Crosshair placement is a simple concept that requires constant attention as well as a good understanding of map designs and conventional positioning. To explain, correct crosshair placement is to keep your crosshair placed where an enemies head would be based on their position in the map to ensure that minimal mouse movement is required once an enemy is spotted. This allows you to react quickly to an opponent appearing on screen meaning that you have less room to make mistakes when positioning your crosshair on your opponent. Despite being generally easy when an opponent is on the same level as you but considering maps have ramps, levels and various obstacles to sit on pre-aiming is not always straight forward.

You have to be aware that if you're holding a position waiting for someone to enter your line of sight that they will generally be moving, this means that you either need to lead the shot allowing you time to react to their pre-sense on screen or be able to follow them with your crosshair. However leading an opponent also causes issues as if your opponent peeks close to the wall you're holding they may have an advantage over you. Learning where players tend to peek wide and close, and adapting to your opponents play during a game of matchmaking, are all key elements of having top tier crosshair placement.

You can see my crosshair is placed wide of the wall to react to both a wide and close peak

Crosshair placement needs to be a consistent and subconscious part of your game, as you walk around corners your crosshair should hug the wall. As the aggressive player, particularly on T side, if you are constantly thinking of pre-aiming a common position for holds you become especially you’re likely to die from an aggressive push as you won’t be ready to react to an unexpected push from the opposition team. If you are looking at a wall then you’re essentially doing nothing productive towards killing your opposition, clear the area get information on enemy positions with flashes, smoke and sound and then spend a minimal amount of time pre-aiming. Furthermore your spray pattern goes hand in hand with your crosshair placement, best case scenario you hit every headshot first bullet but that doesn’t always happen. If your crosshair is placed too low or off your enemy you need to recognize that when you begin to spray and incorporate it maybe allowing the recoil to compensate and hit the enemy for you.

If you follow the same spray pattern religiously without taking into consideration your starting position you may end up spraying over your opposition's head, or into their knees. Being able to easily and quickly recongnise where your spray is going comes with practice, if you think you've lost control of a spray consider ducking back into cover allowing your recoil and accuracy to reset as well as giving you an opportunity to readjust your crosshair based on where your opponent was. Finally it should go without saying where possible peek one position at a time, if you run out into the middle of a site you can only check one spot if you don't see anyone there then you will get shot from somewhere else. Limit your opponent's options with flashes and smokes and trust your teammates to hold your back as you push in and clear each spot. The following picture is an example of where you can expect to have enemies on B site if you run in blindly.

Dont just run onto site, clear what you can, use smokes and pick a spot to focus on

Of course, crosshair placement becomes slightly different for the AWP as it is currently the only gun that can one shot an enemy to the body when they have armour. As an AWPer you need to be conscious of the fact that the body is a larger target, so aim for the body when your opponent isn't in a position where they might have cover. In particular in spots where a rifler might aim to the head ready for someone to peek, an AWPer should aim towards the waist preparing for a countering player to crouch peek. This allows you to hit the body shot on a player running out of cover or a headshot on a player expecting to catch you unaware with a quick duck around the corner.

An example of where my crosshair would be place with an AWP knowing I can 1 shot to the body

A simple concept that can easily bring your gameplay to the next level crosshair placement is something that players at all levels should be conscious of. If you think that crosshair placement is something you need to work on spend time in death match working on aiming head height around corners and learn where people tend to play so that you can always be ready to shoot for the head. When you transfer into competitive play which is much more methodical and slow, use your new found speed along with nades, teamwork and precision to decimate opponents and cause them to call walls on you for always 'pre-aiming' where they are. Always consider your position, your opponent's position and be prepared to give yourself the best advantage you can in a duel.