Selangor Open, the table has spoken again.

Ref: Here.

Please note that the run by Saptarshi was indeed a GM run. Have a good look at what it takes to do that. I have repeatedly stated that some of our Juniors have taken the route of developing weapons to win against their band and that this is by far the tougher route and their Fide rating will reflect the tremendous struggle to do that. For in learning to use win weapons they can also lose.

However Li Tian and some of our seniors have taken the route of developing draw weapons. An aside. The new youngster Baush has also taken the same route.

But without win weapons they will not be able to do a GM run when the time comes. So in actuality all are incomplete. Let me show you Jimmy's run in Selangor Open as an illustration. Here. Notice that Jimmy cannot even win against a player rated at 1915. Also see his final placing from his run here.

So this is a problem when they are developed that way. They can only win against high rated players who do not want a draw against them when they are lower rated and a few will have "accidents" against their draw weapons when they push for a win. But on the flip side they also cannot win against lower rated players that are content to draw.

Players who have developed via what I call as the Jimmy method of only having draw weapons will have big problems learning how to win and use highly volatile win weapons later when their rating is much higher. Think about it. Is it timely for Jimmy to change his openings now or when he was much younger and lower rated?

That is my point and why I have always responded when Jimmy and Peter have slighted the Juniors that have taken the tougher road in the past.

Now lets look at Peter's posting on this event. Here.  I think his posting is very ungracious. Of course the Juniors who have taken the tougher path look forward to playing Aron Teh at National Close. We welcome the competition against a China trained player. That is what healthy competition in chess is all about.

We would also welcome meeting Li Tian and Peter on the table at National Close too. Or in fact any IM that has not taken up the "Masters" tournament offer.

From now to National Close, Mark will be trained to respond better to drawing weapons in order to have better chances at National Close. So this is chess and learning the correct route to that GM.

Note: My opinion is that the selection criteria for the coming National Close and Masters is designed to protect a few way past their expiry date players. If you look at the field in Selangor Open as well as the field that went to Sabah Open, ref: here you will see that there are many players who can challenge the "Masters". So 3 places in National Close is a designed bottle neck to limit possible contenders or we will possibly see the complete revamp of the senior squad.

But MCF has made the ruling for 3 places at National Close and we accept the challenge. Iron sharpen iron.

Thank you for your time in going through this evaluation with me.

Special note to Jimmy. Despite me using you as a point of comparison and evaluation I deeply respect your courage in coming back to the table in open competition again. I especially thank you for that.