If chess were always fair it wouldn't be as much fun ;) Besides, if you want fair, don't reply instantly! Rxc2 is scary, there are lots of black pieces pointed at your king!
Interesting position. The topic of tactics came up in another thread recently and I mentioned I don't think it's so much tactics that holds some players back, they're familiar with the usual themes, but it's calculation.
Still, this position would be difficult for most players to play accurately if they had little time (and a 50-60 minute game can be faster than most people think!)
What helped my calculation was being able to pause at each move. Just completely stop calculating and be sure I could visualize the position, and clearly define the threats. When I can do this, I can let the threats drive the calculation forward and things become less random. I feel like this makes it more organized and less time is wasted on silly thoughts like "if he plays ___ blunder I can win ___"
From black's perspective:
Rxc2+ Rxc2 - I'm a rook down and my queen is under attack. So I have to win something or make a big threat.
Qxd4 - I have two pawns for an exchange (material is equal) and his rook on c2 is under attack. White has no immediate threats.
This seems reasonable for now. Even though there are still captures and threats (like f6! which you pointed out) the position seems fairly stable. I would actually stop calculating that line right there and check the other variation.
Rxc2+ Nxc2 - I'm a rook down and my Queen's under attack.
Qxb2+ Kd1 - I'm still down a lot of material.
Qb1+ Ke2 - Same as previous comment
Bxc2+ Kd2 - I have 3 pawns for the exchange and his king is very loose. My queen and bishop are both under attack though.
Qb3+ Kg2 - Bishop is under attack
Bxf5
I'm up material and there are no threats. Now I'll go back and check the Rxc2 Rxc2 line some more.
----
These aren't the best lines as you know, but it would be the way I would go about it. As I said above it helps me be efficient.
In positions without checks I may pause every half move. Here it was almost always move pairs, but white often didn't have much choice but to move the king.
... of course in time trouble you have to be a little more stream of consciousness with instincts guiding you. But in critical positions or when things get fuzzy I like this method. I suppose the biggest difficulty is being slow, and trying to clearly visualize after each move.
Perhaps by way of some kind of therapy, I would like to examine a critical passage of play from this friendly game, played just yesterday over the board in an old library (anyone can tell you that chess should be played in an old library). My opponent has drawn the white pieces, and there's a clock: we have agreed on 50 minutes for the initial 35 moves, with a then additional 10 minutes to finish.
Black has managed to find himself a pawn up after something resembling a Najdorf Sicilian and the position suggests he has an advantage. Now, after 23.Be3-g5, Black's queen is under immediate threat and may only find shelter on e5. So why does he spend almost five minutes considering his reply?
It is a peculiar moment. Perhaps Black has spent too long poring over tactical training puzzles and somehow simply expects a forcing move to yield spectacular results, regardless of calculation. The clock is ticking and, indeed, he finds himself unable to fully complete the various lines in his mind, thereby accurately assessing the soundness of his candidate move... but plays it anyway!
23...Rxc2+?
The dramatic flourish is entirely hollow. Admirable and even innovative as it may at first appear, Black has squandered his edge. After the straightforward 24.Rxc2 Qxd4, White finds himself up the exchange with a superior ending. He has no need of 25.Qxd4? Bxd4 26.Re1 gxf6 and instead holds all the cards after the continuation 25.f6, when Black is obliged to settle for 25...Qxf2 26.Rxf2 Bf8. His idea has proven wholly insubstantial and indeed the simple 23...Qe5 was the only move.
Yet, extraordinarily, White succumbs to the drama himself! He wastes little time in offering an unconsidered reply to an unconsidered question, marking both players for the chess amateurs they are, oddly swayed by psychological constraints at the board and under the clock.
24.Nxc2?? Qxb2+ 25.Kd1
Black has no need to pause and consider how, by first tricking himself, he has now fooled his opponent: a double-self-bluff. Instead, he believes he is Kasparov.
Good fortune may now be converted into genuine brilliance when Black finds the lovely move 25...Bf3+! and the ensuing lines ensuring the capture of White's queen and with it certain victory:
But, no! He continues to miss the point and must instead be content with being down the exchange for the sake of a few pawns.
26.Qb1? Ke2 27.Bxc2+ Be3 28.Qb3
Of course, Black has a firmly winning position, but this is hardly deserved, given the remarkable flaws in his play. Tragicomically, he even goes on to lose the game in ignominious fashion, but that is another story - the very stuff of nightmares. With the above brief phase of play I simply offer an illustration of the power of human delusion over would-be chess players.
DM