Setting you up to fail.

I have been asked by a few people why I do not organise events anymore. Let me try to explain here. I have reached the point in my life where I do not do things purely for money anymore. I only do the things that interests me. And the thing that interest me now is to understand why our extremely talented kids cannot make it to GMs. I have met and worked with a few GM'a and I am convinced that our kids can make it too.

I also enjoy the interaction with our strongest Juniors. I like the tough and intelligent questions that they ask me. And I enjoy working out the solutions with them.

So my motivation is different from others. For each their own. So you saw me organising the training for our Juniors before an International Tournament in the past. You saw me organising the Thematics. My intention was to fill the gap that others were not doing. Not step on anyones toes. New territories.

But what happened subsequently opened up my eyes. Sabotage from MCF, Jimmy starting out blog after blog to attack the training with lies and more lies. My tentative conclusion was that there are forces that do not want the Juniors properly trained. And then people were threatened not to support or work with FGM on the Thematics. So what right? That happens in the real world. OK. Lets look at it another way then.

Let me ask you this question. What is your incentive to train for chess if you know that you will never represent the Country no matter how good your chess is unless you have a deal with someone; unless you have to kiss someone's butt. Nothing to do with chess and besides, its a smelly affair too. And if you look even closer at that butt, you will see that there is a long queue waiting for their turn. No more butt space to kiss even. So why wait for your turn if you know your turn will never come?

To have a shot in life/chess you need to know where the goal post is. It cannot be arbitrary. They cannot keep shifting the goal post. Why are they sending out players to the Olympiad who cannot make the cut? Look at the results of all our local tournaments recently. Look at all the players who are banging on that glass ceiling. They deserve a chance too.

So are they being set up to fail? Is FGM put in the same place too? When I organise, should I not be focussed on my goal of giving the best training possible instead of worrying about my players being sabotaged if they improve on their chess? Being banned if they improve?

Isn't it getting more obvious that selection is not about chess but about the deal?

So FGM has shifted its focus for now. My focus now is to try to get a level playing field with proper rules and guidelines. And I think this will be beneficial for all. If your child; if you are the better chess player, then you should represent. Healthy competition.

Right now we are all being set up to fail. So lets fix this. Otherwise its all pointless. Pointless for you to train and pointless for me to organise anymore.

Make it about chess. Then we will see our very own GM. Think on it. Your chance of a deal is very very very remote. It's all locked up. Too many people wanting the back door and not enough butt space to kiss.You will only be offered some crumbs if any. Your chances are much much better if you demand for the right to compete based purely on your chess.