Recognize when you're playing 'hope chess'

I see people reference 'hope chess' a lot in comments, but no one posts about it so I figured I'd write a short note.

I've spent the past year climbing from 900 rapid up to 1200, so I'm still very much a beginner but the biggest thing that has helped my strategy in the middle game is just asking myself "OK, but what if he/she doesn't?"

A lot of players at my level (and in the low 1000s) like to play by trying to set traps or fool the opponent by being sneaky or offering a trade that they think is automatic. But if your opponent can recognize it and not fall for it, you're often left in a bad position or with hanging pieces. https://kodi.bio/

So when you think you're setting a sneaky trap or preparing a tactic, just take a minute to ask yourself, "OK, but what if he doesn't? What's the most damaging move he could play here to blow up my plan? Can he ignore my trap completely and just attack me instead, or play a different piece?"

If you do this in the high triple- and low four-digits, you will notice a huge difference in the way you are evaluating your plan and setting up your attack. Hope this helps!

lol you stole this straight from reddit. at least give credit to the OP