I play my father at chess a lot and I am clearly better but he plays a lot of unorthodox openings and moves that kill me because I do not fully understand where I should go, what I should do, what piece to target, what to look for, etc. Perhaps someone can enlighten me.

I seem to have trouble analyzing positions and creating tactics. How should I go about doing this? Do I find a possible move then assume the other player will make 'this' move or 'that' move? What are your guys' processes for doing this, and do you go through this process every move?

It may be easier to help you if you could post a game(S) in the analysis area. Do you have any books? Have you tried solving tactical puzzles(books or online)? Do you know mate patterns?

i havent played a normal game in a few weeks so i dont know where I'm at right now. I tend to become impatient and make moves on instinct (very bad habit of mine thats effecting my game). Do you know how I can break this habit of impatience?
Also, can you share with me the process you go through each move to analyze a position while also choosing a move and judge how the opponent will react, how you will react, etc.?

I recently bought 'The Complete Book of Chess Strategy: Grandmaster Techniques From A to Z' By IM Jeremy Silman. I started reading up on the different openings and their variations.
i tend to lack creativity and tend to value my pieces too much at times

Usually when a person is starting to learn chess, he becomes impatient for a simple reason, he does not understand or does not have a clue on what he is doing on a given chess position. As you gain more knowledge you will appreciate chess more. Since you told that you are better than your father(which means your chess understanding is deeper than him)and you tend to play random moves, I assume you are losing to him by means of tactical mistakes? A good measure to reduce these things is, you should try to solve tactical chess problems(not only mating problems, but problems that also wins material.) In your every move look at the tactical possibility of the position. When I say look at the tactical possibility look for these things. 1. Will your move lose a material? 2. Is there a tactical strike such as a pin or skewer in the position? Is there a tactical strike that will give you a strong attack on his king? Don't force yourself to much on this tactical possibilities, if you can't see one. Since there are no tactical possibility, focus now your attention on the strategic elements of the position, such as pawn structure and piece activity. Looking at these strategic elements, will be your basis in forming a plan.

When forming a plan look at these things

1. Is there a pawn weakness that I can pressure? If there aren't any, can I create one?
2. Places where you can improve the position of your pieces.
3. Moves that will limit the mobility of your opponent's pieces.

Try "The How to Reasses your Chess" by Siliman. It's a superb book
On tactical problems, try the books of Polgar, John Nunn or Reinfield.

What I do these days is employ a hypermodern system, and simply wait for the opponent to blunder! After you gain a piece or a couple pawns, the game plays itself!

Hello Secondnature,

Welcome to the boards.

Many GrandMasters from Susan Polgar, to Shirov have publicly stated that Chess is "99% Tactics". If this is true, which I do not doubt, then a solid discipline of tactical study should raise the level of your game a great deal.

What type of tactics should you study? ryan_c correctly points out, IMO, that combinations which yield material are as important as mating combinations. I'll go one further, these tactical strikes are more important to study, as they occur FAR more often. Once you've won material, then what? Well this is where super solid endgames come in.

Best of luck in your Chess!

This only works at the beginner and low intermediate level, where obvious blunders are common. This won't help you progress beyond that, though. It's actually pretty similar to the defensive style I used to play, though I wasn't hypermodern about it. I didn't make any real progress until I decided to start playing nothing but wild, attacking gambits to learn how to attack.

--Fromper