Is it good to have a tendency to exchange pieces? This is how I am playing nowadays. I can beat ~1500 player 50% of the time (the rest is due to tactical errors):

Play the opening (upto 12 moves)
Don't blunder
At the point where my pawns and pieces are in a better shape than the opponent's, I first exchange the queens
Centralise my king
Slowly exchange all the minor pieces, then the rooks
Win in the endgame

Now is this really the way to play chess? I mean, I do want to improve my tactical skills but my decision is that once I am able to beat a 1500 player 100% of the time, I will start playing tactical chess, with which I mean attacks and stuff.
Is there something wrong with my approach?
Now is this really the way to play chess?

Well, it is certainly a way to play chess. It's the way Aryan Tari chose to play Magnus Carlsen in the Altibox Norway tournament a couple of days ago. Swap as many pieces off as you can, get to a more or less equal endgame, maybe have to survive a bit of pressure then shake hands for a draw. It didn't work out that way. He got positionally crushed from a position which, to this patzer, looked fairly even.
It certainly didn't look roughly even to the chess24.com commentary team of Judit Polgar and Vladimir Kramnik. &quot;60% lost / 40% drawn&quot; said Kramnik, &quot;Go back to school, Aryan&quot; said Judit during the commentary after move 18.
After 21. Nd2:

The strategical battle is over at that point. It's very nice when you
can just follow a plan and you don't need to calculate

was Carlsen's comment afterwards.
I have to admit I have lost a fair number of games against stronger opponents like this just as I have won games against weaker players like this. The biggest difference between good players and bad players is not tactical ability (although it is often also a factor). It is the ability to accurately evaluate positions. Weaker players happily aim for bad positions because they don't know any better and stronger players can't believe their luck. Ask Magnus.
Bottom line: you are going to lose if you try and follow this plan against stronger players and if you try it against a weaker player who is weak tactically but strong positionally then you are also going to lose.
Here is the game.
[title &quot;Carlsen - Tari, Altibox Norway Chess 2020&quot;]
[fen &quot;&quot;]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4 Bd7 9. c3 Na5 10. Ba2 c5 11. Bg5 O-O 12. Nbd2 Rb8 13. axb5 axb5 14. Re1 b4 15. Nc4 Nxc4 16. Bxc4 bxc3 17. bxc3 Qc7 18. Qc2 Bb5 19. Bxb5 Rxb5 20. Bxf6 Bxf6 21. Nd2 Qc6 22. Qa4 Rfb8 23. Nc4 Be7 24. g3 Qc8 25. Qd1 g6 26. Kg2 Bf8 27. Qf3 Rb3 28. Rec1 Qe6 29. Ra7 R8b7 30. Rxb7 Rxb7 31. Ra1 h5 32. Ra8 Kg7 33. Ne3 Rc7 34. Nd5 Rc8 35. Ra7 Rb8 36. h3 Rd8 37. g4 hxg4 38. hxg4 Rd7 39. Ra8 f6 40. g5 f5 41. Qh3 Rf7 42. Re8 Qxe8 43. Qh6+ Kg8 44. Qxg6+ Kh8 45. Nf6 1-0