Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Jimmy's review

Jimmy's negative review. Read here. Never is a long time. Have you given up? Not only for yourself but everyone else too? What are you trying to contribute?
Posted by at
Labels:

9 comments:

  1. abdoossOctober 6, 2010 at 3:02 PM

    Jimmy has been in for along time, while juggling chess, career and family at one go. He has seen it all.

    while I'm not trying to be an apologist for him, maybe it is time for us to contribute more.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Chess NinjaOctober 6, 2010 at 4:02 PM

    I am not trying to make excuses for Jimmy, but you are taking what he said at face value. While I agree never is a long time, let me recount this joke to put things into perspective:

    Before the World Cup, the Prime Minister of Japan went to the temple and asked God, "When will Japan win the World Cup?". God replied, "In 50 years". The Prime Minister cried because he could not see Japan win the World Cup in his lifetime.

    The Korean Prime Minister also did the same thing, and God replied "In 70 years". He too, cried because he will not see Korea win the World Cup in his lifetime.

    Similarly, the Malaysian Prime Minister visited God (Can I use Allah, if I am not Muslim?), and asked, "When will Malaysia win the World Cup?" This time, God cried, because it will never happen in His lifetime.

    Why was this joke created? I am not the origin of this joke. But it sends us a message. The problem with Malaysian chess is so deeply rooted that it will take "forever" to solve. Jimmy's choice of the word "never" is a CHALLENGE to all Malaysians to prove him wrong, and should not be understood as a sign of giving up.

    For more information on how dismal Malaysia's chess progress (if it can be called progress) is , you can read my latest post:

    http://thechessninja.blogspot.com/2010/10/hunt-for-rationality.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Raymond SiewOctober 6, 2010 at 4:22 PM

    I hear you Abdooss and chess ninja. (Btw good post.) Can we agree on one thing at least? Whether we contribute big or small it doesnt matter. We do what we can. But lets do no harm. There are juniors out there reading our postings and we need to find a way to motivate them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Chess NinjaOctober 6, 2010 at 7:36 PM

    Agreed. Let us also agree that we should not hide the harsh reality from the juniors. The obstacles that they are up against are brutally harsh. As if it is not enough that the competition is stiff.

    The juniors need to understand that the local chess authorities are completely undependable. You should not expect ANYONE to support your chess "career". That is the harsh reality of the current situation.

    Some of us may think that we are "protecting" our children by not letting them know about the harsh difficulties of life but that is going in the complete opposite direction. Frankly speaking, the juniors these days are "soft". I see parents accompanying them all over the place to play chess tournaments, including the MSSM. Now, the parents even book hotel rooms for the children during MSSM so that they can sleep comfortably etc. No doubt parental support is important, but if we keep protecting the kids from the harsh realities of life, when are they going to learn to face TRUE adversity?

    Back in the day, most chess players HAVE to stay in the hostels with the rest of the team, and only 2 or 3 parents go along during the MSSM. The conditions of the hostels were shabby (probably worse than those at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi), but all the players grew from that hardship. There was only cold water in the common bathrooms. No fans in the hostels etc. Sometimes they would have to combat the bedbugs. This is what Chinese people call, "Eat bitter". When placed in such harsh conditions, these players would learn to find that other adversities much more "manageable".

    You can ask players in the olden days about who their coaches were. Many of them do not even have coaches. They all had to work hard on their own. Without the Internet, one of their main sources of chess information from the outside world was Quah Seng Sun's weekly article in the Star! Our children today are spoilt for choices in ways of helping themselves improve, yet they are not utilizing them. And whose fault is this? Whose fault is it that the children today only wait to be spoon fed by their so-called "coaches"? Somewhere along the way, we have developed a culture of dependence. If any of you junior players are reading this, why don't you do yourself a favor and go improve on your own for a little bit before you run to your coach again?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Raymond SiewOctober 6, 2010 at 8:47 PM

    I think we need to draw a line between abuse and tough. Between what can be changed and what cannot.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousOctober 7, 2010 at 8:18 AM

    I can relate to chess ninja comments on the "good old days". No resources at all. Let's not talk about coach, finding a chess book (even a lousy chess book) is extremely difficult.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Raymond SiewOctober 7, 2010 at 8:48 AM

    We need to stop dwelling in the past like old men. The way to change is by engaging the present. Just like in chess. The rest is just chatter, noise in the mind. Takes us nowhere except to a sense of depression, helplessness.

    ReplyDelete
  8. The Chess NinjaOctober 7, 2010 at 10:10 AM

    Raymond,

    People who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat their mistakes. We are not trying to dwell on the past. If you ignore it, you would have failed to learn from it.

    Why do people study history? Keep an open mind about the points that people are trying to put across. Why doesn't anyone ask how Jimmy Liew worked his own way to an IM title? Maybe we can learn a little bit from that? Or is that dwelling on the past like an old man?

    In chess, we study past games too. We study from Capablanca, Alekhine etc and every time we look through those games, there is much to be learnt from that. How can you just say that we should just engage the present. Don't be a fool. If you do not study the past, you are doomed to repeat it.

    Learning from the past is called preparation. Do you simply play chess without preparation? Can you honestly say that you have examined every single bit of how and why we have failed to stem out the current garbage? Do you even know what all the existing problems are? If you don't put it all on the table, how else can you join your favorite dots?

    People who see what we contribute as chatter have no hope of helping us anyway. Do not fall into this category. We want people to read what we write to feel angry, to feel cheated, heck, to feel something at all! To rekindle a fire within them so that they seek change. You worry too much about people falling into despair. You have grossly underestimated the Malaysian chess folk.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Raymond SiewOctober 7, 2010 at 10:44 AM

    Too many unfounded assumptions.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)