I would like to thank Jimmy for highlighting Mark's weak game.

Ref: Here.

Thank you Jimmy for highlighting Mark's weak game at NJ although we have already taken note of it and working out the solution even as we speak. That is the point of the Junior's game isn't it? Gaps in their knowledge. But if they are to continue to work on their weaknesses they will continue to improve and one day soon be able to take on the senior players like Mas and Yee Weng in chess. Unless they are knocked out by the type of psychological attacks you are now famous for conducting, of course.

But out of curiosity I wonder why you didn't put up your own student's game with Mark or for that matter Peter's student? I do have those games with me but I wouldn't subject them to this sort of public attack. It is not my intention to embarrass anyone. So this begs the question of why I put up Li Tian's game doesn't it? And I will answer that question here. But let me first address some other minor points.

With regards to the Zonals, I wrote to Casto Abundo, the chief arbiter at the Zonals about entry requirements. He told me that the PSC Championship (where Kian Hwa played) was Open but the Zonals needs MCF's endorsement. So there is a contradiction in both Peter's and your assertion that the Zonals was Open too. So why that blatant lie? What are you trying to hide from the chess community?

Actually it is precisely because of the weaknesses I found in the few remaining lines that Mark plays that I decided not to apply for the endorsement from MCF. I felt the time would be better spent working out the kinks here.

So the question that was asked to you from one of your anonymous comments still stands.

So back to the Li Tian question. Firstly I never claimed Mark to be the strongest Junior. But I note his achievements accurately. He was NJ and U18 no.2 in 2010, NJ no.4 in 2011 and NJ no.6 in 2012. I am in no hurry for him to rush his chess. I am satisfied with his journey so far taking into consideration the realities of Junior chess where they have to balance many other priorities.

So why did I bring up Li Tian's game? You see, Li Tian's journey is very different. Li Tian's journey comes from a claim of strongest Junior without ever winning a Junior tournament. His journey is based on dubious numbers and an equally dubious PR campaign with dubious games.

His journey was made at this cost to the Malaysian chess community. In order to promote Li Tian, you attacked the National training for the Juniors given by FGM, you attacked my partner at the time, you attacked our sponsor. Li Tian's bypassing of selection was bought at the cost of you attacking Zhuo Ren, attacking Sumant and Mark all because we tried to provide training for SEA games selection. And Sumant actually had the audacity to win without your approval. Li Tian and you stole the place to the Olympiads from the players who did well at the Olympiad selection, Eng Chiam and Syazwan's place.

Now why is it important for me to bring up this topic apart from the fact I will not allow you or anybody else to steal Mark's dreams and aspirations from him? It is up to him to decide whether he wants to pursue chess or not. Not you or Peter.

So let me also tell you the current realities. A major hot topic now is that there is a racist agenda in selection. It was first raised after Li Tian's sponsorship to China and which I defended Li Tian against that accusation. But this accusation is becoming more and more widespread and strident since the Olympiads. So I try to show on my blog, that it is not racism. You simply attack anything or anyone red, white or yellow who stands in your way to the free trips playing for Malaysia. You and Peter attack anyone you feel may be an impediment to your chosen one's back door entry or may lose to in a real tournament.

Now this is a cost too heavy for our chess community to bear. More so now that some of Li Tian's tauted big wins are suspect and he cannot even stand against local players in selection but need the back doors. We want our children to be able to play chess and be selected to progress based on their chess understanding and not to be subjected to your politics. 

It is also my strong belief that if these accusations of racism is not addressed and a fair selection process introduced then ALL of us will face future repercussions created by you and your supporters actions.

And it is not easy Jimmy, try as I might to reason with them that this is not the case, some of them seem to apply your non ability to reason out this issue.

We all know that Li Tian is strong baring the times he plays openings he is not familiar with as we can also see from the Zonals just like most of our other top Juniors. Yes, I had a full SWOT briefing this morning. But this is the how the game is played isn't it? Normal stuff. We are just benchmarking ourselves against the "strongest" Junior in Malaysia.

And we also know that some of the Fide ratings in Malaysia are not accurate but cooked. We too have been invited to those sessions but we declined the invitation. I am happy with the number that best describes Mark's journey in Open and tough tournaments. I don't like artificial anything.

Fyi, I know that you and Mok were busy taking down Mark's games at NJ. So there is no need to say you got the games from "someone". I have no problems with that. In fact I took it as a compliment since the both of you spent 3 whole days there doing just that. Take whatever edge you need.

A last point. From the games Li Tian played at the Zonals, I think he will have a very tough time winning his place at selection to SEA games. Even from the last NJ and the tournament we recently played in Penang, the Juniors have moved up a few notches during the time we took our one year sabbatical for STPM. I think even the coaches in Penang will run rings around you and Peter should you "guys" ever dare to play in a selection again. Face facts, you guys are now dinosaurs. You are far far far behind the times. Let's meet at NC this year if you want to prove me wrong. Like I have said before, you can bring Peter, Mok and even Li Tian along this time so you guys can play tag team. I don't mind. It's just chess. Chessischess.

And if even that is not enough for you, you can choose the arbiter too. You know who I mean. I don't mind. Chessischess.

Or are you hoping to swindle the same free entries for SEA games again this year, without having to play selection and with the use of The President's choice?