How quickly we forget.

Does anyone still remember what it was like after the last Olympiad? When they came back accusations were flying everywhere. Who screwed up etc.etc.

Do you remember our chess scene before SEA games selection? Was it even a fraction as lively as it is now? So what was the tipping point?

I submit that the tipping point was on that train ride back from Mal/Sing Jan 2011. Not too long ago. On that train ride everyone was upbeat because we just won after 10 long years. And the parents shared. And we talked about selection. From there a small seed was planted and when we got back the movement to ask for selection had begun.

Did we not see a tremendous upsurge in energy since selection was brought in? Did we not see the rise in numbers of participants in tournaments as a direct result of having selection? But they forget. They now think Malaysian chess was revived out of a vacuum.

Now I submit that if we had lost, the conversation on the train would have been very different. So what am I saying? I am saying we need success to unite the Malaysian chess community. We can have the conversation after the last Olympiad or we can have the conversation after Mal/Sing.

The talk after victory and the talk after defeat is very different.

We now have some initiative and forward momentum. But as we know from chess, that can very quickly go up in smoke from a misstep.

Mal/Sing was partly an accident. Just the right confluence of energy and perhaps some mistakes from the opposite side. So to go forward we need a plan. And a plan needs energy to move.

What I am also saying is if we reverse selection now, we will lose that energy. We will lose momentum and lose the opportunity. Think about it MCF. It is not too late to reverse this mistake. It's still before the move. The move is completed at the start of NC 2012. There is still time to make a power move, a power decision.