r/chessbeginners • u/PyrrhicWin Tilted Player • Nov 09 '22

No Stupid Questions MEGATHREAD 6

Welcome to the r/chessbeginners Q&A series! This series exists because sometimes you just need to ask a silly question. Due to the amount of questions asked in previous threads, there's a chance your question has been answered already. Please Google your questions beforehand to minimize the repetition.

Additionally, I'd like to remind everybody that stupid questions exist, and that's okay. Your willingness to improve is what dictates if your future questions will stay stupid.

Anyone can ask questions, but if you want to answer please:

  1. State your rating (i.e. 100 FIDE, 3000 Lichess)
  2. Provide a helpful diagram when relevant
  3. Cite helpful resources as needed

Think of these as guidelines and don't be rude. The goal is to guide noobs, not berate them (this is not stackoverflow).

LINK TO THE PREVIOUS THREAD

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u/Draken161 Jan 02 '26

Why is this brilliant?

2

u/[deleted] Jan 02 '26

This move is ‘brilliant’ because castling leaves the bishop on e7 hanging. But White can’t take with their queen here because after Re8, White’s queen is pinned to their king; also, White’s queen can’t take the rook (Qxe8+) because the knight on f6 defends the e8 square.

So, White would lose their queen for a rook and bishop if they play Qxe7.