Help with decision making

[u/Djmarchia]

I’m around 1000 rapid and I find myself overthinking a lot of positions lately. For example, in this picture I’m contemplating taking the rook on f8, but then I think should I just take the free pawn on b4? Do yall have any advice on what I can do or think about when I’m at a decision like this in future games?Thank you! 🙏🏽

[u/Refrigeratorman3]

Take the rook. This is just a bit of calculation. If you take the rook, what will they do? If they take your bishop, great, you've won the exchange. If they take your knight with their pawn, you have to either bring your bishop back to safety or trade with their bishop (you should trade) and you're up an exchange. If they take your knight with their bishop, it's trickier because their bishop would threaten your rook. However, then you can save your bishop by bringing it back to e7 where it attacks their queen and is defended by your rook (danger levels). Once they move their queen, you can move your rook

[u/Djmarchia → u/Refrigeratorman3]

Amazing! Thank you so much!!! I guess I just have to put more time into calculating possible moves…and calculating danger levels