Our chess community

Chess Ninja is right when he says that we must raise awareness. But the awareness we must raise is not the abuses only. The awareness that also need to be raised is that we are a community.

When I was the coach in Asean, I paired every senior player with a junior. I told them that the success of this outing is also dependent on the weakest amongst us. The kids saw that and I feel proud that they all did their part.

Our struggle to get our community on its feet must not degenerate into character assasination. It needs to be based on issues. That means if Hamid does something right we must defend him. If Greg does something right we must also do the same. This was also my message to PICA. If they want the bad publicity to stop, then do the right thing. Stop the abuses.

But we have a distance yet to travel. Let me tell you a real story. When Mark was still U12, there was another boy who was one year older and at that time a stronger chess player. In many open tournaments they competed. This boy was also the son of a high ranking PICA official who himself is a strong chess player. When Mark was abused by the officials this boy will protect Mark. And they became close friends. But Mark was catching up with the boy. Match fixing was never proven but I remember the boy going up to Mark and telling him that Mark was really the stronger player despite him winning the tournaments. We understood what he meant. The pairings and results seem off too many times. Over the years this boy dropped off from chess and I heard he since became highly unpopular with the kids. I often wonder what happened to that gentle boy I knew who became a bully. In my personal estimation they were about equally gifted but this boy was not allowed to win his own battles. Every win in his mind was not his and he lost his self confidence.

There are many elements to this story. I went to his fathers office when I was in PICA. I tried to tell him that it was the fixed tournaments that killed off his son's interest in chess. Now, I have no doubt that this man loves his son but he was not aware of the consequence of his actions. He was not aware of his responsibility as an official and he was not aware that chess can give his son the gift of confidence.

Can you imagine how he would feel if he came to that awareness after supporting the abuse for so many years? If he begins to realise that he was partly responsible for how his son turned out? Do you think he will resist any attempt to stop the abuses? Is he a "bad" person? What do you think will happen if he is continuously made aware when he sees other parents bringing up strong kids from healthy competition? Does this explain why PICA officials and many Perak players almost never leave Perak to go to tournaments? How can we help them if we truly care about the chess players in Perak? In fact how can we help these type of officials who are not necessarily "bad" but more misguided? We can only be as strong as our weakest link.

So it is not just the love of the game and of our children that can bind us. It is also our awareness of our individual role that will make this community work.

I see the very same people who cry abuse from the officials then go to fixed tournaments, the same people who complain about MCF continue to sponsor them. So it is about our own self awareness. Stop pointing the finger as though it is not our responsibility as well. Stop writing wish lists. Do something. However small. It is our collective consciousness, an individual at a time, that will change things.

If you vote not to go to a fixed tournament you are doing something to make change happen. If you vote not to sponsor an event unless the other partys carry their responsiblity too you are also doing something to make change happen. If you stand up for one abused kid, support one abused official that tries to do something right, change will come.

But if you just sit down and hope they will change, nothing will happen. When we become more aware that we are a community and that what happens to one of us can happen to all we will have the leadership we deserve. Right now we have the leaders we deserve. We have empowered them. So stop complaining and just do something. Be aware of how a community works. Each of us has a role. And the GM will come.