I wish I didn't have to read crap like this after playing a few bad games. Did this poster congratulate me on winning the European Individual title, or tying 1st( chess-wise)in the World Senior, or for my results at Hastings or The Mind Sport finals, or the IOM, or at Cannes? He certainly did not.Jonathan Rogers wrote:
In retrospect one would have had Plaskett in the team instead of Keith but that really is using the benefit of hindsight. Keith might still do better next time around.
I got my place on merit, having, quite frankly, played well pretty much none-stop for 11 months. In this same event last year both myself and Jim played in the team, on boards one and two:
http://www.chess-results.com/tnr140160. ... =821&snr=2
My job, in round 4, was to try to win on board 4 against Slovakia, because the only other player with White, John Nunn, had been ill, and so we were lucky he could play at all. I failed. End of story. After that one game it turns out that gold was out of our reach however we had performed. That is the problem when there are 2 or 3 teams much stronger than the rest. It comes down to just one or two key games, just as had been the case in Vilnius last year.