Questions about the Melaka event.

Here.

Before I talk about more about a possible change in leadership in MCF, I would like to do a small academic exercise here. Lets use the upcoming Melaka event.

Some background. The last Malaysian Open in 2011 was a milestone of sorts. What happened as reported to me was that Dato Tan told Hamid and Najib that if they wanted to have the event they will have to write the proposals and do the lobbying themselves. Dato Tan will just do the introductions. This was the beginning of a new learning curve for them. Nothing wrong there. Learn to fish.

The next major event was the Asian Amateur. Now from this event it became very apparent how much money can be made from an International event if you know how.

But if you now combine the learning from the 2 events there is the possibility that certain people in MCF may suddenly see the way to the really big bucks. Now is that good or bad?

Lets look closer. MCF is an NGO. It cannot legally make profits. All profits must be ploughed back to the organisation to fund the development of chess in Malaysia. Therefore all funds must go into an MCF account. And I have argued that the surpluses be accumulated to pay working officials in MCF. Why do I say that?

If this does not happen, then there is the very strong possibility of corruption. MCF officials cannot profit directly from an event. This will lead to conflicts of interest and abuse of authority. Officials may now only want their position in order to secure private deals and profits.

If this happens it will be wrong and probably illegal. So the proper structure for the Melaka event is that it is given to a private enterprise like Datcc for instance. Datcc now gives a endorcement fee to MCF and into MCF accounts. And MCF now pays their officials a salary. That is the transparent manner of doing things.

If not there maybe corruption. But of course this is only an academic exercise to see how an NGO should work. I am sure MCF officials know the law and will never be caught doing anything illegal.

MCF is supposed to develop chess in Malaysia. It is not for the officials to privately profit. If they want to profit from chess they must form private enterprises but then they must either step down from their official post or not be party to decisions with conflicts of interest if they are to remain.

If that happens Malaysian chess can be properly developed with focus on all important aspects. Tournaments are important of course but equally important and maybe more important are developing Malaysians that can stand tall in International events and with a fighting chance to win the top prizes.

In my mind the tournament cannot be deemed a success if the foreign field walks away with all the top prizes and certain "officials" walk away with the rest of the money and MCF gets nothing except only Fide fees which goes directly to Fide.

For success we need MCF to do what MCF is supposed to do ie development,training and organise select National interest tournaments. And private enterprise to do what they are supposed to do ie to bring in extra resources and expertise beyond the ability of Associations. Doesnt that make more sense?

Question. Can you now see why the Asean training in 2010 was such a landmark? The first proper training by a GM for juniors before International representation. And why do you think it was attacked so intensely? Could it be because it was a distraction from making money by certain officials? But not the legal way. Not the proper way. Is more light starting to shine on our problems?

But of course Melaka wont be like that. This is just an academic exercise. It hasnt and it wont happen like that I am sure. There is wisdom within MCF.

Time for a dragon leader in MCF?

Change of leadership in MCF is in the hands of the State affiliates. And this change can come from an AGM. Maybe even the next AGM. So I hope the State Representatives will consider my arguments here.

Within the MCF context, the change that can have the most immediate if not profound impact is the change right at the very top ie The Presidency. In actuality power is fairly evenly distributed to all elected committee members but Malaysian culture generally defer to the very top. So it is here that I suggest we begin looking.

Past wisdom dictated that the President is someone with access to funding and sponsorships. And so our past Presidents were selected on that basis. Today I will argue that this assumption may be flawed. I think a very necessary other ingredient is a powerful vision. And we need that President to be able to transmit that vision to the rank and file. Ergo we need the head to wag the tail and not vice versa.

I hope we can start thinking about this today. Like I said all we need is 10 minutes more of thinking time to change our fortunes for the better but this isn't going to happen unless there is good leadership.

If we are not careful, I believe all our successes from last year to date can be reversed. So lets not rest on our laurels. If you like what has been happening in Malaysian chess for the last one year or so, with the upsurge of interest and energy, I ask that you help complete the change and move our fortunes forwards (not backwards)

I will talk more on this subject later and perhaps throw in a few names to help kick start further deliberation and consideration.

Today's Contemplation.

Fear of failure and fear of the unknown are always defeated by faith. Having faith in yourself, in the process of change, and in the new direction that change sets will reveal your own inner core of steel.

-- Georgette Mosbacher

Lesson 101 in how to actively undermine baby tiger dragons.

The first way is the most obvious and much talked about here. That is of course via the selection process or banning.

All coaches and trainers want to increase their prestige by claiming to have a strong national player in their stable of players. It's a testimony of the success of their system. Nothing wrong with that if done the right way.

But there are some who are so desperate that they will try to force players to stay with them when they have obvious failings. And the method they use is via the selection process or banning. "Try to leave my stable or not kowtow to me and I will not select you or I will ban you from whichever sphere I have influence in". Now this is obviously wrong, isn't it?

The other way is not by brute force but by subtle manipulation of fears. "Join me and I will ensure that you are selected even if you are not the strongest player. I will manipulate the system or do side deals. I will help you to have fat fide rating with my means and use that as a basis for selection. Plus I will do lots of side promotions and selected showcase tournaments so other people are fooled". Sound familiar?

In the first method the players are eventually broken or just leave chess. In the second they are they are brought so far from reality that they eventually become cannon fodder in tough International competitions.

We can reverse our fortunes by ensuring there are no shortcuts, no backdoor entry. The proper way is fighting through tough local tournaments, tough selection. Go through proper and tough training by coaches and trainers who know how to be tough and yet nurturing. And the saplings will become Oak trees.

We need both proper selection as well as an end to arbitrary banning so that this can happen. This simply will ensure that the focus is now turned to improving their skills. Not knocking off the others players in order to hide their own inadequacies.

Can you see why the things that are happening around you now is happening? Can you see why we are now so so far behind our neighbours in chess? We are but 10 minutes from changing this. We have selection. Now we need to stop unscrupulous organisers from arbitrary bans.

Evidence of game change?

Farouqi beats IM Mas. Here.

Is this the evidence of changes coming from bringing in selection? I like to think so. Lets see what happens when we remove unreasonable banning. Will more success come? Is it worth a shot?

Results of Kelantan Close. Here.

Sabah just completed their selection for National Close. I believe with selection a new energy was released in Malaysian chess.

Game changer.

I hope you will really think about this post. I will attempt to explain how we can get the Associations to really support the development of chess in Malaysia. It's just 2 steps to our own GM's and super GM's.

1. Get proper written selection criteria for representation for State or Country.

2. Remove the power for arbitrary banning of players from any tournament.

The first we already have at the National level. It is not perfect but its a beachhead all the same. Let me explain why.

Think about this. Why was there so much resistance to such a reasonable demand as written selection? Did you see the attacks on the people and bloggers who asked for selection? Why such deep anger and fear? Let me postulate a little here.

Lets visualise 2 scenario's.

The first. We have leaders who know how to bring us success; if we now have leaders who are busy building on that vision of our own GM, would they take out so much energy to resist what is purely common sense?

Why do you need the power to ban without any proper grounds? Why not just have some basic rules to determine the policy and procedures? I estimate about 10 minutes worth of thinking here to get a simple draft out. Why nothing for 30 years? That is the big big question now isn't it?

So lets visualise the second scenario. Now if we have leaders with no ideas on how to develop us, how would they behave? They have no answers but they want to be leaders. What powers will they need to control both the players and the parents from asking legitimate questions? Especially the parents. What buttons will they need to control them? Yes. It is simple. Attack their child so they don't dare to openly ask questions. Reduce them to whispering in dark corners. Sound familiar?

These 2 tools have been used to keep Malaysian chess backwards for 30 years. I have seen many many strong players broken by the lack of those 2 simple rules. And frightened parents brought to heel.

We now have selection, brought to you from the pain and sweat of the few that dared to fight for it. And so we are now just one small 10 minute step from turning our fortunes around. Just one more step.

Insist on proper policies and procedures for banning. Get rid of the abuse by unscrupulous people. Right now they can ban if they don't like your face, don't like your questions, don't like the fact that you are not rich, dont like the fact that you are richer than them, don't like your smell or your colour; If they don't like that you play better chess than their students or their children etc etc.

Now do you see why we are so backward? Instead of supporting the strong players, they use these tools to support their weak ones. Dont select the strong players, ban them if necessary.... "I don't need to give a reason. It is my prerogative".

One more step and 2012 will indeed be the year when Tiger dragons will be born in Malaysia. What say you? Do you want that change? Just one more step and we can turn 30 years of failure into success. We just need someone in MCF to spend 10 minutes on this problem of the correct basis for banning.

ps: Do note that it is usually the strong that are not selected, banned etc. The weak have already kowtowed in order to be selected (in the past at National level but still the same in one State at least that I know of). Like I said earlier, the moment you kowtow to unreasonable demands/fears you are no longer tiger dragons. Does that make sense? Isn't that the definition of being broken against your will or better judgement?

The coming of selection has already shown up some successes. The first junior in the senior team, fighting IM's and players who bring us medals, etc etc etc.

Now we need the last game changing step. Just one more step to responsible officials and Malaysian success in chess. Stop the abuse of power of banning of players without grounds.

With these 2 steps in place, we will see that Malaysian GM. Either believe me or ask MCF for their solution. And then compare the answers.

Dragon CNY musings.

In the beginning the Maharajahs invented chess to teach the nobility and top generals the art of war without having to go to war itself.

Chess teaches strategy and tactics. But within those lessons it also teaches much more. It teaches the nature of opportunity. It teaches the consequence of actions lead by fear. It teaches discipline, training and planning when you reach the level where you ask the question, how do I win? So chess teaches a lot of what we need to succeed in business and life.

But if you look even closer you will see that chess needs to be in the hands of the noble for it to retain its character or it's partial lessons can easily be turned to create strive and destroy from within.

I am sure the Maharajah's intention was to build. It was not a weapon meant to destroy their own citizens or empires.

We have but to look at the history of MCF to see what happens when chess is taken over and lead by ill equipped sergeant's without vision, knowledge or guidance.

What happens when the sergeant thinks he is the Maharajah or even worse, when he begins to think he is the empire itself?

Today's Contemplation.

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.

-- Buddha

Editors note: Does this saying have any bearing on chess? I wonder.

Kid stuff

Here.

Oliver Barbosa becomes Philippines 3rd super GM

Here.

What have they got that we haven't? Why can't we even get one GM? What is their Associations doing that we are not doing? Do they have more resources than us? Do they have more talent than us? What has gone wrong?

We need to ask MCF these questions and MCF need to find us the answers.

Training Tiger Dragons- What Not To Do.

We know we need a Vision and we know we need a plan. We know we need fearless players who will do the training and take the fight to their opponents.

So what mustn't we do? This is fairly obvious if we take a second to look. We don't need another 30 years to see the answer.

We must not use belligerence and threats to beat down our own players. We do not harangue them till they apologise to shadows. We do not attack them just because they try new forms of training. You do not try to ban them just because you cannot develop strong players yourselves. We do not try to break them and have them kowtow to unscrupulous individuals.

Why?

Because when you rob them of their dignity, their integrity, their ability to reason and to trust their own judgement then we do not have tiger dragons anymore. It's as simple as that. When we inject unreasonable fears into our own players we are destroying our own future.

Now I wonder why some of you cannot see that? I also wonder what we are to do with you if you cannot change and insist on destroying our players rather than building them up.

Training Tiger Dragons: Everytime I train, I may die...

About 2 weeks back I spent an evening with an old friend Omar. He is a man of wide experience, well travelled and a photographer. He was telling me of his conversations and his photographing of some great names in F1 etc.

One conversation he mentioned made me sit up. I think he was quoting Valentino Rossi who said every time he went to practice he takes the attitude that he may die. That was his dedication to his craft at the cutting edge.

To me you only train when you think you can win, when you believe in yourself, when you are confident and willing to pay the price.

Malaysian chess needs to look at training for it to prosper. That is the only way for tiger dragons to be born.

Dragon quote.

"If you want to build a ship,don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Happy Year of the Dragon.

May we build many tiger dragons this year.

Dragon food for thought.

Here.

Without a Vision man perishes.

It's the same for Organisations and Countries. A vision sets a direction. So what do you want to be when you finally grow up MCF? And how will you get there?

The Vision is normally set at the top. Maybe this is the problem. I hear MCF is due for an AGM. So I hope all the representatives to that AGM will put some thought to this. Let 2012, the year of the dragon be a new year where we finally set a direction for success.

Wake up MCF!

Stop hiding your head in the sand. See what is happening around you. The time where the warlords ruled is coming to an end. Malaysians are asking for transparency and accountablity. Even Ministers are asked to account. Do not think you are above it all.

We have always marketed chess as the thinking man's game. Well the marketing and the reality do not jive. Chess should be at the forefront of change. A bastion of reasoning. You are not doing justice to a noble game.

MCF is not one man. MCF is an organisation with committee members which are mandated to make decisions on behalf of the Associations who in turn are responsible to its members which is the chess playing public.

Stop twisting the rules so you can give power to your unscrupulous organisers illegally. Stop trying to oust committee members that want improvements by "fixing" them. Get your accounts in order. Make sure every cent is accounted for or you may regret your actions later. Stop trying to knock out strong players because they have answers your "academy" doesn't have.

Instead improve yourself.

Wake up MCF! You are there to lead by serving the public.

A thinking article.

I really like this article. I believe these are the type of thinkers chess can produce. I still harbour those hopes.

Here.

Why Peter Long?

A few posts ago, I asked why do you think it is Peter Long that is announcing "MCF policies" despite the fact he is not in MCF and MCF has no such policies?

Ref: Here.

Let us see if we can work this out today. I think it is quite patently obvious that MCF cannot endorse a policy that bans any player without proper grounds.

So they need a fall guy. And who else but Peter can possibly think he has the right to create National policies? But there also needs to be some measure of collusion within MCF for this to occur. Someone within MCF is "secretly" assisting Peter in subverting MCF. Corruption?

This situation bears closer inspection. I am told that MCF had a recent meeting post the announcement of that irregularity on this blog. Lets wait and see what has transpired and if that meeting endorses the move now that it has been made public. I trust it will be properly minuted.

Dato Tan Chin Nam, a story of 2 seeds.

Like many people in Malaysian Chess, I puzzled over why we have lagged so far behind our neighbours. Dato Tan was at the helm for so many years. If he could not solve the issues then to my mind it cannot be a simple problem.

Someone confronted me at the last National Junior. He told me not to be another Peter Long and be critical of Dato Tan. In that moment a penny dropped. But before I comment on the conversation, lets agree on one thing first. Our performance, the results of MCF is not stirling.

So here's the conversation in a nutshell. I said Dato was instrumental in planting 2 chess seeds. One in Malaysia and one in China. In the beginning Malaysian players were sent to China to introduce the game. Or so I'm told.

But in China, the game grew, they became world champions and in Malaysia we went the other way. So what does this tell us? To me one seed was planted on fertile soil and that seed grew into an Oak tree. And the other seed fell on barren land.

So who is responsible for tending to the seed? For the nurturing, to add the fertilisers, to water and to pull out the weeds? As opposed to pulling out the saplings. See what I mean?

To me the answer lies with the 2 Federations. With the officials. So my answer to that man who confronted me is; I do not blame Dato Tan. He planted the seeds. That was a noble effort.

It is the people who were/are supposed to tend to the seedlings, the saplings that have failed. Not him.

So lets look at ourselves instead of finger pointing or finding cheap excuses. Lets turn our minds to finding solutions and pulling out the weeds. Not the saplings.

The sum of your work.

To live your life with the weight of a feather or the weight of a mountain. Your legacy. The results you leave behind. This is what this is about.

In the end, history only remember the results. People will come and go but the result stays. I think the crowning result will be for the people who have contributed to a strong chess community. The rest is just sound and fury signifying nothing and will soon be forgotten.

The people who had fought for and supported selection will be remembered by future generations of chess players in Malaysia. At least for that one small step.

What does the current committee of MCF want to be remembered for? Or not remembered.

Be bold. Go for the sky. We have the talent. What we need now is the will of right thinking officials. Lets get out of the pettiness, the narrow mindedness and selfish interests.

Musings

Authority given must be explicit. The Authority cannot come because the rest are too lazy to have a meeting or someone is blocking a proper meeting to discuss MCF affairs.

That is basic governance. So where is the authority for Peter Long, who is outside of MCF even, to dictate National policy coming from? This is real strange isn't it?

Ignatius Leong visits Myanmar and SEA games 2013

Here.

One small step.

It is just one more small step to changing our fortunes forever and put Malaysia on a strong footing to competitive chess.

All we need is one good meeting. The Agenda would be how MCF will deal with International Tournaments and it's organisers, how MCF will deal with organisers of National Tournaments? What are the acceptable procedures?

Then walla, no more confusion. How long has MCF been in existence? Why is it that a meeting of this nature has never taken place?

MCF is not one man. It is the entire committee. Any decision made is from authority given by every member of that committee whether they like it or not. And MCF is to serve the Malaysian chess players. It's so simple.

So one more small step. We already have selection. That is a powerful step forward. Now lets have another small step that will unleash our potential. Let MCF have that meeting with the full committee. And if that full committee now says that MCF does not need funds from the big organisers to fund other events like training etc; that it is OK to ban without grounds, then so be it. But let that decision be minuted.

And let the full MCF speak. Not one man. The committee is mandated, not one man unless there are too many grey areas.

One more full meeting, one more step. Can we do it?

All that M's....

What do we tell our kids? Forget the M's. I do not care if the player in front of you is an FM, an IM or a GM. I want you to play your best. Play with courage and trust your judgment. Play fair and within the rules. Is that what you say too?

But what do you think happens when they see that we do not have the courage to tell MCF or the organisers that what they are doing is wrong?

I have a question for you. Why do you think it is Peter Long that is setting new national policies? Why do you think Peter doesnt have the guts to have proper procedures and then state the grounds for his banning? Why does he need to say he never got the application from the player? The answer to these questions will shine a light on the issue. So do think on it.

So if you ever said to your kid, play fighting chess. Play with courage and trust your judgement. Then we too must speak our minds. Within the rules and with fairness. But speak our minds we must. Without fear or favour. Then our GM will come.

A professional MCF.

Without doubt a professional MCF will change our fortunes in a big way. But how can this be done? That is the million dollar question. So let me take a stab at finding some answers.

MCF is an NGO. An NGO cannot exist for profit. That is illegal. So how will this work?

As I mentioned earlier, a solution is to pay those committee members who are working. A way would be to salary them and to pay for cetain expenses. And that fund can come in part from big organisers.

But big organisers can come with strings. Look at what Peter is doing. He is actually telling MCF what he wants national policies and procedures to be. Strange but true. So how can this happen? And how can that type of abuse be placed in check?

OK, we now come to the nuts and bolts. The key to the whole thing lies with the Secretary position. This is how it works. So read carefully.

The power of the Secretary lies in these areas. First he controls the calling of meetings. He also controls the Agenda and minutes. This most of us know. But his real power lies in making out of sitting decisions.

Now what is that? This is how it works. If there is no call for regular meetings with a proper agenda, then there are no minuted decisions. No policies and no proper guidelines.

Note: The Secretary cannot go against minuted guidelines and policies. He can only move in the grey areas.

So without it explicitly stated he has executive powers outside of meetings. Are you starting to see? No national policies on who participants can be, no policies on enrolment quailifications and prodedures etc etc. The more grey areas the more powerful the Secretary. Why? Because when the committee is not sitting and have not set out clear criteria, he is BOSS.

This leave the Secretary a lot of room to make deals. He can educate you on how to play the loopholes. He can delay meetings, influence agendas etc.

So the very first step to a professional MCF is to state clearly what the Secretary's role is. Also to have proper guidelines and policies. Once those are in place, we will have an ordered and professional MCF. So have those meetings to clear up the confusion by removing the grey areas and 2012 will see Malaysian Chess move another step forward.

Private Organisers need to pay endorsement fee to MCF.

It's a simple truth that MCF cannot run without petrol. So I have suggested that big organisers need to pay more than just the Fide fees. Big organisers come with big sponsors and so they can afford to pay a premium.

Without solving this and allowing MCF to have the funds to pay its working officials, then I cannot see how we can resolve the mysterious ways things are done now.

So what is a tournament?

A tournament is just a showcase. It tells us whether we were succesful or we failed in some area.

Lets take a national tournament like the National Rapids. This tournament will tell us which State Associations has been sleeping or have failed and which ones have done the work. Lets use 2 States as examples. Perak and Penang.

In Perak's case we will probably see the neglect of the State from the players representing. In all probability you will find that the strong players are those that made it despite the obstacles placed by the State Association. So the Associations way out is to try to make sure that those players don't show them up by playing. In any case it will still be a showcase because if they dont play, the State won't do well.

Penang will probably be showcasing the products of well thought out strategies for improvement and the sheer hard work that went into it.

The tournament also showcases the products of the trainers, the chess academies (or even just the parent's sheer hard work and success in finding the winning formula. Look at the Azman Hisham family, the Azhar Said family. Amazing results). For chess academies look at Chess Kidz (although from Singapore) for an example.

In International events our players showcase the success of the strategies of MCF as the national conductor of all of the above.

So a tournament is just a showcase. Now do you understand more why they try so hard for representation without selection? Why they harp on ratings as basis for selection? Why they need to ban without justification? Why the Associations want the power to hide the strong players despite their neglect, from public view?

Tournaments showcases the success or failure of the Associations, the Academies, the training methods etc.

This is the main reason why Peter Long cannot be allowed to succeed in dictating national guidelines. But its really up to MCF isnt it? So lets see if the strides of last year were driven by the desire to improve Malaysian chess or it was just an attempt to secure the power base of a certain official. The future of Malaysian chess waits to see the answer.

What is our measure of success?

Why do I harp on the players? Go and look at the video below again.

So how do we measure the success of MCF? How do we measure the success of any State Association? How do we measure the success of a Chess Academy?

The simple answer is the strength of the chess players their system produces. It's that simple. Let me repeat. The measure is with the players.

Are you starting to understand why certain people are against proper guidelines? Why they need the power to ban arbitrarily, to put in systems of enrolment where they can say that they did not recieve the enquiries of players they feel threatened by?

If they do not have these arbitrary powers, what do you think they will be forced to do? I think the answer is fairly obvious. They will now simply have to figure out how to train strong players of their own. They will not need to waste so much time figuring how to ban players that are stronger than the one they can produce.

So again, it about the players. Our success as a chess nation can be moved forward only if we produce strong players. And I mean strong players who play fighting chess.

What is the goal? What is the plan?

When we ask these questions, is it only for the chessboard? What about the bigger picture? Does it matter?

Lets say the goal is to have strong players from Malaysia taking our proper place in International Events, our own GM, more of our own medal winners outside of the age group events.

What is the plan? Dont you think proper guidelines and well run events as well as proper training are important factors to fulfil that goal?

So why does MCF continue to support rogue Associations and Organisers that continue to victimize players? We need proper guidelines and the will to enforce them to get the renegades in line with the goal.

We should seize 2012 and move one more step forward towards that goal. Not move backwards and continue the malign that has kept us backwards for so many many years.

What is this about? What are you waiting for?

Look at the player's faces. It's about them and their sacrifices for the game. Look at their faces and remember what this is all about.

A struggle for power. KLCA vs MCF

Ref: Here.

How come it is Peter Long that states that local players must be members of a State Association? There is no such MCF guideline. This is so strange that the New Deputy President is asking for a meeting to clarify those assertions and to lay down MCF guidelines for these tournaments.

There are good reasons why that sort of power is not given to State Associations and I covered a lot on it last year. Until the State Associations stop their abuse of power, MCF needs to retain the ability to enable players who are victimised to continue playing chess without reference to the State. More so for National Chess players.

Also note that Peter is again trying last year's trick. The procedure for enrolment is via email again. Last year after the "banning" of a player, Peter said in Jimmy's blog that he never received the application from "the player". This of course side steps the issue. The parent or another chess academy can make the application. There is no need for the player themselves to make the application. The actual issue is, can an organiser ban without proper grounds? And who determines what those grounds are?

The proper process is a bank account published and payment made to it. If the organiser has solid grounds to ban, then a written explanation must be given to the player and simultaneously referred to MCF to justify the banning.

And this case is even more serious than KL Open. National rapid and blitz is an MCF event and so it cannot fall into the hands of unprincipled organisers.

So now we have Peter/KLCA telling MCF how he wants things done. Can KLCA dictate National policy? There is of course more but I will reveal it later. So I will leave you with a question here.

Is KLCA a real Association or is it a dummy organisation meant to serve a business concern? This is an important question so do think on it.

Malaysia's top 100 rated players.

Here.

2012 New Year Resolution.

I will think the things, say the things and do the things that will move us forward.

I will not think the things, say the things or do the things that keep us in the same place; stagnant and defeated while there is still so much play on the board.

2012- Training of the Dragons.

What is the way forward? How do we get our Champions, more medal winners, our own GM?

In every field of sports the players are trained before they enter the arena of battle. Knowledge gaps are measured, skills are developed and they play with a winners mind set.

This is what we need to move forward. Trained warriors. The training needs to be adapted to our special conditions. We cannot import the Chinese system, Indian system etc. We need a Malaysian system. But one that is not inferior to other systems. We need to first think how this can be done and then we need to implement this.

Then we will see new Malaysian dragon tigers. Happy 2012. Another year of progress, another step forward.