I will recommend exercise #5 The pinch strengthener exercise. This is the closest exercise one can train for to emulate the conditions you will experience in OTB. Do not make the mistake of overdoing this exercise however, as you may develop an injury that will cost you more than the actual strengthening. 

Once you have the developed strength of said pinching and grabbing chess pieces correctly, with confidence, with passion, then now we can move on to the act of placing the actual pieces onto the board itself. Like I mentioned earlier, one does not simply lay a piece down on the board, one must calculate the relevant variations of ways the piece itself can land on the said objective square. The corner positions are the worst possible placement of the pieces, and will not work in your favor if the opponent is an "adjust spammer". This will in a sense throw your game off, especially in quicker time controls, so it is better to lay the pieces directly in the middle of the square to avoid the psychology aspect of the adjust maneuver. However, there comes a time when placing the pieces wrongly, perhaps very wrongly between two squares, can bring forth many benefits. Once again, the psychology of chess comes into play, and one must consider the opponent. If the opponent is timid, one must take advantage of irking this opponent with badly placed pieces, so as to throw off their game. They will be less likely to say "adjust" than the other type of opponent previously mentioned. Thus, they will be thinking, not of the game, but at how badly the said pieces are placed on the board. Notice this tactic could be considered "unsportsmanship-like" but alas, I beg to differ. That's how you play the game, and oftentimes, games are won outside of the board in a toiletseat or lipbalm, or before the game even begins. 

I hope this answer helps you, as I really did take time out of my day to answer said question. Good luck! : )

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions! I really appreciate the detailed answers and tips given! I will get to practicing now! Thanks once again