Practical Play vs Computer Play

As chess players, we often give too much importance to the engine’s first choice. After a game, we check the computer, see the top move, and immediately assume that every other decision was wrong.
But chess is not played by computers. It is played by humans.
In a real game, we have to consider much more than the objective evaluation of a position. We must think about the time on the clock, the difficulty of the position, the number of accurate moves our opponent has to find, and how easy or difficult the resulting position will be to play.
Sometimes, the best engine move is not the best practical decision.
For human players, especially under time pressure, creating difficult problems for the opponent can be more important than maintaining the highest possible evaluation.This position comes from a game I played in the 2023 Central American Team Championship. It was my first classical game of the tournament, in a team match between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
At that moment, the match was tied, and this game was going to decide which team won the match. The positions on the other boards were quite balanced, so it became clear that I had to play for a win.
That context was very important. I was not looking only for the most accurate move according to the engine. I needed to find the move that gave my opponent the most difficult practical problems.
In this position, the engine prefers Ra6, keeping the rook active and continuing to put pressure on the queenside, especially with the passed a pawn.
Objectively, this may be the strongest continuation.
However, both my opponent and I had less than one minute left on the clock. Because of that, I decided to play h5.
The idea was to simplify the position and reach a two pawns against one pawn ending on the kingside.
According to the engine, this ending may still be drawable with correct defense, but in practice, defending this type of ending with less than one minute is extremely difficult.
The defender has to calculate accurately, choose the correct king position, know when to exchange pawns, and avoid making even one small mistake. Meanwhile, the stronger side can play with a very clear plan and continue creating practical problems.
That is why I believe h5 was the best practical move, even though it may not have been the engine’s first choice.
This is an important lesson: we should not play only according to the evaluation bar. We should also play according to the position, the clock, the match situation, and the opponent in front of us.
The engine shows us the most accurate move.
Practical chess asks a different question:

Which move gives my opponent the most difficult problems to solve?

Full game: https://lichess.org/broadcast/campeonato-centroamericano-2023-open-clasico/round-2/etTbstAg/LDIis8JW