He may be starting to actually set up series of combination moves and plans of attack several moves in advance, and when he loses a piece that was integral to his plans, suddenly he is faced not only with the prospect of potentially losing the game (which may or may not really bother him), but with the sudden and irrevocable loss of the beautiful thing that he was building. Just finding out that it was flawed and not the marvelous and elegant strategy that he thought it was could really feel heartbreaking.
What a great point--you may well be right. I will talk to him about it, too. And yes, right, good point about congratulating him when he holds it together.
