Lesa Lessons IV

Position reached after White's 15th move in Giulio Beretta (2143) - Spanton (1937)

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I played 15...Ng4, which is clearly good for Black (if followed up correctly - I didn't).

But if I had looked a little harder I would surely have found 15...a6!, when after the forced 16.Qxd8 Raxd8 White does not have a good move. eg 17.Nc7 loses the knight to 17...Re7, while 17.Na3 b5 also wins for Black, according to the engines, their main variations being a) 18.b4 Ng4 19.0-0!? (they reckon 19.Nd1 is even worse, eg 19...Nxe3 20.fxe3 Bxd1 21.Raxd1 Rxe3+ 22.Kf2 Rde8) Nxe3 20.fxe3 Rxe3, b) 18.Nd1 Nd5 19.c3 Nxe3 20.fxe3 Rxd1+! 21.Rxd1 Rxe3+ 22.Kd2 Bh6, one line running 23.Rdg1 Re2+ 24.Kd3 Rd2+!? 25.Ke4 f5+ 26.Ke5 Kf7.

Admittedly that last line is long, sharp and very difficult to foretell, but the strength of the basic continuation 15...a6! 16.Qxd8 Raxd8 17.Na3 b5 is not hard to see.

LESSON: if you see a good move, look for a better one.*

*I long thought this sage advice came from James Mason, but a search on the internet shows it is a sentiment with many prospective fathers, including Emanuel Lasker, Wilhelm Steinitz, Siegbert Tarrasch and Pedro Damião (often rendered as Damiano). Quite possibly they all advocated it, but Harold Murray's A History Of Chess shows the sentiment goes back to at least the 10th century, when the queen, then just a humble counselor, was the weakest piece on the board.