Trivial tactics

At the beginner level, chess is all about tactics. Among the first things for a newcomer to learn are,

1. The rules (of course),
2. the values of the single pieces relative to each other and
3. how to compute series of captures.

It is vital to calculate capture variants up to the end to ensure that the pieces still even afterwards. If an unbalanced stock of material results from a tactical combination this means one side has gained an advantage. And if you are the one that is behind, it most often means that you are about to lose.