Kotov syndrome

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In chess, Kotov syndrome is a phenomenon first described in Alexander Kotov's 1971 book Think Like a Grandmaster. It occurs when a player thinks very hard for a long time in a complicated position, but does not find a clear path. The player then notices he is running low on time, and so quickly makes a move, often a terrible one that was not analyzed at all, and so loses the game. Once so described, many players have agreed that the process is very common.