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.