He might not see it

The bane of any chess coach is the student who chooses bad moves on the basis that there is a threat or trick that their opponent might overlook. Of then this is due to that one game early in their chess career where they won because their opponent failed to spot an obvious threat, and from then on, this was going to be the path to victory.
Having coached a number of students with this trait, it is often difficult to get them out of this habit. The obvious cure is putting them up against stronger players who do see the threats and then punishes the bad moves. However this 'cure' has a tendency to go to far, with a number of players losing interest in the game once the source of cheap wins dry up.
Nonetheless it may be possible to catch a stronger opponent off guard. While researching this article I found possibly the most audacious example of 'he might not see it' in a game between Gary Kasparov and actor Woody Harrelson. Harrelson decided to see if Kasparov had previously seen the "Four Move Checkmate" by starting with 1.e4, 2.Qh5 and 3.Bc4. It turns out Kasparov had (assuming he did not discover a defence independently) but Harrelson at least proved he had a few more arrows in his quiver. He played the rest of the game fairly sensibly, and with the position even, Kasparov decided a draw was the correct result!


Harrelson,Woody - Kasparov,Garry (2812) [C20]
Prague consultation Prague, 12.07.1999

1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 Qe7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Qh4 d6 6. d3 h6 7. h3 Be6 8. Nc3 Bxc4 9. dxc4 Nd4 10. Nxd4 exd4 11. Ne2 c5 12. f3 d5 13. cxd5 Nxd5 14. Qxe7+ Nxe7 15. Bd2 O-O-O 16. O-O-O g6 17. Nf4 Bg7 18. c4 dxc3 19. Bxc3 Bxc3 20. bxc3 b6 21. c4 Nc6 22. Kb2 Rhe8 23. Rxd8+ Rxd8 24. Nd5 h5 25. a4 Kd7 26. Kc3 Ke6 27. f4 Nd4 28. Rd1 Ne2+ 29. Kc2 Nd4+ 30. Kc3 Ne2+ 1/2-1/2