Starting to miss the checks and captures

Age is beginning to catch up with me over the board. Recently I have started to make more mistakes during my games, and I suspect it is due to changes in my thinking process. In two recent games I spent a great degree of time calculating some nice forcing variations, only to then play the wrong move at the board. In one game it caused a swing of a rook (from winning the exchange to losing a piece), although the second case was not so bad (just didn't win a piece in the best way). In both cases it was caused by making the wrong choice, even though I knew what the correct choice was.
To be honest, it does not concern me greatly, as I assume it is part of the ageing process. It just means I need to be more alert to what is going on, and not rely so much on my 'automatic thinking' but to check and recheck what I am about to do.
(Without being too harsh on myself, moves 20 and 24 were the main examples, while f4 would have been strong from move 16 onwards)


Press,Shaun - Rojahn,Jack [B23]
Murphy Memorial, 12.05.2015

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Be3 Ne7 7. Qd2 Bd7 8. Nge2 e5 9. Bh6 O-O 10. h4 Bc6 11. h5 Qe8 12. hxg6 fxg6 13. Bxg7 Kxg7 14. Qh6+ Kf6 15. Qh4+ Kf7 16. Qxh7+ Kf6 17. O-O-O Qf7 18. Qh4+ Kg7 19. g4 Na6 20. Qh7+ Kf6 21. g5+ Ke6 22. Bh3+ Nf5 23. exf5+ gxf5 24. Qxf7+ Rxf7 25. Rhg1 Bf3 26. Rde1 Rh8 27. Bg2 Bc6 28. Nf4+ Kd7 29. Nfd5 Nb4 30. Rh1 Rxh1 31. Rxh1 Rg7 32. Nf6+ Kc7 33. Bxc6 Nxc6 34. Ne8+ 1-0