More than meets the eye
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Here is simple puzzle... one move... can you find black's clearest win?
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If you found it, you probably say "Of course, it's a very clear position." And truth be told it's not very difficult... but if you didn't find it, don't despair... it's a natural phenomenon when it comes to puzzles and sometimes even our own game positions... we look for grand combinations and amazing mates.
Quite simply, after Qxg3, white cannot stop black's a-pawn from queening without giving up his queen. Black ends up winning rook+queen for pawn+queen, and a won ending.
It always amazes me how much of the game passes me by. I watch two grandmasters play and the subtleties of their play is as invisible to me as the air we breathe. There is so much going on in most games that never gets explored, and sometimes all it takes is a little more attention to detail, a few more seconds obvservation.
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As you can see... white won the queen, and the game. But even after winning the queen, white had to make some exceptional moves to close the deal. This of course begs the question, was there an easier way to win?
Lets revisit the previous position...
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In this second variation, it seems white's attack plays easier, giving black fewer options and less counterplay. But to see Ng3 you would have to see EVERYTHING that is going on over the board, and have a lot of vision to know it would be easier to play than actually winning black's queen.
