Touch move
Lost a tournament game tonight. Tempting to blame it on the "touch-move" rule, but that would be a superficial conclusion. There is always something more to be learned. In the following position, I intended ...Bxd2, but mistakenly reached for the f6 knight.
What moves pop out at you here? I analyzed ...Bxd2 and ...Nxe4 immediately, but I'm guessing that most of you will immediately find a better move. ...Be7! It prevents the doubling of black's pawns and, more significantly, fights for control of the c5 square. So why couldn't I find it? I think my mistake is attributable to a fixed conception of the dark squared bishop. In these opening lines, exchanging bishop for knight on c3 is an extremely common idea. I had unconsciously committed to doing so at least 5 moves ago. When a superior alternative presented itself, I was blind to it.