# You Will Appreciate the Beauty of the Game > Another managerial duel, another experiment: emotion instead of composure, AI instead of the draw. I lost, but loved every moment. The game is what matters! - Canonical page: https://shorin.me/en/blog/2025/09/krasota-igry/ - Page language: English - Published: 2025-09-15 - Tags: Networking, Negotiation - Russian version: https://shorin.me/blog/2025/09/krasota-igry/index.md Leave the reckoning of my sins for another day; appreciate the beauty of the game © On Saturday, I once again took part in a [managerial duel](https://shorin.me/en/blog/2025/07/poedinki/index.md). I was matched with the experienced Евгений Басюк, who immediately invited me to choose the scenario. I do not like doing that – I prefer my opponent to choose. So I made a knight's move: I uploaded the scenario bank and the records of both his previous duels and mine to ChatGPT, then asked it to find a scenario suited to our level. The AI delivered its verdict: “To spec, or the right way?” I recorded a video of our conversation and sent it to Евгений, who approved the choice. It turned out that the AI had chosen the most frequently played scenario. Many participants were dismayed: “What else is there left to come up with?” That made it a challenge. I spent a long time thinking it through and discussing it with my second. Eventually, I came up with a brilliant idea. I invented an entire alternative universe in which my opponent was a brilliant scientist whose work was so advanced that writing a specification for it was impossible. No one wrote Edison a specification for inventing the light bulb! In my version, Евгений therefore used his doctoral thesis as the specification – a document I could not understand at all. I could then bombard Евгений with facts from academia – grants, publications, conferences, titles and degrees – as well as from the startup world: “Академия инноваторов”, or the Academy of Innovators, IIDF and so on. I know both worlds inside out (see my profile). I was so fired up about my idea that I decided not to hold back during the duel and turned my emotions all the way up. Many judges have told me in their feedback that I always act very [calmly and confidently](https://shorin.me/en/blog/2024/12/spokoystvie-i-uverennost/index.md), sometimes even too much so. Duels are precisely the kind of setting where we can try different tactics in a safe environment and receive feedback from the judges. So why not try a style that does not come naturally to me and see what happens? The first round went as expected: Евгений mounted a logical attack, and I put up a logical defence. But in the second round, I put on a spectacular show. I came down on my opponent so hard that at one point he was lost for words. Unfortunately, amid all that emotion, my argument lost some of its logic. I failed to emphasise several important points, and neither my opponent nor the judges fully understood my reasoning. So, I lost. But I do not regret it in the slightest. As an [athlete](https://shorin.me/en/blog/2025/05/msu-vs-ranepa/index.md), I have won so many times in my life, and lost so many times too... After some defeats, it felt as though life was over. Yet years later, I cannot even remember what game it was or why it mattered so much to me. These days, I take games more lightly: what matters is being in the game and enjoying it. On Saturday, playing was pure joy! ## Media ![Screenshot of a Zoom session during the September online managerial duels](https://cdn.shorin.me/blog/2025/09/1757911351003.jpeg) ## Original posts - LinkedIn: