Especially at lower levels, chess is a game of short term patterns, not long term strategy. Sure, you can make a plan. But, mostly, it won't matter. It turns out trying to win a chess game on strategy alone is like trying to win a boxing match without throwing punches.

Why? Because your chess games are almost always decided by patterns called 'tactics' - a short sequence of moves that turns your roughly equal game into a completely unequal game. If you've played chess, you'll know the feeling: you’ve blundered a tactic every time your opponents took your Queen for free. Tactics and blunders are two sides of the same coin: blunders are move that create tactical opportunities.