Hey all,
I played a game recently and arrived at a complicated position. It was my opponents turn and I figured he had three possible moves A, B, or C. I spent a fair amount of mental energy trying to figure out which he would play and what my responding plan should be. I ruled out C and moved on to a couple of variations in mind for B but expected him to play A. He played C after 15-20 minutes or more.
The problem is that I forgot why I ruled out C but knew there was a strong line in reply. Now I had to use all that mental energy again to figure it out.
I would have loved to have taken notes but that’s against the rules.
How do y’all manage these siutations?
----- Ed
I’m not the best in this area, by any means.
But one method might be to go one ply deeper in your memory if you can. “If I do that, he could play A, B, or C. If he replies A, [figure out line and end with] so I am going to reply… If he replies B, [figure out line and end with] so I will first reply… If he replies C, [figure out line and end with] so I will first reply…” And thus try to commit just the next move of each line for you to memory - not a whole line. That way when he plays C instead of A, you snap out the reply move - then reconstruct that less likely line on the opponent’s time. 
Of course, if opponent plays C you may need to re-evaluate the position for something you might have missed before automatically moving. Maybe your opponent found a different line than the combination you were so sure would occur. Not to mention those times your opponent plays D. 
(But, like I say, I’m the one to talk. The other night I thought under drowsy-pressure… I’ll play this - then if opponent plays A I’ll reply with C, and if he plays B I’ll reply with D and take his Rook. He played B and I replied with D, taking his Rook with my Bishop. It was only after I got home and analyzed that I found that playing B should have been replied with Queen move E which would have forced mate in one. )
I think thats just part of chess. Sometimes I’m thinking on my own time and rule out a particular line, but then several minutes later (noticing I’m getting short on time), forget why I ruled it out and see a better continuation of that line (not remembering the fatal reply), and play it anyway.
BUSTED.
ROFL. 