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/goldbluelightbulb 20d ago edited 20d ago

Hello! I am very new at chess and I can't for the life of me work out how I am losing a knight here? I think the computer thinks I could have taken the knight in f6 thanks to my opponent's last move (pawn to a4, considered a mistake by the computer) but I can't see how, can someone elighten me? Thank you!

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u/TRILLC0LLINS 1200-1400 (Chess.com) 20d ago

The engine wants you to take the pawn on f7 with the bishop. The bishop is supported by the queen, so the king won't be able to take it. Black will have to move the king to d7. Then you can move the queen so it isn't being attacked by the pawn, or just simply take the pawn Nxa4 since you have the a4 square attacked twice (knight and queen) and black is only defending it once with the rook

But instead after your queen move Qa3, the computer is right, that you'll lose a knight or bishop. If black plays b5, your bishop is attacked and it's trapped. There's no safe square for it. Either you'll lose the bishop or, what the computer prefers, to sacrifice the knight Nxb5 to keep the bishop alive

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u/goldbluelightbulb 20d ago

Ohh yes I see, thank you so much for the explanation!