The case for increasing internal competition.

When I was in Kedah a few parents from Penang asked me about the value of the investment of going to Asean. So let me share my experience here. Mark represented Malaysia 3 times. Asean in 2010, Malaysia/Singapore in 2011 and Asian Youth in 2011.

In terms of learning, we learnt the most from Asean. And this was what we learnt. Being part of the official team we had the experience of seeing how the other top Juniors prepared for their games. This proved invaluable and we have been improving on this ever since.

In Asian Youth, it was more of a discovery than learning. What we discovered was that none of our players there had the weaponry to give our opponents a proper fight. So we had good preparation but wrong weapons (openings and responses). And so after Asian Youth we started on the journey to change our weaponry so that we will at least be able to take the fight to them when we next go out again. But 2012 was also STPM and changing the weaponry, getting it beta tested in local tournaments before it is ready to be stress tested in International Tournaments takes time. And so that is what we have been doing for this year after the year away from chess in 2012. And so far we are about 4 months into the beta testing stage.

Some of our friends asked us to go to HD in Vietnam and we were seriously thinking of going to Bangkok Open. But our major consideration was that until we have the weapons to put up a fight at that level there was no point going. So we decided not to go out yet. We have already had 3 overseas exposure and I didn't think anymore right now will change the outcome of us being thrashed without having worked those things through at home first.

So my answer to the parents from Penang. Yes, International exposure is good. It sets the benchmark. But after that we have to do the work in Malaysia to increase our chances before we go overseas again. It makes much more sense to me that way.

And to do that well, we need our strongest players in Malaysia to stay in the game to give us tough testing in Malaysia. Lets look at this again. Here. Mas, Ronnie, Tze Han and Roshan agreed to play. Jimmy, Yee Weng and I assume Mok too wants to form a cartel to pressure MCF to give in to their demands. This is not good. It looks like collusion to subvert and blackmail MCF. I wonder how MCF will respond?

What we really need are for these players to come back and play. Here. Iron sharpen iron.

Look, those 3 guys have not delivered in donkey years. But they have taken and taken from the Country. That is just plain selfish. And partly because of them needing special privileges we have lost so many strong players. See above link. The other players are simply not given a chance.

What is so wrong about playing for your place? If you are truly a Master, it will be a walk in the park for you. A good friend of mine in the Philippines has his son playing in the selection for Asean in the U16 right now and so far as from this morning he has won 6 out of 6 games with 9 more to go. Yes, 15 rounds played at 2 rounds a day. This is how they select. And this is just the Juniors.

And Jimmy, Yee Weng and Mok wants a "special" pass. This is wrong. Isn't that the main reason why we have almost disappeared from the chess world?

By playing and competing in Malaysia they also give back to the Country. Internal exposure; internal competition. Why do we need to travel overseas so often and spend so much energy and money when we can test many things here first just by encouraging our strong players to stay in the game? It's a massive drain on national resources.

All we need is proper selection as an incentive for them to stay in the game. If we can do that then when we do go out, we can go out with a chance to win after good beta testing at home.

Isn't that better?

Do read this again. Here.

And this. Here.