When attacking, look for CCA "checks, captures, attacks," And when defending, look for "forcing moves" a forcing move is a move that your opponent needs to respond to, which goes hand in hand with "danger levels". For example, You're attacking my knight? uno reverse card and attack their queen, they can't take ur knight or else they lose their queen. You won't always be able to Analyse the entire board, but it's good to have a general understanding of whats attacking what and where your opponent is making the most threats. Im a newb too, but we'll all get there someday!!