I saw a quote previously about time travel "The greatest fear about time travel is that one small change in the past, could have a huge effect on the present. So why do we think small changes in the present won't make a huge difference in the future?"
How does this apply to chess? Well, one excuse I often hear is "I was one move short of a winning attack" or "I needed one more move to prevent my opponents winning plan". But in my (recent) experience, I often see my opponent unnecessarily lose that move earlier in the game. For example, in the following club game, I happily developed my pieces, without having a definite plan (except maybe open the c file at some point). But my opponent helped me a lot with 12.a4 and the Qc1-b2 follow up. So when I played 15 ... e5 it wasn't just that my pieces were better placed tactically, but they were better placed when the central pawn structure changed. And after another 8 or so moves I was up 3 pawns, in part because of small decisions made earlier in the game.
Dixon,Alex - Press,Shaun [D94]
Murphy Memorial, 13.05.2025
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