Philippines- 2013 National chess championship-semi finals-mens division.

Ref: Here.

This is how GM's are made.

I remember my good friend Norlito explaining the structure to me but perhaps I was a little distracted then since I can't recall exact details. His son is Paulo Bersamina, the National Junior Champion there and Mark's training partner. If I remember correctly, a number from this tournament (more than 3 for sure) will go on to meet the GM's. And they have many there. Iron sharpen iron. And from there they select the Olympiad squad.

In Malaysia, we have now reached the stage where our top IM's are at the same level as a player trained in China who was only a 1900 during our recent National Close. Isn't that a huge wake up call for us all? But what are we doing now instead of figuring out why we have dropped so far and how we can reverse this trend?

Recently I heard somebody defending the past record of MCF. Boy oh boy.....

Before I forget, Good luck Pau. May the force be with you.