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Many chess players are familiar with this Lasker quote. “If you see a good move, look for a better one.”
I myself am certainly familiar, but sometimes it’s easy to forget to follow that advice. Take this position from a 10+5 game I just played:
Here I have decided that a possible path to victory is just to ram the a pawn down the board. So I begin this plan with 25…a5 and after a few moves we are here:
The nice thing is that the rook on c1 can’t block the a pawn as the bishop hangs. One reasonable idea for White would be to exchange the bishops with 28.Bxe4, but instead my opponent decides that he’d rather preserve the bishop, and so he plays 28.Bd1??.
I am now so fixated on my plan of shoving the a pawn, that the next move I play is 28…a4 and then after 29.h4 I respond 29…a3
This is why we are supposed to look for a better move. To be clear, I have plenty of time here. I am not in time trouble AT ALL.
What move did I miss? See below…
Til Next Time,
Chris Wainscott
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In either position the correct idea is …Rxg2+, forking the queen and king.