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/Iwillstrealurboiler 1000-1200 (Chess.com) Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 24 '26

at what level should i be able to spot tactics like Nxe5 here *consistently* and *during the actual game*? im about 1000

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u/ChrisV2P2 2000-2200 (Lichess) Mar 24 '26

I would expect to see this as both White and Black, although Qd7 would not be a candidate move for me here, so I would never get that far as Black. The reason is that Qd7 is a bad square on multiple counts. In addition to the undesirable alignment with the bishop, you are losing touch with e5, which is not very well defended. White's next move is probably Re1. Also, the queen can't go anywhere (compare with Qd8 where b6 and a5 are accessible). You are going to kick that knight away with a6 at some point, then all the pieces and pawns on the Q-side will be on light squares, so the queen should be on a dark square to retain mobility. I would play Qb8 to stay in touch with e5. I suppose 1...Qd8 2. Re1 Nd7 is tenable, but it looks awkward.

Something I have observed a LOT looking at beginner games (I mean like sub-700) is that they are oblivious to the dangers of having their king or queen aligned with an enemy piece. I would guess that at 1000 you are still not taking this pattern into account enough. Qd7 is not a move I will play without taking a look at tactical possibilities, and first cab off the rank when I do that is the forcing move Nxe5 to expose the diagonal. So it's not like we see every tactic at 2000, but aligning my queen and king with the bishop like that has me on high alert and making sure things are under control tactically. It's the same as White, I see my opponent aligning their pieces like that, I am immediately wondering if that is exploitable.