Which tactics puzzles offer the greatest benefit for beginners?

I understand it depends on the strengths and weaknesses of the players, but I am wondering if, in general, there are specific tactics to focus on as a beginner. So far I have been focusing on Forks and Defense and have seen a great improvement in my board awareness. I'm finding a lot more forks and doing a better job defending my pieces.

What other tactics should I, or anyone, focus on as a beginner?

Opportunities for forks, pins, skewers, and discovered checks seem to come up in every game and can be powerful.

Double attacks, forks and getting rid of defenders. Opportunities for those happen all the time in your games. They're among the simplest ones too. In my mind, that's where you should start. Maybe sprinkle in some mate in 2 as well to get a better feel for checkmating. 

Please help me in my midgame tactics

or any advice for midgame tactics

Hi SeanH12345,

I think for beginners finding a good book that covers all the basics of tactics is key. You do not want the problems to be super hard. One is just learning tactics and building pattern recognition is important at this stage. A book I recommend is chess tactics for students by John Bain. It gives a definition of the tactic and an example of how the tactic works. It then gives you many problems focused on that single tactical motif. I personally used this book and really enjoyed it. I still use it to just practice basic tactics or the warm up before a tournament game. I made sure I got 100% of the problems correct before I moved onto another book.

I think the answer depends on whether we are taking about a beginner, or we are talking about SeanH12345 who is not a beginner (1000+ rating in rapid is very far from a beginner).

For a true beginner, mate-in-1 puzzles are the best. Or any puzzle where you should calculate 1 move ahead only (like taking a hanging queen or something along those lines).

"Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess" - Fischer

None, you want to look at openings and endgames.

That’s a bold statement.

I didn’t shift my focus to tactics and middle game planning until I hit 1400 so we shall see how it goes.

The chess.com series of videos that helped me a lot is "How to become a tactical genius" by David Pruess,  https://www.chess.com/article/view/4-exercises-to-become-a-tactical-genius

The first two videos are good for beginners while the second two deal with how to solve more advanced puzzles and combinations.

I've struggled my way up to the 2600 level in tactical puzzles.

Taking advantage of chess.com lessons is also a good way to learn tactics.