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en.lichess.org/training/61224

For me it is usually unclear what the best move is especially when there is two pieces you can take. In this puzzle there was a free knight or a queen trade. I had a difficult time figuring it out and ended up guessing it wrong thinking "better be safe and not let the queen get away". You could get a free knight but then who knows what the queen could do or you could take the queen off.

Is there ever multiple best moves where either move is great but the computer only excepts one as correct?

How do you know which piece to take? (sometimes it's the queen, sometimes it's a minor piece, or it could just be moving to a better square.)

How often is the best move to put the opponent in check? (Is it best to aim for checkmate as soon as you can or (play safer) and take their pieces to make them weaker then go for checkmate?)

any other advice for chess is appreciated, thank you.
Calculate. Calculate. Calculate. Look for the most forcing moves first. Checks, Mate threats, captures. Calculate as deeply as possible. And repeat for each line. Always anticipate your opponents best defenses and calculate the best move/continuations for them.

I don't really want to give the answer away but its pretty obvious. There will be a check winning material on the a file. Only one move suits the job since start with a check there is Qd2 saving everything and white is okay. You have to be able to calculate simple stuff like this. The theme is going to be double attack, fork, and maybe even removing the defender.

In the end this puzzle is more of a puzzle to train your pattern recognition rather than your calculation ability.
Thank you I've already played the puzzle just wondered how the knight was apparently the obvious piece to take. Now I know.
No problem. The biggest thing at the 1000-1500 level is solving tactics fully. And being able to do this stuff on the fly immediately. It takes practice and you cant learn it overnight.

Good luck!

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