How to lose a game with two stupid moves

So I just lost this game...

I agree with your comment on move 15.  I forget my true plan so many times only to realize it after my opponent moves.  I try to incorporate conditional moves.  Once the opponent doesn't follow the line, teh conditional move is erased.  Personally, I'd enjoy seeing how good one is at guessing your opponent's move.

Yeah... the problem is that the game goes away and the next one comes up, and I don't have a chance to add conditional moves, and by the time I'm done with all my moves it's not worth going back to the 2-3 of them that would benefit from conditional moves.  I can change that in my settings, and maybe I will...

 when I heard the topic I thought it 1. f3 and 2.g4

Very creative comment!

Thanks!

Thanks for the comment, @pfren.  I never even considered that one.  I don't normally like dropping a piece in front of my central pawns like that, but sometimes it's sound.

@uttanka, I would hope I would be a bit beyond that by this point!

Putting aside for now, pfren's improvement (requires you to sit on your hands when you see an "interesting" tactic, and ask "Does it really give me anything?") ... some important things to root out and replace are the incorrect habits of thought that allowed you to 1) fail to capture a hanging piece and 2) to set up an obvious knight fork for your opponent

@ModestAndPolite, I'm guessing it's a simple "moving too fast".  Something I'm especially prone to if I have to many active games...

However, I have noticed in TT that I occasionally overlook a pin or a hanging piece.  Not sure why...

I suppose we should be "taking notes" during our correspondence style games, but poor Wesley So was so badly treated for really nothing, it just put me off the whole thing.

"Moving too fast" might cause mistakes, but it is not in itself the same as a mistake on the board.  So the question becomes, what is different about your thought processes when  you are playing a "fast" game rather a "slow" game.

I don't understand. Back in 2015 Wesley So had an OTB game awarded against him for the crime of writing something other than the moves of  the game on his scoresheet.  It was "an encouraging note to himself" so I suppose the rule he broke was the one about no reference to notes or other resources during the game.  That is very harsh. Does anyone know which "jobsworth"  of an arbiter was responsible?

But it has no relevance to either correspondence games, or to games played on-line where no-one can see what you are doing.

It was Akobian his opponent that brought it to the attention of the arbiter I think. I believe So had been warned after he did it in an earlier game that if he were to do it again he would forfeit, so it was fair enough really whether you agree with the rule or not. Anyway he took it with good grace and his play has certainly continued to improve since then.

 @ModestAndPolite - not sure.  Maybe I see something that looks promising and make it immediately without bothering to verify that it's sound and there's no other tactical opportunities?  Something I should do every move in a correspondence game, notes or no notes...

You are in good company, IM pfren.  As I understand it, the great former WC Tigran Petrosian used to write his move before he played it.

I can lose a game in one stupid move.

What a great idea for a game show on TV!  Name That Stupid Move!

"I can lose a game in seven stupid moves, Chuck."

"I can lose it in six!"

 "I can lose it in five!"

Etc., etc., etc.  😀

That sounds like a game I could win!  I have a cornucopia of stupid moves up my sleeve. 

Not that I looked closely but 15. Nd4 !?