Narbonne 2008 Round 2 - Lesson 2

staying focussed is very important during tournaments. i notice that some people walk around after they've played their move, while others remain at the board. i usually stay at the board and use the technique that many good players have mentioned: when it's your move, use the time to calculate specific lines - and when it's your opponent's move, plan your strategies using more general principles.

in my round 2 game, i had the white pieces and have just played 15.RxNe4



what's wrong with the automatic recapture 15...exf4? and what should black play instead?

for the answers, highlight the space between these quotation marks

"if 15...exf4 then 16.Nd6+ wins the exchange. black should instead play 15...a6. once the white knight can no longer hop into d6, then black can think about exf4"

although my opponent didn't fall into this trap, i later went on to win this game.