Significant and efficient advice for amateurs I was once at a cafe on a Saturday; a novice joined our chess club meeting to have fun. After observing his opening moves, I concluded he randomly used pawns to attack the opponent (completely ignoring positioning, let alone developing, of pieces)

I offered to play a game with him. He told me about chess boxing (playing chess in between boxing rounds). After an enjoyable conversation, I then told him that chess IS like boxing: You must control the center, or be bullied around. 

After enforcing this tip on him, I was extremely but delightfully surprised to find he was developing and positioning his pieces like a decent tournament player. The only issue was his tactics; he would regularly hang pieces and not realize in the middle game why he moved a piece. The main idea is the simple advice of going over the following list:


Asking what squares compromised the center (to which he answered correctly; e4, d4, e5, d5)
Asking whether pieces or pawns are stronger
Telling him every (opening) move must control one of those squares with the stronger resource


This list significantly improved his positioning, decision-making, and enjoyment for chess. My question is, what similarly short analogies have you told chess newcomers that connect real world situations with the nature of chess?
I don't like any of these answers as they are too wordy and assume a certain level of skill firsthand.

So, I would say:

1: Pay attention to what your opponent's move was. Many players get so focused on their own pieces they overlook what the opponent is doing, and suddenly they are dropping material. Chess is like a dance so pay attention to what your partner (opponent) is doing.

2: In association with #1, what does your opponent's move do? What are it's consequences? does it attack something? Does it leave something unprotected? Pay attention to that. Chess is like a conversation with a long-time friend. Let the move speak to you and give you all the information it has and don't interrupt the story it is telling you.

3: Do the basic "Captures, Checks, Threats" after every move. Just by looking at the board and mentally going over every capture, every check, and every clear threat, you will avoid losing material, and losing material is the single biggest problem for newbies. Chess is like boxing - you have to be able to read and anticipate what "punches" your opponent plans to throw at you. There are no surprises in chess - everything is before you. You only have to develop the skills to look closer to find what truths the position is telling you.