A structure to support Malaysia's first GM.

Yesterday I was asked by a fellow blogger on facebook if I thought Roshan will make GM. There is also another blogger that is encouraging Syazwan to go for GM.

I think there are many in Malaysia who can make GM. But these are the caveats.

1.Look at this again. Here. Basically MCF needs a goal to guide it's activities and policies. But it is frightening isn't it. Look at what our neighbours are doing. And we haven't even started yet. Being able to get started knowing we are so far behind is also about mental strength. And the first step is competitor analysis. For the dream to come true we must first awake.

2. We also need a culture of healthy competition. Consider this. Who does our Olympiad team represent? Is it the Malaysian team or is it the back door dealers team? So when they go, they will have opponents in front of them, they will not have the conviction that they rightfully represent Malaysia and so they won't have the energy within them for the fight. And they will have many at home watching the games and looking out for their mistakes. Pressure everywhere and almost no supporters. That is the price for winning the place illegitimately that they have not considered.

So it's a mess.

The structure I think more likely to produce our GM is to have more representation at junior level ie U20. And then there must be proper selection with proper criteria at the senior level.

These are the reasons why. At age group levels the players are all still learning. Many mistakes in the games. We used to do well at this level but the last Asean may be showing us a reverse trend. But something good comes out of the age group events at International level. The players are forced to work together to share knowledge or be trashed there as we do not have the training our neighbours have. So we adapted to compensate.

But at the youth and junior level we do not send out teams. We send out individuals occasionally. Now that is a big big mistake. Our U20 Juniors are the closest we have to the next level. So a team will allow them to share more knowledge and get to a fuller understanding on what it takes to win.

Now understand the constraints of the age group players and the juniors. They have to juggle chess and their studies. So they do not have a clear run. For instance Mark has STPM this year.

But if we put more emphasis on juniors as well as the age groups they will have learnt a little more. Joined more dots on how to win in today's International Chess circuit. That is the correct route.

An aside: Now look at Li Tian. He is a strong player. But he has yet to prove himself at the junior level. He didn't do well in NJ2010. He did not play at NJ2011. I predicted that he won't do well at NJ yet unless he changes his game. And so he uses other methods which I will describe more in my next post. He is just not ready yet. I think this can potentially damage him. The short cuts do not help in the longer run.

And then we get the juniors, the other strong players and the seniors to fight it out in a proper selection for the senior team. That is the correct way.

Note: There are also another consideration. The GM run costs money. With the representation of the Country you also get sponsors. That helps a lot. When you play for the Country, there are people who will want to help. But right now, the sponsors will not be able to help the best players in Malaysia. Right now the money may go to people who do not deserve sponsoring.

So all this must change before we can get our own GM.

That is really why you see some people saying you are all washed out by 15yo. I even heard a national junior believe this lie and say that you must be at least IM by 17yo. One way to sabotage the juniors is to tell them that. It's also called setting you up for failure. How? By simply giving you an impossible goal. That is not real. Look around you. There are many who are making it later in life. That is the Malaysian reality. And I believe the method I described can be the Malaysian way to the GM. The Malaysian reality is that our players can only make a real run in their 20's.

Note: Even if more make IM's it is still a good thing. We are then much closer to the goal. Better than running around in circles or even going backwards.

Simply put. We need a proper structure in place for that GM to come. It won't just happen by fantasising about it. And that is just the beginning. There are even more things to consider. For instance, what type of support do we really need to make a GM run in today's world?

And that is also why we need to change the leadership in MCF. They are failing all of us. They are failing Malaysia. Our representative in Asean Confederation is not ours. Our Olympiad team is not ours.

Now that we have all the parts to consider, I will write about further the conspiracy theory 2 next. The big big question remaining is if it is just MCF that gave us that fraudulent team or if there is collusion to cheat all of us.