Wow this is profound! This must be one of my main blindspot if not the main one.
I saw the check on h1 but didn't "play" it out. Dan Heisman calls this a quiescence error, i.e. you see the move but don't follow through in your analysis to see where it all ends. I started looking for ways to bring the queen to the h-file and so wanted to play f6 for black. So I ended up finding the move Qg4 with the idea to take on g3.
I am sure if the board had been flipped and one were to find a mate in three I could easily have done that. The thing is here that we're not told what the threat is, we're just told there is a threat and we're to find what it is.
I will buy this book for kindle. Thanks for showing the importance of recognizing threats, OP.
Really? I hit 2500 without any trouble before I stopped doing them.
I know a strong Class A player who can hit a very high number on tactics trainer as well. Perhaps some players can be absolutely brilliant at tactics but still need a little of this and a little of that added to their game to make it to the Expert table.