Happy New Year.

To all my readers whether you agree with me or not, I would like to wish you a happy and prosperous 2014.

And to the readers who agree with what I say here and the new FGM players, I would like to wish you a new year of many changes and many mistakes. Change yourself and the whole world changes. Don't be afraid to make mistakes as that is the surest way to learning new things.

The vicious cycle of failure.

Ref: Here.

In the post in the link above, I mentioned that I told the President of PICA that I wanted to resign but he chose to find a reason to sack me. Let me try to explain more on this.

During PICA meetings we were all talking about a Perakian GM. And one of the things I urged my fellow committee members to do was to go out and measure ourselves against the States that were doing better than us. We need a measure otherwise we risk being trapped in self delusion. But nobody else saw the importance of that.

So even though we were all talking about the same thing, I knew I had to do it alone. I wanted the measures, to see the gaps and to find the mindset and the methods to narrow those gaps. And they wanted something else. So I decided to set up my own chess academy. But they wanted the academy under PICA. And I thought Perak was big enough for two academies.

Funnily the officer who spoke to me during Perak Close was still saying much the same thing about a Perak GM and he wanted Mark under him. But this is many years after 2009. And we have moved much further on since without any help from the State. And he is still saying the same thing we talked about then and without an academy.

Lost in a time warp perhaps?

I wanted my players to learn the powerful lessons that chess can teach us. Here. But what do they want? Now if we can see this I think we will see much clearer the vicious cycle of failure.

I believe they want the short cuts. Short cuts would be categorised by fixing tournaments in it's myriad ways. In Perak Close a new one was found by the father calling on the handphone while his son and daughter are playing to give the daughter a win and a point to get into the Perak team. This happened on the second last round. So this is bad for the player's development and bad for Perak. And it was Eddy who made the call. Do you think that was done accidentally?

From my observations I see that certain officials will close a blind eye to the various forms of fixing. Why would that be? How can it be good for the official or for the State he represents? This question was posed to me in Penang Open. My believe is that it gives the officers a sense of power that they do not have in the outside world and this becomes a sort of drug that they cannot do without. A false sense of self esteem from the parent's grovelling so they look the other way and still sponsor the child. Those officials are "big men" only because they can provide the back doors. They have nothing else to offer.

So they have chosen their way and I have chosen mine. So the question remaining is why the need to sack me or attack my academy and my players by the spread of vicious slander? Why did they attack a program from a GM to train our national players?

I think the reason is because they already know deep down inside that their method doesn't work. It has been used since the inception of MCF and the affiliates and all it has produced is weak players. And they are deathly afraid that my method of doing competitor analysis, measuring the gaps and then doing the hard work of training and fighting in selection may actually work.

And so I believe that is why they felt they needed to sack me and then try to throw slur on my reputation. Otherwise it doesn't make any sense. And they won't do that only to me. They will do that to anyone that really wants to learn the lessons of chess and dare to compete. And so the vicious cycle of failure is formed. They now have the ascendancy because they are in control of MCF. Or maybe not.

I think you can see from this link how desperate the situation can become. Here. How they can spin asking for proper selection and healthy competition into that. They will lie and behave in the most despicable way to keep their drugs. Jimmy will do whatever he can to stay on the Malaysian Team and Eddy will do whatever he can to keep his child ahead of the game. Even to the point of lying. Even to the point of teaching his children to lie and slander. Compare this type of behaviour to those of drug addicts and I think we will see many similarities. Is that not the harsh reality?

Think about this and then think about the MCF AGM. If we want to stop the rot then we cannot just have an AGM without identifying the real issues that keep us backwards. You see what they will do to keep their priviledges, you see how vicious they can get. My question to you is if you think chess is worth the fight for the sake of our future generations. My belief is that chess can build the type of towering Malaysians our whole Country is clamoring for if used correctly. It is too important to allow people like Jimmy and Eddy and those few others to take away from us.

What do you think? What is your stand on this issue? It is tough yes? They know this. They know you don't want that type of ugly confrontation. And they count on that to keep their back doors open.

HAPPY NEW YEAR. May 2014 be the year of change for you by first changing yourself. Stand up to the gangsters. You have too much to lose.

Actually it's lets write a new history.

Ref: Here.

I think once the fight between those that wants genuine selection and those that defends the back doors through lies and deceit is finally settled once and for all then this type of writing will also stop. And only MCF has that power.

The whole of Malaysia is fed up of being thrashed in International circuits and having players in the Malaysian team that comes in through the back doors long after they are able to play chess anymore or before they have proved themselves. I have highlighted Perak simply because the causes for decline is much more obvious there than anywhere else I know.

I hear that there are new moves to have an MCF AGM in March. When my views were solicited I said that I think we need to hear about the issues that will be resolved by the change of leadership and not just the name of the leader and everything else remains the same. If that is the case we may as well save on the money and the energy spent from calling for an early AGM.

The new history that we need to write is for Jimmy Liew and everyone else mentioned in the link above to play at National Close and then make the Malaysian team. No more back doors. If the new leadership is able to provide solutions to all that has been ailing Malaysian chess then it will be well worth the trouble.

So lets write a new chapter in Malaysian chess yes Jimmy and Eddy? See you guys at National Close k, so you can show us all how a Ferrari is supposed to play. Much better than putting down the other Juniors yes? Show them by example.

And Eddy, please...you taught Mark? What can't you lie about? What is the level of your chess? How did you play in Penang Open? But teaching your children how to lie too? Isn't that a new low even for you? And your children deleted those comments because you know they have finally crossed the line into slander. Why don't you yourself repeat what they said instead of hiding behind them?

My version of the history of Perak Chess from 2009.

There has been some interest in the history of Perak Chess on facebook. I will be the first to admit that many things are murky and it took me a while to unearth even as much as I know. But since there are accusations levied against me on facebook, I think I will give a short account of my version here. Actually much of this is already known outside of Perak but many in Perak are still in the dark.

The first accusation levied against me is that I was sacked from the committee in 2009. Yes, that is true but the reasons given are not. Actually if you read this blog back to it's starting point then a lot is explained there. But here is the gist. When I came into Perak chess, I did a couple of things that pissed a lot of people in the committee off. I tried to put in a selection criteria. Apart from the committee members there was one parent in particular who objected very strongly. That person was Eddy Fong.

The other thing that happened was that I was called up by Dato Tan Chin Nam who wanted me to do things for him in Perak. So he asked me to handle the KLK sponsorship. Of course the older committee members could not understand why me and not them. This combined with the fact that I also introduced DKLS as a potential sponsor was too much of a threat. That meeting between DKLS and PICA was also attended by Dato Tan.

So that is the brief background. Do let me add a little more here. At the meeting in DKLS, I informed the President of PICA that I wanted to resign as a committee member to set up a chess academy. However for reasons best known to the President and committee, they decided to sack me. The excuse they used was for the presentation of accounts from Syuen. I agreed to that but I also asked for the simultaneous presentation of accounts of 2 earlier events done by PICA.

The meeting was set on a date when everyone knew that I would be in KL. I asked for a change of date but that was refused. The meeting was held when I was in KL and I was sacked. So of course there were many constitutional issues. First of which was if the committee can sack an elected official. And then if the sacking can be on grounds of not being able to attend one meeting. I had perfect attendance till then. And PICA is an NGO.

So it seems the sacking was done for 2 possible reasons. One was possibly just spite and the second was that the sacking would facilitate for somebody to do the KLK event since it can be conveniently explained to Dato Tan that I was sacked. Anyway that issue is still hanging till today. I asked for the right to present my case at the next AGM as stated in the constitution but that too was denied me. The next AGM was held in secret.

The other accusation levied at me is that I used "free tickets" and charged players. This attack was first coordinated by Jimmy Liew's site via the use of anonymous blogs. That is of course also not true as we were sponsored by Air Asia to train our national players and I hired a GM to do that. All the evidence were presented on my blog including the letter from Air Asia that stated this. I even published the accounts. And FGM is a registered company and not an NGO as they try to spin. The worst thing about this accusation is that it is Eddy Fong's children that are saying this on FB. And so they hide behind children again. Why doesn't Eddy himself come out and say this?

I think it is hard for anyone to know the truth now since there will be many versions. So why don't we just look at the evidence. Who's children has benefited from sponsorships from Perak over these years? I think you may find that it is from the same people who objected to clear selection criteria. So we just need to pick up the clues or in the due course of time, the truth will also be revealed.

I think their greatest fears are when the parents come together and share their experiences. I think they will also be very afraid when more and more Perakians travel out. Could that be why I only see Fadzil, Yit San and Yit Ho in most of the tournaments outside of Perak? And now I hear that even Fadzil has moved to greener pastures. Why don't they encourage more players to go out and participate like how all the other States do? Could it be because they can then still continue with their nonsense here if everything is bottled up? But how long do they want to keep Perak in the dark?

But there is some good that came out of this. My failed attempt at implementing selection criteria in Perak was then subsequently adopted by MCF in 2010 for NAG. Not all is mine but I shared a lot with the new Secretary of MCF after the aborted attempt in Perak.

The other "good" thing is that the entire chess community is now seeing new innovations to the idea of playing tag team in individual tournaments. The latest being a telephone call to make sure that all 3 children makes the team. So that is a new one to deny someone else their rightful place. Wonders never cease. And I thought I had seen quite a lot in 10 years.

Full results of Perak Close.

Here.

DATCC closes down!!!

I just read on facebook that DATCC will close down from the new year. Can anyone confirm?

Mark Siew, the "new" player in Perak.

Ref: Here.

Towards the end of the first day, when it was getting more obvious that the contest for Perak Champion will be between Mark and Yit San, a Perak Official came to talk to me. And I have known this person since 2004.

He said to me "Perak need new players". I looked at him with some incredulity. Besides the achievements in the link above, Mark was also U16 no.4 for National Age Group for 2009. U18, National Age Group No.2 in 2010. And National Junior No.2 and No.3 in 2010 and 2013 (he took a year and a half away from chess for STPM from the middle of 2011).

And he is 20 yo now.

The official told me he needed Mark's name to get funding from the State Government. Why now? Why after all these years when I have financed and developed Mark by myself? How can this guy look at me and say that Mark is a new player?

Maybe an incident can throw some light to that statement. I was informed that another strong State player has opted to play for another State. So I asked the official why? I think I know the answer but I was curious as to the reply. You see, that boy was also sidelined until very recently when Perak needed players on the National arena. Anyway, the official said yes that boy is not interested to play for Perak any longer. He flew the coop at first opportunity. So the official asked me what can he do? "Beg the player to stay"?

So let me answer him here. There is no need for begging but a sincere apology for all the years of abuse and neglect by the State would do something to make those players feel that they want to continue to fly the Perak flag. Alternatively the State develop their own players from scratch again. Mark and this boy is over 20yo now. We have come this far despite all the obstacles hurled at us. So why only ask us now?

Develop your own players and then you may begin to understand what coaching strong players is all about. Try to give them recognition for their achievements.

There was even no acknowledgment for the 1,2,3 sweep by Perak at the National Juniors at the beginning of the month.

You see, an apology from PICA is actually an acknowledgement that mistakes have been made in the past and that PICA is serious about changing into a better organisation. But there is no need to beg. We understand that the State need it's dignity. However the State also need to understand that the players need their dignity too to play strong chess.

As far as I know there were only 3 male players from Perak that made the National squad in over 10 years. Deon Moh followed by Mark Siew followed by Yit San. And there was a 10 year gap between Deon and Mark. I think the Perak officials should know who the strong players from Perak are, don't you think? After all the rest of Malaysia knows who they are.

And if we only count the players that started chess from Perak then we can only count Deon and Mark. Yit San was a Selangor import.

ps: Someone asked me about Aron Teh from Perak who was this year's National Master. Aron was born in Perak but his parents work and stay in China. Aron has never played in Perak. He is purely a product of Chinese training and coaching. However when he does play in Malaysia, he registers under Perak.

Additional information. I was just informed that Yit San actually played in Perak before he moved to Selangor. However at the point where we joined Perak chess in 2004, Yit San was a Selangor player. I hope this clarifies matter.

Do you find this post by Peter and the comment by Jimmy there offensive?

Do have a look. Here.

These are my thoughts. Both Jimmy and Peter are very good at criticizing and knocking down the players that are the products of other trainers and coaches. I think they feel that by doing that those players may go to them.

That is also called poaching.

I think it is fair comment to say that we still have a lot to learn as trainers and coaches in this Country and I think the very first step is to fix the selection criteria to get rid of the deadbeats before there is any incentive to raise our game. Where is the incentive for trainers and coaches to improve when selection for the national team is not based on skill but by talking to Greg etc etc?

If you guys are so concerned as to the state of our chess then why didn't you decline representing Malaysia without selection when you both know that there are far better players than you two in Malaysia? Why keep trying for side deals even when you come out dead last or not played a Fide classical event in over 10 years?

But I also have another question. Peter and Jimmy, can you please tell us the names of the players that you have identified and raised as a player? I know you guys specialise in trying to get the limelight by promoting certain players after the fact. And some may think by dubious means too. So I mean by teaching chess.

But really, who did you raise? From what I can see any player that goes to you, even for a short time, end up badly.

Peter and Jimmy, can you name us the players from the tournaments that they have played so we can see the results? As far as I know none of your players have done well. And even more sad you do not even announce their names before or at the tournaments that they have played in. Are you ashamed of them? Do you not have any confidence in your abilities as trainers?

You do not get credit from merely criticizing others, you get credit by being a better trainer, a better coach. And that comes from the results of the players you have raised. So why don't you guys just do that instead of talking rubbish?

Do you think I may have answered your hidden question as to why the top players in Malaysia won't use you 2 fellas? If it were up to me, I wouldn't allow either of you within a 100 feet of any child who wants to play strong chess.

Short report from the end of Perak Close.

Mark lost to Yit San as black but both boys ended with 8 points out of 9 rounds. Please read this again. Here. And so Yit San is Perak Champ and Mark is runner up.

So let me try to explain again what I mean by healthy competition. Iron sharpen iron. Healthy competition means that it is a contest of skills. Not of cheating. Someone asked me after the tournament if I was happy with the result. I said yes. Our evaluation is that Yit San is still slightly ahead in terms of understanding and so he deserved the win.

I also see a deepening of friendship between Yit San and Mark. You see, this can only happen when it's purely a contest of skills. Yit San and Mark have been sharing knowledge for many years now. It is a serious but friendly contest and of course Mark will try his best to win again the next time they meet.

It would be a different situation if one won because of cheating. It is that simple.

Healthy competition simply means that each try to be the best that they can be. And not by dragging the other down but by trying to learn better and faster. It is not so hard to understand although this may be a new culture for Malaysian chess.

That is how our future strong players will be made. That is the culture of excellence.

Overall we feel that we are on track in our preparation. Our training goal is National Close. And we believe the gap is closing with each passing day. I am confident that Yit San will also do his best to try to stay ahead of the game. And so both will improve. Iron sharpen iron.

We will never get players with this type of drive and character so long as we keep allowing for the back door players. It was the back doors that made the old crop of seniors weak. And then they resolved to keep the other players down to maintain their places on the National squad. And then we developed the culture of talk to Greg. You know what I mean.

So fix the selection criteria. Do not use the active Fide list at all. The numbers there are not reflective of playing strength today and some of it is "manufactured". Make sure that our tournaments are clean by taking measures to contain the suspect arbiters. Use National Close as the sole determinant. Fight there or DO NOT represent Malaysia. No more side doors, back doors etc.

And we will have a new Malaysian team. A fighting team. A learning and sharing team because they know that each player there deserves to be there. No Malaysian team can do well by carrying the deadbeats. They drag the results down. They demoralise the other players.

And then our GM will come. Fix the above first.

Will post the full results once I receive it.

Another evaluation here.

Report from first day of Perak Close.

It's good to play in Perak again after all these years. We stopped playing actively here after Mark moved to the National level for the Juniors in late 2009 to get more exposure playing in other places and overseas. But it was nice to see old friends again that we got to know from 2005 after Mark was U12 Champ MSSPK till he was U18 Champ MSSPK in 2009 (5 years of consecutive representation for Perak).

I was not particularly surprised that the official I spoke to there did not know that Perak won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place at National Juniors beginning of this month. Some things just don't change but it sure brought back old memories. Some good and some not so good.

It's a 9 round tournament of 45 mins time control. And we played 5 rounds today. Mark plays Yit San as black tomorrow as the only 2 players with perfect score so far. So it will be a good and interesting round.

Will keep you guys posted.

Is there a moral to this story?

Today I heard a story. It went something like this. There was once an 11 year old boy. He was playing against an opponent that an official from MCF wanted to win. To entice the boy to lose that official offered him RM50. This was a big sum to the boy at that time and so he accepted the offer and threw the game.

But that official did not pay that boy. After all what can an 11 year old boy do to him? And he was a big man in MCF.

However this boy was not broken from that experience. Over the years the boy grew up to become an influential and powerful man. A rich man. But he never forgot that experience. He vowed that no young boy/girl will ever suffer the indignity that he went through as a child again.

And so the struggle continues to this day. The final chapter is yet to be written.

So is there a moral to this as yet incomplete story? Could it be that you cannot escape the law of karma? Maybe it's don't screw around with a real chess player. Or maybe it's never start a fight you cannot finish. And not everybody can be bullied. Maybe.

You can take your pick of endings that you would like. After all the story is still being written and the wheel is still in spin.

How about for want of RM50, a lucrative empire that has cheated genuine chess players and frightened, naive parents for years and years and years is lost? I kinda like that ending myself.

In the chess game of the adult world of business, there is something called the penalty for insult.

Why FGM chess camp in Batangas was important.

Our first trainer was a GM. A fighting GM who is still competing on the chess circuit today. And he taught us many things. He showed us the importance of having the right weapons although we could not use his. So we spent a lot of time finding the ones that suited us.

The second trainer we engaged was an IM who trained the Ukrainian Youth Team (a world class team). He showed us the magic and possibilities of the middle game.

But still we got stuck. Our best result was NJ no.2 in 2010 and NJ no.3, 2013.

What Batangas showed us was the building blocks you need to have before the lessons of the IM and the GM has more relevance. Our basic was weak.

I then realised that we did everything in reverse. As our basics get stronger with our daily training program now, we find new relevance to what the IM and the GM taught us all those years back. Look at the FGM chess camp again. Here. This is what they don't want you to know. You cannot move into deeper strategies till you first deal with your basics. And that is what you need to train.

Strategy comes from competitor analysis and that is what I teach. But first you must have the basics.

Thot of the day. Why do you learn chess?

Why do you learn chess if you refuse to learn how to reason? That is a bit of a quandary no, since chess is designed to teach you primarily that? Why is it some people in our chess community are so afraid that you may learn this? Here. What are they so afraid of?

Why can't they see that learning is a process? You don't learn how to succeed over night. You don't learn how to win over night. It takes time.

The question is are they stupid or do they hope that you are stupid? If say they want you to be stupid, then what would be their benefit? See comments here. The question here is does he know what training means or has he never heard of the concept? Look here again. The 8 days is a demonstration of the type of training that will improve your chess. Then you need to actually do the training, no? Hmmmm...

Note: Actually what Norlito showed us was the training needed up to the level of an FM and no further. The training program is actually for about one and a half years. We are just trying to get it all done by National Close which is about 6 months time.

How is it that they condone cheating and then they want to make you feel guilty for pointing it out? Hmmmm....

It is true that chess can make you smart. But only if you are not intimidated into not being able to reason.

Why would anyone listen to someone that hides in the dark? So it must be they are stupid no? And if they are stupid then they can't be real chess players can they? Hmmmmm....

And now you can see why our chess cannot progress yes? We have deranged people like that in key places of Malaysian chess. They can't play chess, they don't want to improve and their main job in life is to make sure no one else can improve. They are also the facilitators for the back door boys.

The secret to learning anything by Albert Einstein.

Here.

That is how you become good at anything. Compare that to our methods and I think you will see why we fail. We cannot be a strong chess Nation so long as we allow for the back door boys, so long as we don't have the correct training. Very honestly and I kid you not; you cannot win in chess if you practice Chor Tai Ti. Here.

This is another take. Here.

Preparing for Perak Close this Saturday with games from Mark, Yit San and Yit Ho.

Here.

Johor has been kind to put up the games last night for us to prepare. When I asked for the games I said that this must be fair and available to all. So everyone will have a shot at learning competitor analysis. A level playing field so there is no advantage of information to any one side. It's all about learning from chess. What you can see from the games. It is NOT about learning insider training.

We don't have the games for Fadzil so you must look it up yourself but these are the games from National Junior 2013. Good luck at the tournament for those that are going. Prepare well and train hard.

Go here for the games.

Note: Strong players even have comments about their games as they are playing. If you are so scared you even hide your games then very simply you will never play strong chess. We need to also change our culture where games are only given to trainers with the inside tract. That is what I called insider trading. That is also essentially cheating. It is not clever, it merely says you have no confidence in your ability and your training.

Indonesian chess success stories.

Here.

If there is one thing that the FGM chess camp demonstrated to me it is that the training must be correct if you are to succeed. Here.

We have struggled for many years before the dots were finally joined. And for that we give our thanks to Norlito for finally opening our eyes.

In the Phillippines, if you are to play the drawish weapons that we teach our kids, they will laugh at you and ask why are you playing like a girl. (No offence meant, it's just a figure of speech). But indeed why are you playing like a girl in the man's world of chess?

On facebook I keep seeing our chess players moaning that they cannot find the discipline to train. If you really want to know the reason why then go here for the clue. Do you see what I tried to say? It may not seem much but it is all there in that one sentence. You must keep your fighting spirit alive or you will not last the race.

And that is what our chess officials and people like Jimmy, Mok and Peter try to take from you before they send you out to fight for Malaysia. Do you remember what they did to Zhuo Ren and Sumant? Do you remember what they tried to do to Mark?

But there is even more. You must be also taught how to win. Here.

We finally learnt the correct way in November of this year after exploring and trying different trainers and methods for years. GM's and IM's included. And by that I mean fighting GM's that are still competing, IM's that developed World class youth teams. But it was in Batangas that the final penny dropped.

That is why they succeed and we fail. That is what I have been trying to say to you for all these years. Not only are we not doing it the right way but our officials are actually working against our Country by giving the back doors BY knocking out more deserving players.

Not only do they NOT know about correct training and coaching. They try to hide their ignorance by fixing results.

That is why they succeed and we fail. We have the talent and we have the resources. But we need to correct what is ailing us by changing MCF for the better.

We need good strategy, good plans from the top. We need good thinkers at the top who actually care for our real chess players and not protect the deadbeats. We need chess leaders who actually care for the reputation of our great Country. That is all.

While everyone else has focussed on how to win in chess they have focussed on how to fix pairings, how to change results by fixing the tie breaks, how to ban players they cannot intimidate, how to do side deals. And you learn what you focus on don't you? How to get fat Fide ratings? How to avoid certain tournaments and selection so you are not caught out? Etc etc etc.

Question. Why did Li Tian stop playing at Asean age group? He is now 2300. Higher in rating then almost all his peers except for FM Paulo Bersamina. Look hard at that question and the answer will come.

Malaysia's chess success stories.

Here.

I have added some comments to that post.

On false hopes and dreams.

I am not sure how to say this without hurting your sensitivities so I will just plunge in and hope that this holiday season will have mellowed you out somewhat.

I am sorry to tell you that our own GM won't come no matter how much we wish for it, until we change or have saved enough pocket money to buy one from overseas.

I am sorry to tell you that we won't be getting any real medals until we take a long hard look at what is ailing us and then design a selection criteria and training program to narrow the gap between us and our competitors.

What I have seen over the last few years is this. Correct me if I am wrong. People hoping to win in the elections and become President of MCF etc but don't understand the situation and have no concrete plan.

And then today I hear some State Association even saying that they do not recognise MCF. I can sense the seething frustrations. But is that frustration not a result of not having a realistic plan? And so you are defeated. But lets think about this. Isn't MCF and Malaysian chess better off because you are defeated? If you want to takeover then you must be better not worse, is that not so? You even lost a won game. So isn't the chess community better off today because you lost? Why not just learn from this if you can and become better.

And then I see people hoping for medals without doing accurate competitor analysis, measuring the gap and then working hard to narrow it. I can't tell you about the training for this SEA games but I can tell you about the training for the one in 2011. The players went for the "training" and played Chor Tai Ti.

So what does that tell you? They have given up even before they went. And so they go for Myammar chess today via a side deal. Actually that is all they know to do isn't it. We don't have strong players because a large number of them are back door boys. And these players have no confidence as a result of their back door entries. And then these players infect the rest of the contingent.

This bad culture is from the very top to the very bottom.

The product of false hopes and dreams are frustrations and then delusion. Can you see that?

That is not the lesson from chess. Chess is a reality game. The one who sees the clearest, the one with the better strategy, the one who plan and train the hardest and smartest wins. If you don't win then you have missed something. So just go back and re-examine what you missed and do it better next time. What did you misassess?

But for crying out loud, don't repeat the same mistakes and then try to drag the entire chess community into another futile battle again. Do it when you have a better plan to improve. Do it when you can win. Do it only when you have learnt your lesson.

Don't try and "change" MCF when all you can offer is also only false hopes and dreams. 

FGM wishes our readers and students a very Merry Christmas.

Ho Ho Ho.

May we truly learn all the lessons from the great game of chess. And when we do we'll have a totally new MCF. Never give up. Malaysia Boleh! We'll get em next time eh! Ho Ho Ho

Divide and rule and changing MCF.

It is funny but the people who I hear now talking about changing MCF again actually have no clue about what is wrong in the first place. I always test by asking them what is their strategy and they have no answers. For their strategy will be dependent on what they see is the problem.

And if they have no answers I feel their intentions are not sincere. How can you be serious about solving anything if you don't even take the time to understand the problem? So becareful about getting involved with them. They merely want to use you to get into office and then it's the same old, same old but with different names. They just want their own cronies there instead of the incumbents. Or so it seems.

So lets do a little study of the current modus operandi here. Their first instrument is the use of parents fear for their child. They use the fear of parents against them. So they threaten the use of bannings without grounds against their child etc. And after they have displayed that power they then tell you that they have the short cuts and an academy. That is the basic operating force.

Then they will use broken players like Jimmy, Peter etc to tell you rubbish about ratings since they have developed ways to get high rating that is not representative of their true playing strength. They also control the entry of arbiters to control the results of tournaments.

And then they will get certain parents who are not confident of their children's ability to take part in their scam and tell more lies so that they can spin why their children should have free entries and sponsorship.

To do this well they must also control the Associations so that once you are in the trap there is no way to get remedies. They hold key posts so that no complaints can be acted on. They only allow yes men into the Council. They will never allow independent thought. If there are any then they will use sackings without grounds etc. to remove them.

You get the drift. Go to their "academies" not to learn chess but so that the child cuts the queue. It's all pretty well wrapped up.

So to you guys now planning the new coup d'etat. Spell out clearly for us what your intentions are. Spell out your policies and your strategy for developing Malaysian chess. We do not trust whispers in the dark. For those things only happen when you have something to hide. And we do not trust inane statements like trust us. Our trust must be earned.

What we really need is a complete new team. Changing one or two is a waste of time. Using those with tainted baggages will only result in a reversal later on. We need to get them out and keep them out. They know this game too well and you are mere novices in this game. They are well practiced at lies and misinformation after playing this game for 30 plus years. So their SOP is more developed than your SOP.

That is how so few of them have controlled MCF for so many years while you lot have been alternating between complaining and banging your heads against the wall or screaming for our own GM and medals. Divide and rule. Frustration and delusion.

Understand the problem first and then think clearly through the issues to come up with solutions. It is not too difficult and you are in a mind sport. So please display some good thinking or stop wasting our time and energy with this new takeover attempt. And show us your new team to convince us that you have people of substance and integrity before trying to enlist help. We are not in the business of changing clowns.

Do it right this time. Like a well thought out chess game. No more cartoon shows like the last AGM please. Where you royally screwed up a totally won game. Chess teaches us that without a sound strategy based on accurate evaluation and understanding, you just won't win. Yes?

Towards Malaysia's first GM.

I almost always get a funny feeling when I hear our State Associations claiming to want to develop a GM. I hear these claims and then I see that they have no resolve to fix the things that really matters. Over the last few weeks I have been hearing about new attempts to get rid of the current committee in MCF. And so there are those old whisperings again in the corridors of our tournament halls. But I fear that the intent is only to replace one bad apple with another.

I hear nothing resembling a clear strategy to improve things. Just disaffected people rearranging the dust. So if they succeed then we will just have a new "Greg", a new "Jimmy" and a new "Peter". Nothing will change except the names on the committee and senior squad players.

How will we ever get our own GM, if we continue to allow the back doors only by different people? We have a huge pool of talented Juniors that have spent a great amount of time developing their chess. But they will never get to the senior squad on merit if things don't change.

The moment they start to shine they will be attacked so that the fixers can put in their own broken players. They will face biased selection criteria, they will face bans, they will face fixed tournaments.

They will face deadbeats like Jimmy and Peter telling them they cannot play chess. They will be told that only these lousy chess players who are defeated even before they play are the Gods of Malaysian chess.

The Juniors will hear things like they are Ferrari's and so they do not need to fight in selection. They will pump up their ratings with viagra so they can come in through the side doors.

So I hope you can understand that all those things need to be changed before we clamour for our own GM, before we scream for medals.

The GM will not come from the laying of false hopes and dreams. The GM will only come when we wake up to the realities and start to do some real work. Chess is the ultimate reality game. It is supposed to teach you how to evaluate and assess positions. Not bury your heads in the sand.

Think about this. We keep putting in the back door boys only because their chess is not any good. If it was good they wouldn't need the back doors. They wouldn't need to cheat and steal other players places. The moment they do that they have lost whatever potential they may have had once upon a time. For when they cheat they have already admitted to themselves that they are not good enough. And so these people will never be able to face tough opponents or win strong tournaments. They are essentially losers and quitters. And so it is quite pointless for us to look to them for medals.

All you need to do is to look at Jimmy and you will see how those players are going to end up. They are taking the same route he took. Next time you see Li Tian, have a good look at him. He is already on the way. So I hope he changes his road. There may be time for him yet. It's not too late.

Our GM cannot come without resolve to change those things in MCF. Not just the names. What we need is clear thinking and boldness. Not more whisperings in dark corners. That was how Greg and Jimmy was formed. In the dark. So don't kid yourselves. The new maneuvers are only to replace bad apples with bad apples.

Question. How can you be a GM if you are scared of your own shadow? How can a GM be developed by people scared of their own shadows?

Reopening the can of worms.

In 2011, after Zhuo Ren attended the SEA games training in my house, he went back and wrote a vicious email attacking me on Jimmy's blog. I later found out that Zhuo Ren did that because he was promised a place on the 2011 SEA games squad if he wrote that email. It seems that Mok told him that he had a deal with Greg to include him even if he did not make the selection.

And Zhuo Ren did not make the selection that year. And he did not go to SEA games that year because of the intense interest generated following that event. But he was given a place the following year to the Olympiads without selection.

I asked for action from MCF at that time for the scurrilous attack on me and FGM on Jimmy's blog but none was forthcoming. And of course it was almost impossible to prove the fixing.

Side note: Zhuo Ren was invited to the training in my house by Sumant. Sumant made the cut to SEA games 2011 by being the first Junior to enter the senior squad on the merit of selection. Zhuo Ren is only in the current squad on the strength of the same biased selection criteria that Jimmy was entitled to this year but did not make bottom 2. Still it's a side deal isn't it?

Today, Jimmy tells us himself that he talks to Greg about side deals to play for Malaysia. Today Jimmy tells us that Mok was "sub contracted" the Myammar deal.

So today we know that those type of deals is possible. So my question is whether those actions to subvert the representation for our Country is something we should still accept for the next 30 years or is MCF going to finally hold those responsible accountable.

Would you not call what Jimmy said a public admission of complicity, of guilt? From the horses mouth as well. What kind of chess makes stupid people like that? Is there not sufficient evidence to take action now?

Does it take a genius to know that these type of players will never bring us medals? They never paid the price of tough selection. They think that MCF belongs to their grandmother and they are entitled to free or easy entry despite lousy chess and coming dead last. And the facilitator of the side deals in MCF is Greg according to Jimmy.

Only the top 3 of the mens team from National Close is deserving to be in the National squad today. The rest are in because of the twisted selection criteria. Otherwise they may not be in at all. And we want medals from those players? Please....

And they have no shame and no gratitude even to the guy who has been giving them the back door deals again and again. So can we expect them to be thankful for playing for the Country? Can we expect them to be grateful for the opportunity to represent Malaysia by training hard and fighting hard for the honour of our Country?

Can you also now see how they have affected our Juniors for all these years? What was their message to the Juniors about training hard for selection? What were they taught? Chess or writing scurrilous emails for back door entries etc?

Part 2 of lies, deflection and fraud by "no shame".

Here.

It is obvious that after so many years of free entries despite playing crap chess, that Jimmy is pissed with MCF now that he has been denied once. He is just a sour grape because he can no longer tell us who can play and who can't play for Malaysia today. And probably he is not part of the "sub contracting" work too.

But still it is revealing if you read carefully. He is merely describing in detail what has been ailing Malaysian chess.

I am not going to bother with his cheap justifications on why a piece of deadwood should still be playing for Malaysia. That is a waste of time. Those opportunities should simply be given to develop the current squad. The real chess players.

So lets focus on the other revelations. Jimmy claims that Myammar chess was "sub contracted" out. Lets consider this. This may be a good idea only under this condition. That MCF has the equivalent of the Auditor General that knows how to audit projects. That due process has been followed. That the money has not been transferred to hidden accounts as were the past accusations levied against MCF.

Actually I have spoken to an auditor of MCF recently. He told me that there are no audits. And personally I don't think he knows how to conduct one even if there was. And that was probably why he was selected as auditor of MCF in the first place.

So again MCF has left themselves wide open to an investigation into fraud and corruption. MCF, I suggest you do something before it is taken out of your hands. Clean out your own house.

Part 1. Here.

Now we know how we can represent the Country for the senior squad.

Talk to Greg.

Right from the horses mouth. From the man who has represented our Country for the Olympiads etc without selection.

Of course they don't mind a proper selection for NAG or Juniors. After all the parents pay for those. In fact the more the merrier. More benefits to the officials.

But when it comes to the senior squad, when the Country pays, it's talk to Greg. He can fix the selection criteria so you can have easy or free entry. And even if you can't make the very easy entry you can still talk to Greg. Maybe if you butter him enough, you still get to play transfer chess.

But that is the route.

Now parents, is this a fair deal for you? After all your years of investing in your child's chess, it boils down to talk to Greg when they come of age. Is that not corruption? And how many deals can Greg offer? How many places are available for side deals?

So why even bother to have selection for the senior squad at all? Why not we all stop learning about chess and all of us just talk to Greg?

Now, MCF, I was just wondering if this case may perhaps warrant an enquiry? What do you think? Do you need something bigger than subverting and defrauding the entire chess community before you take action? Is there even anything more serious than this? Hmmmmm....

Jimmy's "reason" on how MCF blundered for SEA games.

Here.

And so the person with no shame talks about shame. This is what I said. Here.

If I may, I would like to highlight a couple of points. The first of course is why he assumes that we have no chance in International chess even before we have gone? I would have taken the lead time to prepare as best we can just to increase our percentage chances. I would have thought, with 2 years lead time, I can do something. And if even with my best, I don't get them this time, I will get them next time or the time after that.

I will keep improving till I beat them and win back medals for my Country. And if I did not believe that was true, I would not have gone out at all and waste our Country's resources and money.

But that's just me. I don't understand chess according to Jimmy. So can I say Jimmy doesn't understand development? Can I say that Jimmy has zero fighting spirit? Is this the example we want to set for Malaysian chess, for our kids? We admit defeat even before the battle. Then why even bother going? We had 2 years of lead time and we squandered it away learning Myammar Chess etc.

The second point is this. Why did he assume that he can play transfer chess just by talking to Greg? Is that the way it worked before? Was that how he got himself and Li Tian to play at the Olympiad before?

Did he not come dead last at the Malaysian Masters although he was given a side door to avoid competition by real chess players? And all he had to do was not come out bottom 2 and he would be in SEA games this year. And even that he could not do.

And this is the hero of Malaysian chess that MCF has been touting for so many years? The same guy that was Peter's hero and mentor? The one that he wished well for the Asian Continental before he almost came in dead last.

Are these the type of players we have allowed in via the back doors for so many many many years? Is it now not obvious why we are in the rut we are in?

And now no shame wants to shame MCF for allowing him and his cronies all those back doors for so many years by stealing the rights of other players. All I can say is that not only does he not have any shame, he also has no gratitude for all the free trips he has gotten in the past when he went defeated even before the tournament has begun and representing our Country.

No, Jimmy, it is you who are the disgrace. It is time you take your defeatist attitude and leave Malaysian chess alone instead of poisoning another generation of our players. You and your cronies as well.

Today's Contemplation.

You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

   --  Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)

Dead last in SEA games for Malaysian Chess.

Ref: Here.

Our one medal is in Myammar chess. And so now we come to the time of our traditional character assassinations again. And now we come to the time of cheap excuses again. And we also come to the time where some of the people who have attacked our players, who tried to ban them, who facilitated for the back doors will try to point fingers and then try to pretend to change sides. Or not.

You do not need a crystal ball to see why we got the results we got. Did I not try to warn us that this would happen? Have I not made suggestions to help us move forward? Here.

Did I not try to explain why we are in this rut? Ref: Here.

I see even Thailand and Myammar have overtaken us. Could this possibly be the bitter remedy? Here.

Question. Is chess seen as a measure of our intellectual prowess as a Nation?

Preparing for Perak Close on the 28th/29th December.

Ref: Here.

This will be our last Tournament for the year before we prepare for next year's run. Our target goal is National Close 2014. In the post above I said that I believed we found the way not to have accidental draws and losses to players below our rating. To a large part that was the focus of our chess camp. Here.

You may wonder why that was not so easy to achieve but without which we found our forward traction stalled.

So let's consider this more deeply today. This was a topic we discussed a lot in the chess camp. Lets examine this statement.

It is much easier to win when the opponent is trying to win too.

Strange statement yes? But think about it. If your opponent is not trying to win and you don't want a draw then it is not so straight forward. They can kill off the game by avoiding all tactics and reaching bland positions (drawish weapons). Or you may underestimate the opponent and overextend. Then you are punished. Hence draw or loss.

If you can understand that then you will understand Li Tian's basic strategy towards his current Fide rating of 2300. You will understand that that was why he did not play in Tournaments where there was a wide spread of lower and higher rated players until recently. If he did he risked drawing and losing to lower rated players too.

But since the beginning of this year I see he has changed to some more aggressive openings. So he has started on his journey to overcome those weaknesses that I said Mark had in the post above.

On the other hand we are now moving towards beating stronger players again. So we are moving back to a deeper study of competitor analysis.

For that reason Perak Close is good for our development. We only have 2 strong players to focus on who are unlikely to want to draw with us. Fong Yit San and Fadzil Nayan. Both are worthy adversaries.

As I have said before. There are no stronger and weaker National Juniors. There are only Juniors who have taken different paths. One group have taken the path of avoiding fighting chess and the other have taken the path of fighting chess. Whichever strategy they have employed, they will meet again at some future date and then we will all see which way is the better.

I hope that you can see that Li Tian's strategy works against him now that he is 2300. High pressure indeed to only start learning how to win at 2300. For when you try to win, the flip side is that you can lose too. Still honestly I hope he makes it but he has taken the wrong road for the long term. Ref: Here.

One other question before we end. Which group do you think is more likely to win us medals? The ones that play fighting chess or the ones that play just to get high ratings?

We are looking forward to a good fight this Perak Close in healthy competition.

Quote.

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. -Marcus Aurelius

So what earthly use is there for FGM to exist?

Ref: Here.

I can't fix things for you. In fact I won't fix things for you even if I can. Your progress must be based strictly on your understanding of chess and nothing else. So if you do join FGM you may never play for the Country even if your chess is good. In the past they have attacked my players. They have even tried to ban them.

All I can say is that if you are victimised as a player of FGM, I will stand with you.

But is that all? I say no. I will say that I will endeavour to teach you all these other things too from chess. Here. I will say that if you learn those lessons from chess, you will be a better person and you will know your self worth.

I will say that with those lessons you will be able to stand tall in whatever arena you set yourself in later in life. Lets be honest, not all of you are meant to be or want to be a GM. Your calling in life may be in other things. But you would have learnt from your time in chess on how to succeed.

I will also say that those that have taken the short cuts will never amount to much. They won't go much further than representing the Country in a few events. And then they will fade away. They will not have what it takes to succeed in a competitive environment. For it will be truly hard to fix the whole world so that you can still win with lousy chess. Although I hear that one may be trying to do just that in this region. It's like trying to hold back the river with one hand. So I won't take you there.

But you on the other hand, if you don't take the short cuts, will have the option to either become a GM if you want, for it is only further up the road that you will travel in when you really learn the correct way. Or you can take those lessons to succeed elsewhere.

Why do you also know this? You know this because you can see the end result of our 30 plus years of trying the same short cuts, the same back doors, in chess. 30 years of failing and they still don't learn. So why would you want to be like them?

The question for you is what do you want in life? What do you want for yourself or for your child? Are you thinking short term or long term. Then decide.

We cannot stop others from using the back doors without a change in MCF as they have worked hard for over 30 years to ensure that they can put in whichever player they want. (Whether they play good chess or not). And they will always have their supporters in parents and players who wants the short cuts too.

But you can decide to see clearly that in the end they will amount to nothing.

So don't despair if you cannot make the squad when it is fixed. It is not a reflection of your skill in chess. Life is a marathon. You will be ahead later on.

This is not a physical sport with a shelf life. This is a mental sport from which the lessons well learnt, will hold you up for life. 

That is the reason why FGM still exist today.

A conversation from Penang Open.

As usual when the parents gather we will talk about the general state of chess in Malaysia. And as usual I will try to appeal to their sense of fair play not for any one particular player but for the welfare of all players in the chess community.

So I will pretty much say there and everywhere what I say here. I will say that the current situation we are in is because we are short sighted. I will say we need to train properly. I will say that we need good selection criteria. And I will say that is the only way for Malaysia to stand tall and win honours and medals in the International arena.

The reply I got from one parent is quite revealing. What she said was that if she goes to a certain "chess academy" then her child will get to play for the Country. I am not sure if you really catch the implication of that statement since so many of us still walk around pretending that all is alright. So at the risk of sounding pedantic, I will say this. What she means is that her child will play for the Country not because her child is strong in chess but because this trainer will be able to fix things.

So really you are not going to that trainer and paying him to train your child in chess. What you are really paying for is for him to fix things for your child.

Actually we all know these things happen don't we. But many of us are just numbed to this fact.

But what I don't get is why we still hope for a medal when we don't send out our best when other Countries do?

Why do we still shout Malaysia Boleh even though deep inside we know that we still send out some players that have come in through the back doors via biased selection or no selection. And to compound the problem, we send out the back door players untrained and unprepared to win. We have talented players in Malaysia despite our weak chess culture. Try what I suggested here and you will see us soar. Here.

Boggles the mind doesn't it.

What do I mean by real chess players?

Ref: Here.

In the article above I implied right at the end, that the real chess players are those that has the bigger picture. There is a lot there if we examine closer.

So lets consider this a little deeper today. In chess we very often arrive at a position that requires accurate evaluation before we can continue. And this evaluation is not always apparent. Are you losing or are you winning? What is the objective reality?

What would be the job of your opponent? Is it not his job to deflect, misdirect? Would he not try to use his title and high fide rating to intimidate? He will do all he can to prevent you from seeing the true position.

And your job is not to get intimidated. Your job is not to get deflected or misdirected. Your job is to arrive at an accurate evaluation and then find the fortitude to go for the win or the draw if it is there.

Today you are being fed lies that disguises the true position of what is going on. And they rely on the tools of your chess opponent to keep you blind. They rely on intimidation to keep you from winning.

Now you have children and players under your care. Your job is to make sure that they can fulfil their hopes and dreams. Your job is to teach them this so that they may become the best that they can be. Here. 

So even if you are not fooled by their lies, deflection and misdirection but you find yourself helpless to change things, you will find that they have actually succeeded in robbing you of your fighting spirit. And when that happens, you will find that you have lost your role as a guide for your children/player, as a leader/mentor.

Maybe this happens to us individually. But when more and more falls under the spell, it infects the entire chess community. Do you think what I say may be true? If the children see our helplessness, will they not learn that from us too? Or do you think we can exhort them to rise above the odds and fight to win for their Country when we ourselves get intimidated and/or deceived by not very intelligent people. When we ourselves do not dare to think and then do not dare to act.

Worth thinking about no? Is that why we do not win medals? Is that why we keeping slipping down the world charts? Is that why we always keep hoping for medals but will not work to earn it. Have they not now also robbed us of our self esteem, our self confidence?

Isn't chess supposed to raise Generals, CEO's? Ref: Here. Isn't that really what chess is supposed to teach us on top of the technical bits? Do you see chess in Malaysia doing any of those things? That is what is meant by chess makes you smart, no?

Will we not do something to help our children think better in order for them to build a better future for themselves? Or do you think it is too late for that?

The real chess players are those with the bigger picture. Those that can give you the roadmap to success.

Have we missed a golden opportunity to promote Malaysian chess?

I just finished watching the news where they report the medal tally for Malaysia in SEA games. Free promotions on TV. I can think of nothing better to bring fresh interest back to our sport than by winning medals there.

So this is what I can't figure out. MCF was chartered to promote and develop International chess in Malaysia. What I am told is that from the moment we knew about SEA games about 2 years back, we started an intensive program for the players who didn't make the cut in International chess to start training in Myammar chess.

Why Myammar chess? Why not have the same intensity for International chess?

And then sadly I see on facebook from people who should know better saying that they hope we will come back with a Gold medal. Correct me if I am wrong but I too would hope for a medal if I know our players have been well trained and prepared. Then I am not above saying a silent prayer hoping that we have got our training right. That we are prepared. That we have a fighting chance.

So very honestly I found it hard to add my cheer on facebook. Instead I have this sinking feeling that we are going to get thrashed again.

What is so wrong with MCF that they don't even really try? Have they no confidence in our players? Have they no confidence with themselves? Do they know deep down inside that we have too many weak players because we did not do a proper selection to find our fighters?

Then why not change our selection criteria to get rid the deadwoods? Ref: Here.

Why is it that they only know how to move the goal posts so that their cronies stay in? Is this all that they really care about? Here.

No medals for real Chess in SEA games.

Ref: Here.

Note: Transfer chess is the official name for double chess.

Please allow me to make some suggestions here as to where MCF blundered. You can then compare this with what Jimmy has to say later.

The very first blunder is in the selection process. The best is we remove altogether from the selection criteria the biasness for the Fide active list players. This will ensure that our players will play fighting chess and not play tournaments for Fide ratings alone. I am sure this makes sense to you as Fide ratings alone do not bring medals. Agreed?

So if they are any good as a player, they will fight and win in selection. This will train our players to fight and win medals in tournaments. Period.

In the past I have suggested that we use National Close as the primary determinant for representation. Say top 15 and then they play round robin to select the 8 players for the Country. But if there is still a need to use the Fide active list, then the top 20 from NC vs the top 10 from the active list. The we select straight down the line. No contortions or distortions.

My second suggestion is that MCF sticks only to core business, since they don't even do that very well. Don't waste time and energy on the other forms since nobody who understands chess will ever remember those side events.

Third is to make sure that those who did not participate in selection does not ever show up again representing Malaysia in any event that resembles chess in any way, shape or form. Those side events are best given to the current squad for their further development. This will further galvanise the chess community to focus on real chess development since there are no more loop holes to representing the Country.

And fourth. Start them training from the moment they are selected. I am sure you know how to do that if you really sit down and think about it. If not you can consult with FGM for some ideas.

Our very loose "selection" process is the main reason why players like Jimmy, Mok, Peter and believe it or not even Greg has managed to play for Malaysia in recent years long past their due dates. Those are all deadwood as players. Get them to play selection if they want to represent Malaysia and if they cannot qualify then don't let them represent the Country. But DO NOT keep twisting the selection criteria to continue trying to fit them in.

And MCF, if you can do that, you have taken your first step towards winning medals. It's that simple. Congratulations.

Thank you for your consideration and for your time. Over to you Jimmy.

Intrusion of greed and politics into Malaysian chess.

Have you ever wondered why our chess keeps going downhill? Lets examine this a little more today.

My first clue was when I trained over 20 arbiters during my time in PICA in 2009. Directly after that I realised that none of them were being used. Perak is a big State and 20 fresh arbiters would have done a lot to help it's progress. But what I saw was that the President of PICA himself became an arbiter. Why?

My suspicion is that it is too dangerous to allow certain tournaments to be in the hands of arbiters not in their control. A fair tournament may result.

Later on I hear some people telling me that they have met the conditions to be certified as National Arbiters but MCF has not endorced them. I hear that they are not given the opportunity to arbiter in International Tournaments. It is a closed shop it seems. Why would that be? Where is the sense of that?

Perhaps this fantasy story may throw some light. Ref: Here.

Now lets think about why we keep sending out our kids unprepared to International Tournaments only to be thrashed. Ref: Here. They keep losing and they don't know why. And so their morale keeps getting hammered. They have no answers and we provide them with none.

Do you need to be a genius to know that it is untenable to keep sending out our players unprepared and untrained? We had an opportunity to raise our game when GM Ziaur Rahman came in 2010. But what did MCF use him for? To teach U8 players. Why?

Why did they allow Jimmy and Peter to promote Li Tian when his game was weak? To the point that he was sent out to play for the Country even when he could not win by selection locally. Ref: Here.

How can we rely on the opinion of someone who almost came dead last at Asian Continental this year? How can we rely on the opinion of someone who has not played a Fide tournament in over a decade? How can we rely on someone who has never brought up a strong player himself? He merely borrow others work and those that he does teach even for a short time become very fearful players and subsequently crash.

Is the answer not greed? They want to create the illusion that they know chess even when the evidence points otherwise. They want students without actually learning how to coach or train properly.

They want our players out there unprepared and untrained because they make money or get free holidays from those tournaments. They want control of the tournaments because they want to make sure that only their players qualify and then be allowed to play overseas representing our Country under sponsorship while we pay for our own children from our own pockets. Even if their players are not as good.

And so greed and politics have entered chess has it not?

We all need a space where we can be free of those influences. For it is only within that space can our children learn this. Here. For chess is meant to teach you those things. Simply put, the moment we are free of those influences, Malaysian chess will soar. We have the resources and the talent. But we will not be able to progress under those influences. Ref: Here.

Ponderings.

During Malaysian Open this year one parent said that sometimes my articles seem angry.

And sometimes I wonder why so many parents seem to be able to train themselves into seeing and hearing no evil even when it is so blatantly obvious. Sometimes I wonder how they have become so helpless that they choose to live under the tyranny of these chess officials rather than protect their own children.

Sometimes I wonder how certain parents can tell such blatant lies to steal the rights from other children to benefit their own child. And then I wonder how is it that they can do such things with such a sense of pride. What kind of damaged people can steal even from children?

I have said below that when it involves adults I rarely want to get involved. Adults are adults because they can make their own choices on how they want to live in this world. But is it wrong to feel angry when there are helpless children involved?

And why should we honour adults who perpetrate these crimes? And why should we honour their child who have benefited by robbing other children? Isn't that twisted?

Isn't it more correct that we only honour those that have achieved their successes honestly? What is the message?

My stand on Yeoh Li Tian

I got one comment that I should not attack Li Tian that I deleted. Ref: Here. 

The implication being that I am favouring my own son and therefore biased. That is not the case and I will explain why here.

This was what I said to the Chief Arbiter during Penang Open. I told him that I rarely want to get involved in the disputes of others especially if they are adults. I live by a strict personal code of conduct which I established for myself a long time ago. I only certainly get involved under 2 conditions. One is if my family is attacked and two is if my business is attacked. Under those two conditions I will fight those who think they can take those liberties with everything I've got.

So lets go back to a few other instances when I got involved to examine closer. I got involved when Sumant was attacked after he won the SEA games selection in 2011. At that time FGM was still under development. And I got involved when FM Paulo Bersamina, our training partner was attacked in Indonesia Open. Why? Because they were members of FGM then. And when they are a part of FGM, I will defend my players and allies. That is my job as the owner of FGM.

But I also place a strict caveat to my actions. I will only defend them when they are in the right.

So lets go back to the Li Tian case again now that this is clear. As I have said in the comments on the link above, Li Tian is much stronger as a player since the beginning of this year.

Now can anyone say that this was not as a direct result of the exposure he received representing the Country at the expense of other players? Was he not sent to the Olympiad when he was still a weak player? Do you remember his results from the Olympiad? Was he not the only Junior quietly sent to the Zonals this year at the expense of other National Juniors?

Question. Has Li Tian ever won National Juniors? What was his best result when he played in 2010? No.7 or No.8. Has he ever won National close? He didn't even qualify.

Yet he has benefited from the exposure without ever winning any major selection tournaments. So he has benefited from the Country by robbing from other more deserving players. So personally I see no reason to celebrate his so called successes. Actually he lost to the top 3 players at NC and he was sent to the Olympiads instead of them.

FGM as a chess Academy will celebrate the success on any player if it was won in a fair contest. And I tell my players this. If you lose in a fair contest, accept your loss and then resolve to work harder, better and smarter. But there must be a contest to be fair to ALL the trainers/coaches who have worked hard too.

But if your loss is a result of back door manueverings, false attacks, tainted selections or tournaments, then it becomes my business, FGM business.

So I am not attacking Li Tian, Jimmy or Peter. I am merely against what they are doing to destroy Malaysian chess by taking away from what others have worked hard for unfairly. I am against the system of back doors in sports. And I am against all this because it affects FGM players.

This is one of the very few avenues we have left for a level playing field and I think it is important that we try hard to preserve the essence of healthy competition in chess.

Is it clear now?

If Mark is to lose because he is not the better player, I fully accept. If Polgar is the better chess Academy by producing better players I accept. But if you attack my players with threats, intimidation and cheating, I do not accept.

When you pay the bills you are the boss except.....

This post is inspired by some of the questions raised by State Associations when they are running National events as seems to be the recent trend.

There was a case of a recent National event where a controversial Chief Arbiter was "appointed" by MCF and some other States were concerned about fairness. And then I was informed that this Chief Arbiter put down conditions that he did not want the State Association to appoint a Tournament Director since this means that he could be over-ruled in the event of a dispute over the running of the event.

So lets consider this case a little more carefully. The State Association running this event was not only the organiser but also the sponsor of the event. This means they pay the bills. They pay the Arbiter his fees. That simply means they call the shots as far as appointments go. The only jurisdiction the Chief Arbiter has is in the technical ruling of the Tournament itself. He has no other power. And certainly not to object to the appointment of the Tournament Director.

An aside. It has been my observation in recent events that some State Associations have taken it upon themselves to do all the keying in of results as well as execute the pairings of their Tournaments. I can only assume that this means that there are concerns for the reputation of their events despite them paying for those arbiters. Ref: Here. So that means inflated costs.

Perhaps MCF can assist in getting more arbiters without those type of baggages into the system to bring down costs to the State Associations if the trend continues for them to host National/International events.

Simply put, when you pay the bills you are the boss. Within reason of course.

However there is one clear exception. See here.

It was explained to me that a certain person got the sponsorship for the Team to play Myammar chess. Consider this. If you are a sponsor, can you pay for your players to represent the Country? Can you buy the spots? If this is true then does it not lend credence to what this MOE official was talking about? Here.

This is one clear case of when even though you pay the bills for the event, you are not the boss. Chess does not belong to you. Representing the Country cannot and must not be bought. That constitutes fraud to the Chess community and a betrayal of our Country.

Think about it. How can we raise strong players so long as these practices are continued? Where is the incentive to learn to play good chess? Even the State Associations are twisting themselves to try to keep their events clean from the hands of certain Arbiters.

Surely these simple things can be sorted out for the good of the sport. All it needs is a little clear thinking and a little courage.

Fear and creativity cannot exist in the same space.

Please treat below as a simple exercise in logic. 

I believe this is a truism that is demonstrated in every chess game that has ever been played. And I believe almost all chess officials know this.

So after being in chess for as long as they have; after observing as many chess games as they have; I can only conclude that they must be trying to terrorise small kids for only one of two reasons. Either they are doing this intentionally to cripple their game or they must be incredibly stupid.

And if they are doing this intentionally they should not be officials. If they are stupid they should also not be officials. Not so long as the goal is to bring up strong chess players.

Creativity is necessary for good chess. Fear and creativity cannot exist in the same space. Therefore strong chess players and stupid officials also cannot exist in the same space.

It's as simple as that. Now do you understand why MCF will never be able to bring up strong chess players under the current climate and regime?

Check this out for another perspective on fear and creativity. Here.

We need to return Malaysian chess back to the Maharaja.

Then we will progress. So what do I mean from the title?

First lets look at this post. Here.

Actually many parents think this is a true story. Why do I say that? From the reactions. The vast majority will avoid my eyes when I bring up very obvious injustices. They seem to be saying I don't want to acknowledge this. And hopefully they won't do this to my child. A few parents will eye me with hostility. They seem to be thinking, my child is the beneficiary of the back doors so don't bring this up. A few more would get angry and rant and rave at the injustices. And after that they will go quietly into the night.

Even fewer still will get into MCF to try to change things but come up with knee jerk solutions which ultimately fail and then leave.

So this article is dedicated to the only parent I have spoken to in my many years in chess that actually engaged me with many insightful questions before forming an opinion. She wanted to know how come our chess officials are so short sighted. She wanted to understand the problem. And so for her this is my considered opinion.

Lets go back to the very beginning. It is said that chess was invented by the Maharajas to teach their generals about the art of war. And of course war is only one instrument of State. There are many other considerations that the Maharaja has to consider to develop a Country.

And today the art of war is also the staple of management studies. But the CEO has to bring in many other factors too in his considerations to develop his company within a highly competitive environment. For example, partnering others in order to defeat superior opponents.

Look at this article here.

This is what chess should teach. Was that not the original intention of the Maharajas?

But chess in Malaysia is ruled by the so called technicalists who have very limited ideas about development. So they keep cocking up. And in their desperation to show success they become what I called the failed trainer in the story right at the top. In Malaysia our problem is amplified because none of our trainers in MCF are current. And so we find much more distortions. Like making sure we have a President who has no interest in chess etc etc etc.

Consider this. If they are able to show genuine development will they want all these side shows? Will they need to try to intimidate the parents if they actually have solutions? Will they need the back doors?

We can only begin to find solutions and create proper policies when we understand the problem. But sadly we are still very far from this. We are still at the stage of denial. Only when we can own the problem from understanding can we get out of this rut.

Incidentally the parent who asked me those insightful questions is a foreigner. I was quite amazed at her quick grasp of the situation from the questions she asked.

So this article is dedicated to her. I hope I have given her the big picture from this post. It is easier to fill in the parts once we see the big picture.

In short the technicalists have used their limited understanding of chess to create war among the stakeholders in Malaysia. That is all they know. And without the other stakeholders our chess cannot progress. So we need to return chess back to it's original intention or we will keep stalling and be left behind.

Note: There are no mere technicalists at the head of any successful enterprice. Their views are just too limited. At the very top is the strategist, the "Maharaja", the CEO; The real chess players.

A perspective on problem solving.

Ref: Here.

It often amazes me that as a mind sport we have been unable to solve the simplest problems that have presented itself again and again and again for over 30 years. What we do is to try to shut out the people who dare to raise real questions while we happily say that chess makes you smart.

Now if the people at the top cannot solve simple problems and find improvements, then how can our chess players be any good? And if we still have the same problems 30 years down the road then how can our chess be producing smart people?

Boggles the mind yes?

Personal note: It is my opinion that as a mind sport we should be providing the lead to problem solving skills. And this is something that our Country dearly need at this juncture of our history. But what examples are we setting?

Real Chess, Blitz result from SEA games.

See this post. Here.

We need to send out our players trained and prepared to win no? I couldn't help but notice Irene Kharisma's picture on facebook with her gold medal from SEA games together with her psychology consultant and technique trainer.

What do we do here then that we can go out hoping to win a medal? Isn't it a little delusional if we have not done much? Can that explain why we went for Myammar chess; hoping for a medal to disguise our failure in real chess development? Ref: Here.

And who do we use for the little training that we have? I have always said we need to learn from those that are still fighting in today's chess. The opinions of people who had some success from some decades ago and who still think they are Ferrari's are misguided. The opinions of the people who played some chess and had a little success on the National level but do not dare to compete anymore for over a decade are not relevant.

The game has changed drastically even in the last 2 to 3 years.

The difference to changing our fortunes lie in better and up to date training. here.

An aside. I had an interesting conversation with a Singaporean Coach during Penang Open. He has decided to breakaway from the Singapore mainstream development program under SCF. I asked him why. I was curious since I also find myself heading in that direction. He said Singapore was top 30 in world ranking 20/30 years back but now it is 100 something. (not very sure if I remember the numbers correctly so treat this as an analogy).

His argument went like this. If we follow the mainstream and they are disappearing off the world ranking charts then that will also happen to us if we are tied to them. Hmmmmm, made sense to me. Btw that coach has produced very young IM's recently. So I do give his opinion some weightage. The answers are all in the results. (that is provided they don't ban the players that want to play strong chess and not want their back doors of course)

An interesting conversation.

Ref: Here.

Do follow the comments here. If you want to participate please remember you need to put down a name for your comment to be approved. And I also do not allow profanities. So if you have an intelligent insight or comment and not just crazy ravings do join in.

Quote from facebook.

The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.

SEA games chess results for Malaysia.

Ref: Here.

Yes, we got a bronze medal. But really there is a question here. That question is what chess event did we get a medal in? I am informed that this medal is won in Myammar chess, a game only played by a couple of Countries. It is not in International chess which is what MCF was formed to promote and develop in Malaysia.

A wild conjecture. Since if other Countries don't play at this event then it cannot be in the SEA games, they will need willing victims to play so that they can grab more golds yes? I mean it won't look right if Myammar was to win all the medals if only Myammar was playing no? So I think it's fair for them to donate a bronze to us for our generosity. Or do you think that's too much of a conspiracy theory?

There is another question of course if we look even deeper. For the players that went to SEA games to play Myammar chess, would they get a certificate of merit of playing for Malaysia? Was there a selection or was this a side deal? Would those players now be able to use those certs for their further education application to Universities? Would their certs say Myammar chess or just chess? Can be misleading no?

And what would happen if the Universities were to find out that our chess certs can be misleading? Ref: Here.

And finally is this fair to the real chess players that MCF was formed to develop?

Penang Open and a postmortem of results.

Remember I said that I believed that Yit San has the potential of being the strongest player in Malaysia in a year or two? Ref: Here. Let me try to explain further.

Ref: Here.

What do you see from the results? What I see is that he is able to punch above his class. That means he can beat players higher rated than him while not losing or drawing to players lower rated than him. Those are necessary ingredients for a successful run ie traction. And that can only be accomplished by daring to play in open tournaments.

If you compare that to the top rated Malaysian player in Penang Open, you will see that that player cannot beat players higher rated than him. And he is still drawing with players lower rated than him. Especially now that he has achieved a 2300 rating. He has missed the necessary development work when he was lower rated by only playing in select tournaments to reach his 2300 rating.

Do you understand what I have been saying now?

Many do not remember that Yit San actually beat that top rated Malaysian player at National Close this year. And not many remember that he was losing tournaments for a whole year when he started using new weapons in his games before he made National Junior Master for the first time in 2012. And that took courage and fighting spirit.

So what about my report card for Mark since his come back to chess this year after a layoff for a year and a half for STPM? In the past Mark was able to beat some higher rated players. But he also had another problem. He sometimes drew and even lose against lower rated players. Plus one and then minus one means you are not going anywhere. No traction. So that was the goal of this run of tournaments. His job was to make sure that those weaknesses were eradicated. The goal was no more draws or losses with lower rated players. And as far as I can see, we have accomplished that goal by the end of Penang Open.

Now we can fully focus all our energies on beating higher rated players again. 

Do you not think that is the correct route to developing players?

Getting a high rating by only playing in select tournaments has a big price. And you pay that price when you reach a high rating without learning how to beat lower rated players during the rating climb. For it is those lessons that you draw on to beat higher rated players further up the road.

As we can now see, that "top" player is still drawing with lower rated players now that he is a 2300 and his drawish weapons don't work to win anymore now that he is 2300. And that is a problem isn't it? Isn't he stuck? Unless that problem is solved, there is no way to do a GM run or maybe even an IM run in today's chess. He just doesn't have the developed weaponry. And when he tries to win now, he will lose rating. For when you try to win, you can lose too. And that lesson is best learnt while your rating is lower. Much less painful.

Now can you see the damage done to him by the people who took him down that road? Now do you see how our gifted and talented players are broken?

Evaluation from National Junior just before Penang Open. Here.

The training prior to National Junior and Penang Open. Here.

How to select a chess coach. Here.

Off to Penang Open and some comments.

This will be the second part of our 2 tournament run of NJ and now Penang Open for this year. Previous to this run was Malaysian Open. I prefer to space out our tournament runs so that my team have time to do a proper postmortem after the runs and then followed by fine tuning or if necessary even an overhaul of the training program.

And then we train again. When we feel that we have been able to correct our weaknesses then we do another run to test if the training has worked or not. I am not inclined to subjective opinions or claims. So how do I evaluate? Yes. By the results. And only that.

And that is why clean tournaments are important for the progress of Malaysian chess. And that is why cooked Fide ratings, back door selections and dubious claims of being the best together with dubious tournaments is a crime against Malaysian chess.

Look back, think back. Is that not how almost all of our previously strong players have been weakened?

They start out strong. 

Then they are told to kow tow to the seniors. Wait for your turn they are told or you will be attacked. They are also told that they must kow tow to the officials by not complaining if side doors are used, if they think there are fixed tournaments. Keep quiet. Or you will not be selected. Or we will ban you.

And so the strong have been terrified into being the weak. The lions become kittens. Then we send them out to fight for Malaysia. Is there any truth to what I say?

Has it been about the quality of chess or has it been about little Napoleans protecting their power? Has it been about building strong chess players or making money from new and naive parents?

Lets think of this a little more. If they are strong they will not need to avoid tournaments where their weapons cannot fire. They will not avoid playing International age groups because suddenly the whole world can see the the touted lion can only mew among his peers.

The only thing that is good about that is that it perhaps generate some business for the Fide rating sellers.

The only real basis for evaluation is a clean fight in a proper tournament. Wake up and look at what they have done to Malaysian chess. And do you wonder why, like I do sometimes, that they seem to be so proud of that fact?

Ref: Here.

Now do you understand why we are not worried about those players? It is only a question of time and correct training for when we will catch up with them. 

We only "worry" a little when the lion can roar. For then it will be a question of speed of learning. Who can learn faster. Who can learn without resistance and who can drop subjective opinions.

Underlying all this is, who has the greater amount of fear of change? The essence of competition. And chess is a mind game more than it is a technical game. U think?