When I was 11 or so, I had the chance to play a couple of casual games with IM Jack Peters. This was before I had played in any tournaments, and was perhaps around 1300-1400 in strength. My knowledge of elementary tactics were decent, but my level of sophistication wasn’t very great and there were some pretty clear gaps.
For instance, I was familiar with the tactical idea of exploiting a loose piece - let’s say, a knight - on g4 with the tactic 1.Bxf7+ Kxf7 2.Ng5+ K~ 3.Qxg4. So when in one of those games Peters played 1…Bg4, pinning my knight with his unprotected bishop, I was very happy (and VERY naive!), playing 2.Bxf7+ Kxf7 3.Ng5+. As you may have guessed, he replied with 3…Qxg5, leaving him with an extra piece after 4.Bxg5 Bxd1 5.Kxd1. He got a piece, and I got experience, which is what you get when you don’t get what you want. (At least if you’re paying attention.)
There are multiple morals here, but one specifically chess-related lesson is that it can matter a great deal whether it’s a black bishop or a black knight sitting on g4. Alternatively, if Black’s queen doesn’t cover the g5 square (or the piece on g4), then White’s idea works no matter what sort of black piece is on g4. We have to pay attention to the details.
A little while back, I presented a disastrous loss by GM Bella Khotenashvili, who committed a well-known blunder in the Accelerated Dragon, losing a piece with her 9th move. She assumed, probably unconsciously rather than as the result of any serious thought, that she was alright due to her counter-pressure against d4. In this she was wrong - in this case. There are times when Black can move a minor piece to g4 because the counter-tricks against d4 do work, and that’s exactly what we’ll see in a very high-level game from the recent ChessKid Cup - have a look. [N.B. The players weren’t kids, contrary to what you might expect from the event name.]
Chess is tough, and contrary to the 1990s cliche, sometimes we do have to sweat the small stuff. Details matter, as the 2700 playing White learned to his dismay.