In-Between Moves course

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Avatar of bkaifeng

https://www.chess.com/lessons/view/5191

In the lesson linked above, after playing the move Be4, it states "White now has the choice of two pieces to capture, but capturing either one loses material!".

However, they only show the line Qxe4+, where it's more clear to me how white loses material. Why will white lose material on Qxb3 (taking the knight instead)?

The engine doesn't even recommend to play the first move Be4. Can someone help me understand the position further? Thank you

Avatar of notmtwain
bkaifeng wrote:

https://www.chess.com/lessons/view/5191

In the lesson linked above, after playing the move Be4, it states "White now has the choice of two pieces to capture, but capturing either one loses material!".

However, they only show the line Qxe4+, where it's more clear to me how white loses material. Why will white lose material on Qxb3 (taking the knight instead)?

The engine doesn't even recommend to play the first move Be4. Can someone help me understand the position further? Thank you

 

When I ran it

 

 

, the computer preferred Be4.

When you try 2 Qxb3, the queen gets trapped:

Avatar of bkaifeng

Thank you @notmtwain. Engine on my computer is consistent with you now, not sure what was happening before. I also didn't see far enough with regards to the queen trap, makes sense now.