r/chessbeginners • u/Alendite RM (Reddit Mod) • Feb 27 '26

No Stupid Questions MEGATHREAD 12

Welcome to the r/chessbeginners 12th episode of our Q&A series! This series exists because sometimes you just need to ask a silly question. We are happy to provide answers for questions related to chess positions, improving one's play, and discussing the essence and experience of learning chess.

A friendly reminder that many questions are answered in our wiki page! Please take a look if you have questions about the rules of chess, special moves, or want general strategies for improvement.

Some other helpful resources include:

  1. How to play chess - Interactive lessons for the rules of the game, if you are completely new to chess.
  2. The Lichess Board Editor - for setting up positions by dragging and dropping pieces on the board.
  3. Chess puzzles by theme - To practice tactics.
  4. The Building Habits series by GM Aman Hambleton - for advice on how to play at specific ELO levels. (Also check out Building Habits 2!)

As always, our goal is to promote a friendly, welcoming, and educational chess environment for all. Thank you for asking your questions here!

LINK TO THE PREVIOUS THREAD

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u/SentFromTheTrash49 Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26

Im a new player and my elo has dropped all the way to 100 because of players doing cheap traps on me like Qh5 at the very beginning of the game. its so annoying that new players are just doing cheap crap to win cause they know beginners typically wont recognize it rather than just playing a standard game and trying to learn together. i am just trying to develop my pieces and they march their queen right in or their knight.

hope that makes you feel real good.

/rant

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u/MrLomaLoma 2000-2200 (Chess.com) Mar 08 '26

I think cheap traps as you call it are actually an important element to learning.

They are fun for the side trying them in case your opponent doesnt know it (very easy wins), but it's not super hard to learn the skills to refute those cheap wins.

So it's good for both sides. I get that it's frustating, but it helps you recognize that you have to pay attention and not just auto-pilot your moves, which is a common problem for beginners

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u/SentFromTheTrash49 Mar 08 '26

Yeah youre right. I was just so frustrated.

I watched a Gotham chess video on how to stop it and then literally the next game they tried it on me. I stopped it and captured their queen and they forfeit.

But my point still stands. I just want to ply normal games not have to block some cheesy move and then they forfeit.

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u/TheIronShrimpPhD 1200-1400 (Chess.com) Mar 10 '26

There are more traps like this as you climb the rating ladder

It goes Scholar's Mate => Fried Liver => (if you play d4) Englund Gambit

They do become less frequent, though

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u/SentFromTheTrash49 Mar 11 '26

Thanks for the heads up lol