FGM banned from all MCF events.

When there was that outburst by a parent in Mal/Sing there were whisperings amongst the juniors that the man's son has played the last game for Malaysia. That has been the culture in Malaysian chess. Actually there was a much more serious event that happened during Mal/Sing. A senior player who was also representing a sponsor threatened to demoralise the entire contingent by objecting to the incentives earlier announced to the players on the last day of the event. Now remember that this was the time when we were trailing badly. I asked that man to shut up during the players meeting.

And yet there is no mention of this outburst on the blogs. This was a far more serious event.

My point. It is the sick culture that we have that is preventing us from getting that GM. Chess is a game of reasoning, of thinking. We have to understand what it takes to win and then prepare ourselves for it.

You cannot shout at your opponent and then say you cannot play that line or else I lose. You cannot shut your mind to reasoning and then hope to win.

Look at the thinking pattern of the people who shout in this blog and others. They take things out of context and then they spin into never never land. An irrational guy even went the distance and talked about how other countries wont fix a match with Malaysia when what I talked about is the heartache of parents over a handphone ringing incident that lead to the "throwing" of a game.

Sheesh, if these are our strong players and all they have are this tactics, then we deserve to lose in International Tournaments. If they cannot see that the purpose of the Olympiads is to play chess and not to sell books or make business deals then we are doomed for another 30 years in the wilderness.

If we cannot bring forward suggestions/possible solutions in a reasoned manner then we have not understood the lessons of chess.

I had a heart to heart with Greg in Mal/Sing and in my recent meeting in KL. He tells me that there are people who think that I should be fixed. But what is their motive? Is it for the betterment of chess?

This culture of fear is bad. Inappropriate outbursts at the wrong place is not good either. Being so selfish as to have no consideration for the welfare of the Malaysian contingent is far worse. And I see no public apology from this senior.

We can only progress by thinking about the roadblocks to where we want to go. And solving them one by one.

We are not teaching our kids to be gangsters. We are trying to teach them to be brave, to trust their ability to make good judgements despite their fears. We are trying to teach them to be great leaders for a better tomorrow.

I am still here. I am not stupid. If I did not think there is hope for the new MCF I would have shut down this site a long time ago. I would have taken Mark out of chess a long time ago if the best examples we have of our great chess players are people who can behave no better than gangsters.

Perhaps it is these people who should go. They have poisoned the well for long enough.

ps: And there are those who shelter in chess to abuse the kids. What do we about them?