Clash of the junior titans.

They say when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. We have witnessed our Junior IM killers over the last few tournaments. Yeoh Li Tian also took down an IM at Penang Open and came in 5th place.

And they also say, diamonds are made under pressure and iron sharpen iron. Since the coming in of selection for both juniors and seniors, there are no more backdoor entries. We are also seeing the return of the "lost" generation back into Malaysian tournaments. Players like Abel Yap, Nicholas Cheah, Loo Swee Leong, Fadzil Nayan, Kamaluddin Yusof etc. are back in the fight and getting stronger and stronger.

Now all have the chance to represent the Country. It is now about chess and not politics. This is good for Malaysian Chess. We started this year with a bang, with an emphatic win over Singapore and we are ending it well too. The last big tournament of the year is the National Juniors.

If we can keep this forward momentum, soon we will see new faces in the senior squad. Increased internal competition means our players are conditioned for tough International Tournaments and hopefully we wont hear stories of luke warm play from our players in the future anymore.

And we will be one more step closer to our very own GM.