Is this really a tactic?

I sometimes play around with the Tactics Trainer on the Android app. With some frequency it will present me with a "tactic" that I really don't think is a tactic at all. Here's an example of an actual problem I was presented with today in the trainer:

Now, this does not seem like something that can be called a tactic. This is just capturing the obviously loose piece. I tend to waste a lot of time when it gives me these because I'm thinking there must be a trick question. But it's not.

I think it's designed to adapt to your ability so kt will give you easy things like this to boost your confidence if you've found a few difficult in a row. I suppose it's also a useful reminder that sometimes the obvious move

is best.

I see your point with this. What rating level was this puzzle on?  It could be showing that sometimes just recapturing the loose piece is the right way to go. I would also take a while on this seeing if taking the Bishop led to a trap.

Hi. I noticed this too, and I love this :) May be they should have called this training "Find best move". In some training positions the best move would be the only defensive move, for example. This makes it closer to the problems we solve in the real games where the obvious quiet move can also be the best one.

I'm not sure what the rating for it was. Probably low, given both the obviousness of the move and the fact that I haven't really played with it much.

I agree. "Find the Best Move" might be a better name than "Tactics Trainer." :)

I think some of the problems come from real games.   Your opponent makes a mistake and hangs a piece.  Do you see it?   Also, the tactics are timed --- can you see it FAST?   I tend to get 3-4 right in a row for 2-3 points each because I am a little slow, then I miss one and lose 10 points, repeat...  all because of the time rush component.   

According to the "tags" on the puzzles, taking a hanging piece is a tactic.  You could argue that point all day, but in the terminology of this site, it is a "tactic".  

I guess you could say picking up a loose piece is a tactic. much like a for is attacking two loose pieces that both cannot be defended.

This reminds me of those tactics problems where you're in check and have to decide how to get out of it / block it. Here the question seems to be whether it's worth playing 1...Qe7+ first, which it decidedly isn't; you have simply lost a piece. Did you happen to notice the success rate?

This is in fact a tactic- the bishop is not undefended but it is insufficiently defended. Dan Heisman calls this a "counting" problem and says it's incredibly important for lower-rated players to figure out whether trades win or lose material. I find these a little annoying but "counting" problems come up all the time in real games.

kclemens - great point!

Of course it's a tactic.  It's extremely elementary, but a tactic nonetheless.  And to expand on the Heisman explanation, he calls tactics "the science of piece safety".  The bishop on d5 isn't safe.

I think that's stretching the definition of a tactic a bit far - in that case, every retake in an exchange is a tactic, even 2...Qxd5 in the Scandinavian.

As tactical motifs this would be "unsound sacrifice" and "hanging piece".

In games with players below 1000 pieces are hanging all the time, often for several moves. I've had opponents in the opening sac a piece for the centre pawn in games around 1400.  It looks like it must be a trap but often it isn't.

well, some players take back with the queen and then loses it, therefore at that tactic level you learn how to take back the right way. tactics trainer is a trainer used to memorize patterns

There's a quicker way to mate than your solution move! ;)

Edit - lol I just read your addition under the puzzle ... there you go then!

lol what variation

??? Where did that knight suddenly come from?! Before he appeared 1.Qe8+ followed by BxQ was faster.

Top 2 moves by Stockfish.

Calculating when you can take a queen to go a queen up is a waste of energy.