Chess was NOT invented to develop bean counters and pencil pushers.

Look at this first. Here.

The above is actually only a small part of what needs to be taught. Historically, chess was meant to develop the generals of the Maharajas. It was meant to develop understanding of the bigger picture; the decision maker who handles the most variables and parameters. To develop judgement and to act out decisions with courage and equanimity. For lives and kingdoms were at stake. Mental strength and discipline.

Chess was not meant to develop the technicalists. Their picture is too small. Their understanding too shallow. In todays world we see this in our business organisations like this. The Boss, the CEO is the conductor, the technicalists merely supply a fraction of the inputs for consideration. They are the backroom boys/girls.

Jimmy accidentally threw more light on the issue when he tried to deride me by saying that he has over 30 years to my purported 2 years. You see in "2 years" I have managed to take honours via the front door. In open tournaments. By developing a National Junior from Perak and by training the first junior to enter the senior squad via selection by knocking out an IM. So what happened to his 28 year plus advantage? Doesn't this indicate that our problem is that the technicalists have too much say in Malaysian chess in terms of development?

So lets tackle this question posed by Jimmy, Najib etc etc. They say I do not play chess. Actually I know enough to understand when you have taken the wrong road. That's all I need.

Lets take the Sumant case since this has been brought up again yesterday on facebook. You see, Sumant already had enough technical knowledge to win at SEA games selection. His problem was in making hasty decisions and changing openings at the last minute. His problem was a lack of discipline in training. So I did not need to bring up his technical for him to win. All I needed to do was to work on the reasons why he wasn't winning with the technical that he had. So he was grilled over and over again, the opening he needed to use for the opponent he was fighting at that time. He needed to attend training and not just go at the last moment and hope to win. So I just taught him what he needed, to win at that selection for that one time.

That is what I achieved in my 2 years over your 30 plus years Jimmy.

Another thing I do is profiling the players. You don't place a forward in defence or in the goal. For this lets look at Li Tian. He is a strong tactical player. Or was. The way to kill him off is to ask him to play the failing old mans game of end game wins. End game is end game. That means it comes at the end. You have to get past opening and the magical middle game.

So why do I care about what Jimmy is doing? After all he is just removing the opponents from my players for me. You see, that is very short sighted. For Malaysia to progress, we need all of our top players to succeed. Without this condition no one will succeed. Iron sharpen iron. So why are you blunting our players Jimmy?

So my way is hard. The players actually have to train and to think through the issues I present to them. To toughen their minds and not take the easy way out. That is the way to our own GM in my opinion.

And Jimmy's way is the back doors, the PR campaigns and the designed fattened numbers. And then they all crash in tough tournaments. That is why we don't have a GM. Why we cannot even do one GM run. Have you not seen this from our players at almost every tournament we have played so far?

No Jimmy, you are the problem. Your problem is that you see too little. You are like the back room boy who talks about the CEO's strategy like you are an expert. That is just coffee shop talk. You haven't got a clue about what a CEO needs to weigh out before he can come to a decision/conclusion.

You see, after the training, and the player is in front of the table and the clock starts, the player needs to think like a CEO, like a general. And that is how they should be trained.

That is real chess my friend.

My challenge to you Jimmy. No need for more coffee shop talk. You now have Sumant and Zhuo Ren and Li Tian. Congratulations. I only have Mark left and hopefully new players that I will have to develop from scratch again. Why don't we agree to stop the bannings on frivolous grounds and bring in selection again. I have even given you insights into my methods so now you have a heads up. Are the odds more equal now? Your 30 years against my 2 and I even tell you how I train my players. Fair? So you don't need to attack players who come to me again right?

Then we meet on the board in clean competition. My players against yours. You can play too. You game or are you afraid of what I can do in 3 years? No more back door and match fixing. How about it Jimmy?