Re: WM02SF02 – French EOGS.

Stan,

I wanted to respond to certain of your comments below:

> In many ways I felt that the best performance on this table was 
Paul's. As 
> far as I can judge he was never really in any strong position 
strategically 
> or diplomatically but he hung in there, continually making the 
best of a 
> tough spot. Again I didn't like it when he left me to do the 
donkeywork 
> against England but it was the right plan for him and I was 
impressed by the 
> way he did it. If there is a slight criticism, and I mean this as 
a 
> constructive observation, it's that I sometimes felt patronised in 
the 
> messages you sent. The way you laid out your suggestions or 
commented on my 
> moves made me feel that you thought that you were talking to a 
novice. 
> Perhaps that is how you felt (and perhaps you were right to feel 
it!) but 
> it's probably not a good idea to transmit the impression! :)
> 

I certainly appreciate the recognition.  I did feel as though I was 
playing optimally for my position throughout, and until Eelco made 
his bargain with you and Jake, I still had an outside shot to win.  
Moreso than that, I felt like I was able to keep the board balanced 
throughout the game to keep my options alive.  In the end, I lost, 
but you can't win every game, and I'm still mostly proud of the way 
I played.  (I guess I'm asking now for every sort of critique, but 
oh well - let me have it.)

As to your comment about the way I communicated with you, I have to 
admit I'm still not sure why you felt patronized by my comments.  
Obviously, I wasn't intending to come off as patronizing, and it 
will have to be something I work harder to avoid in the future.  
Maybe my problem is that I play too many games in the company of 
novices (not really intentionally - it just works out that way).  My 
intent was to offer advice for moves that would fit in with my own 
expectations.  Perhaps they were obvious, but in the judge games 
I've played, I've learned not to assume anything.  Part of the 
problem may be that after good initial communication, we stopped 
talking for a good portion of the early game and never really re-
established a good rapport.  Certainly, that was a shared fault 
between us.  My only defense from my perspective is that I knew I 
couldn't make you happy about my deal with Justin and would have 
incentive to find a way to break it up.  Still, I should have put 
more effort into at least chatting once in awhile to keep the lines 
open, and perhaps that would have smoothed things a bit when we did 
start talking again more regularly.

In any case, I appreciate both the compliment and the criticism.  I 
certainly hope I can learn from the experience.

Paul of Russia






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