Comments of updates (in red) on Jimmy's spin.

Ref: Here.

The exclusion of Nicholas was already a foregone conclusion. This has happened in the last Olympiad as well and have been reported here. So this should come as no surprise to Jimmy.

Jimmy, the fact is you have had a hand in all of these manipulations. So don't even try to wash your hands of this and shift the blame. I hope Nicholas makes a report. There is COS as well. My point is that without a protest from the affected players themselves then this will continue.

And in a full investigation I am very confident that Jimmy will be identified as a co-conspirator in the attempt to fix the Malaysian team. I would love to be a witness and help to direct to where the evidence can be gotten to put these guys away for good.

Additional note: The number of players that would attend the Masters was already known during National Close itself. Go back to my posts just after National Close. So Jimmy is talking rubbish and trying to cover his tracks. Check the timeline of events.

The "unofficial" "official" reply from MCF.

Ref: Here.

As I said twisting and turning. One official announcement and then a quiet one by Haslinda and then another quiet one by Tse Pin. Was that deliberate? You decide.

The Olympiad is the biggest event on the Malaysian chess calender. All events lead to that. So we can have clarity for all the events leading to but not for the big one?

Of course we know that Jimmy is not official but has not evidence shown that he has access to information and games from the officials? Did he not put up many of Mark's games to try to put him down in public? How did he get those games if he is not in collusion with some people in MCF?

So he must think we are all stupid.

And what kind of argument is this? Principled in one decision, unprincipled in the next and then principled again. In Malay they call this pusing pusing or main main until they get the players they want.

And then an anonymous comment asking for Mas to play to make up the racial composition.

Why should anybody accept your so called charity when they have won by right? Fadzil won. Why invite Mas? Do you think all chess players are beggars like you? 

We win, we play. We meet the criteria set by the Association for incentives, we get the incentives. Real chess players do not beg. Just because you have lost your dignity years ago Jimmy, do not think for one moment that all of us are like you.

So you can simpan.

The deal.

From my observations and conversations over the last 10 years this is my conclusion of how to strike the deal to play chess for Malaysia. So do take note if you want to be a crony.

You have to agree to pass the point when it is your turn. So for instance, I will pass you a point to make you NM and you pass me a point to make me look good so I can pitch to be the Coach for the National Team. This way we all look good.

If you agree, then we will do this for you. We will knock out all the real chess players in your way for you. We will fix their pairings, we will make sure that the selection criteria is ambiguous and so if you don't make it we will twist it in such a way that you will still slip in. We will attack them and intimidate them for you. Not to worry, we have had many many years to perfect our art. We know what we are doing and we are very creative at our job.

So that is the deal if you want to make the senior squad. Now you know and so you can decide if that is the way for you. Or not.

A cautionary note. There are only so many places on the senior squad and there are many who thought they had a deal and have played ball but didn't get in. Whether you get the real deal or not depends on how much they need you and how low you can get to carry their balls.

At least you can now make informed choices right?

But there is a flip side and a price. Those people didn't struggle to get their places. They didn't work out why they cannot win without the fixing. If you look closely they have traded away the very thing that they need to do well on the International circuit in search for the shortcut into the National Team. They traded away their courage and fighting spirit. They traded away their dignity and self confidence.

I don't know about you but that is too heavy a price to pay for me and mine. I refuse to trade away something that will help me for the rest of my life for that short term gain.

There is no place for you if you want to progress based on your chess skills alone. You need the deal.

So strip away your illusions and stop looking at all the chess greats from around the world and those that visit us in our Country. We have long given up on the dream of a strong Malaysian player who can stand tall in the International circuit. We have given up the dream based on our actions although in words we still say we want a GM etc.

I promise you that there will be less heartache that way. Those deal makers are not real chess players. They come from a cartoon show. Don't pin your hopes on them. They have nothing over their International competitors. They have already been broken at home.

ps: If you still want the deal, write in to me and I will give you the names of the deal makers. There are a few of them so I hope you are prepared to carry many balls. Pardon my french.

What did they take from Fadzil Nayan?

Earlier this year as we were playing at a tournament in Perak to prepare for this year's National Close, Fadzil spoke to Mark and explained how the scholarship system works. Without that understanding it would have been hard for me to explain to the University authorities and get a scholarship for Mark.

Basically he told us that the Higher Education Ministry awards a stipend based on results from SUKIPT as well the Olympiads. Fadzil won the gold for SUKIPT and he was gunning for the higher stipend for representing Malaysia from the Olympiads.

So what are your thoughts on this matter? Did Fadzil deserve a fair shake? They already have our games. And still they cannot win without "extra help"?.

Does the selection committee care about the players hopes and dreams? About all the hard work that went into the game or do they have a separate agenda besides wanting what is best for Malaysia?

This morning somebody PMed me and said to lodge a police report with him. But I said no simply because it would be hard to explain how the fixing is done. Many tournament players themselves don't really understand how they can be cheated right in front of their eyes.

Furthermore, there is also this question. Lets use an analogy here. Say my neighbour's house was robbed. Is it the responsibility of my neighbour or me to lodge the police report? I can give a witness account if I saw anything but my neighbour should report the robbery yes?

And was this not daylight robbery?

I stand here today to say that I will act as a witness if asked but Fadzil must report the crime himself.

And I hope he does. These people have taken too many liberties from us in the past. Right now I can honestly say I wouldn't mind seeing some of them in prison. Enough is enough. This must stop for the sake of all our future players. For the sake of Malaysian chess. For the sake of Malaysia.

Let's hold those people accountable.

Malaysian Masters final results with comments.

Ref: Here.

I am wondering if anyone thinks the results are fair?

This is my view. The fixing has just gotten more sophisticated. In the past it was just pure intimidation by Jimmy and friends with the collusion of certain MCF officials.

So historically, they attack any training for the Juniors. They will attack the Juniors directly too as was seen with Sumant and Zhuo Ren when they trained for SEA games 2010. At the State level they manipulate the pairings to enable points to be passed as tag team players in individual events. They also do things like not give any incentive to Mark like they do all the players who have achieved the criteria set by the State Association in National tournaments. So in the past it was intimidation or non recognition to try to demotivate you.

But from this National Close, they now seem to close a blind eye to cheating when it is done to certain players. And then they change the criteria again till they get the players they want. And this is very very very unfair and will come to a no good end.

Let me explain further. The Olympiads is an Open team tournament. That means it is not a closed tournament like the Malaysian Masters where you can do special preparation. What does this mean? This means it is very difficult to prepare for your opponents at the Olympiads and so the first masters tournament is the best selection criteria as it simulates actual conditions at the Olympiads. But they now have 2 attempts to get Fadzil's games to knock him out (From NC and then from the first Masters tournament). Yit San will not have this condition at the Olympiads. He cannot lose there and then ask for a replay till he wins.

He did not make the cut and so he should not have a second chance with additional help. (I strongly believe that his weakness of being unable to win in open tournaments without all the "extra help" will show up at the Olympiads).

I maintain that the team should be the top 4 (including Fadzil) and Yee Weng. That would be our best team. Anything else is manipulation pure and simple.

I hope you can see from this why we need to get Jimmy, Peter and Eddy out of the system as well as the MCF officials backing their agenda to put in players that they want and not the players that are the most deserving from Malaysia.

How much damage have these people done to Malaysian chess over these past few years that we have been following together. I hope you can see clearly now that these people are the main reason why Malaysian chess is at the level it is.

They do not recognise hard work, training and chess skills. All they know is how to put in the people they want by changing the goal post and fixing. And this is bad. Very bad.

Special note: There is also an information disparity. Only the cronies have access to all the players games. Both Fadzil, Mark etc etc have no access to their games whereas they can prepare for us since MCF will give the cronies our games. But still we fight with one hand tied behind our backs. And even this advantage is not enough for them it seems. And these are the players that are going to fight for Malaysian honours??!!!

Malaysian Masters Winners with comments.

Here.

Congratulations to the winners. It does look like all the extra tournament exposure that Li Tian had gotten over the rights of others for years is finally paying off. I do hope that this will be the end of his back door days and he will strive to only claim what he is entitled to get from this point onwards.

He had a hand up. But that is water under the bridge now, I hope. Surely he won't need any further advantage and those behind him (by twisting selection criteria etc) will finally allow for a level playing field. Let him fight for his own place now. If you still keep opening doors for him without him deserving it, it will only weaken him in the end. Then he will end up like Jimmy, Peter and Eddy.

I think the results is quite representative of the players current skills.

ps: Btw, I think Fadzil has proven himself in this tournament. So he should qualify for the Olympiads too. Please understand that Fadzil did this run with no help from anyone and achieved this result based purely on his chess skills. So he is very deserving and will be an asset to the Malaysian team.

If there is to be another playoff then let it be the last 2 against Yee Weng. Clearly there is something those last 2 players have yet to understand about chess.

Malaysian Masters and some comments.

Ref: Here.

First off let me congratulate Fadzil for making the squad. To me he is one of our true fighters. He got in from the front door and truly worthy of respect.

You guys know who the back door artists are. It is very transparent. Were you able to guess that after all that twisting and turning that Li Tian would get to play? It was quite obvious yes?

While I still wish the back door boys well when they play for Malaysia, I cannot say that I believe that they will become strong and win us honours. They just haven't paid the price. As I have said before, I believe they will go the same way as Jimmy, Peter and finally Eddy in the end. They are on the same road and that road leads to kangkung land as it's final destination. We have had 30 years to see where that road leads to.

It's that simple.

Meanwhile I wish the players there a clean fight and may best the best players win.

I wonder what X-files is all about.

Ref: Here.

A few months back an MCF Official called me and asked me for my view of the current Fide contest for the Presidency. And I said this to him. The contest should be seen as the contest for the post of Secretary-General of Fide. The President is usually far removed from the day to day running.

And so I told him about my meeting with Ignatius Leong last year in Singapore when I was concerned that Peter may be trying to control certain tournaments in this region. I told Ignatius of my concerns and asked if it was possible for Fide to monitor the situation and do the necessary correction if they can get solid evidence to confirm my suspicions. I left that meeting with Ignatius believing that he would not help to facilitate an investigation.

So my opinion given to that MCF Official was that it may be an idea to support Abundo for Secretary-General. I don't really know Abundo that well but from what I can see, I think he could be a straight shooter. Anyway what have we to lose by giving him a chance?

Peter's sudden strong support of Ignatius further deepen my suspicions. After attacking Ignatius for years he suddenly does an about turn. And don't you find that the writer of that letter purportedly signed by 10 Federations suspiciously like the anonymous bloggers that appeared in Jimmy's blog once?

Therefore I find no credibility for Ignatius when he has Peter's strong support. The opposite in fact.

My point is this. If we really want to raise our standard in chess, we need to do it by raising our game. Not by trying to fix tournaments and trying to make our weak players appear strong.

That would be the wrong way for our region to go.

You cannot try to break the fighting spirit of the players and expect them to be strong.

You cannot try to break the fighting spirit of the players and then expect them to be strong. You cannot allow them to progress via back doors and match fixing and then expect them to be strong. That just doesn't work.

Chess is a mental sport where you need courage to go for the win. You need an unfailingly questioning mind to find solutions. You need to develop the correct thinking methodologies and you need discipline. Then you need a strong sense self confidence that can only come from having surmounted many trials and tribulations without cheating.

I wonder why MCF cannot see this. They allow people like Jimmy, Peter and Eddy to hammer the players who refuse to take the back doors by spreading lies and slander and welcome only those that have been beaten down and broken till they too make public statement of lies.

Only when they become a clone/crony will they be allowed to play for Malaysia. Otherwise they will be fixed.

And then they need all these promotional tools to try to make those weak players seem strong.

So let me ask you a question MCF?

Isn't it better to stop the back doors and develop real players than be trapped forevermore in trying to fix tournaments to make weak players seem strong?

Doesn't that save a lot of energy in the end? All that energy that is now used to try to hoodwink people could have been channeled into developing real players.

And you know what. If you do it this way, you too, every single one of your officials can stand tall and shine and bask in the good work that you have done. The Malaysian chess community would be proud of you. I would want to have my picture taken next to you. The real sponsors will want to be associated with a winning team.

Isn't that much better than what you are doing now? Hiding and twisting in the dark. Just wondering. Why do you insist on torturing yourselves this way. Don't you have the courage to stand up to the bullies? Don't you have the self confidence to stop being a bully?

You want our players to fight in International tournaments with rules and win. But what is the example you are setting for them? How are you moulding them?

It is quite apparent MCF.

It is quite apparent that the methods of Jimmy, Peter and Eddy will not produce any strong players for Malaysia. Just look at them. One cannot play strong chess anymore and is full of excuses, the other is too afraid to play anymore and just throw abuses from the sideline and the last fella plays at 1300 level but talks like a loud mouthed GM.

What do they really know? How to match fix? They are fear ridden people hoping to make all our players into their image.

What has happened to our last crop of Juniors under their onslaught of intimidation etc? Can you not see the trend of them becoming just like those 3 above over time? What has the last few tournaments shown of their progress under the influence of those 3? What happened to those "strong" juniors at KL Open? Here.

Let me try to use an analogy here.

When a Country/Company is intent on progressing they want their human resources courageous, able to ask sensible questions and think. This is so that the Country/Company can compete.

On the other hand, if the Country/Company is just intent on fleecing then they want their human capital frightened and afraid to ask questions. For obvious reasons.

Simple enough an analogy. Do you agree?

So which type are you MCF? Which type will produce the strong players?

I think you need to decide if you are willing to protect the few potential strong players you have left after the work of Jimmy, Peter and Eddy (with some hidden help from among MCF itself) or if you want them to complete the job of wiping out any strong players we have left.

If you do nothing, in 30 years time we will still be where we are today. Look carefully at those 3. Can you see our players future in them? Will they be able to bring their methods into the International arena? And even if Peter succeeds will we be proud of those players?

Think on this and then change yourself into an organisation that will build our players up rather than protect those that are taking us to Timbuktu for another round.

Over to you. Your move.

What is happening at Bangkok Open?

Ref: Here.

I only see one Malaysian playing there. And I think he is one of the the top students from our local chess university.

In the past Penang has always sent a large contingent of players. But from what I hear many Malaysians are distancing themselves from anything associated with Peter Long. I wonder if the organisers there are aware of this situation.

How can one man do so much damage? With a little help from his few cronies perhaps? Boggles my mind. I wonder what kind of person will sabotage and look down on the strongest players from his own Country?

Langkawi and after with a report of conversations about KL Open on the island.

Results here.

Langkawi is our last tournament until we have settled all of Mark's University matters and we have a proper gauge of his new workload before we look at the time left over and plan for his further chess development.

Ref: Here. This is how we approach things.

But something is happening. At the opening of Langkawi, the organisers took great pains to refer to the Fide playbook and made mention of the need for all players not to bring the game of chess into disrepute.

Note: I did not have any prior conversations with the organisers on this matter so this must be a concern that they too have concluded on their own.

I was asked by a few people about Mark's withdrawal from KL Open and I told them what happened. Ref: Here.

With the unresolved controversy surrounding the National Close which was followed by KL Open many more are starting to join the dots and many questions were asked. So let me recap a little about the National Close first. Here. The glaring point there was why did the arbiters impose the condition on the player suspected of using a chess engine going to the toilet with an escort only when that player was playing an MCF official and not others. I said there were suspicion on 3 occasions that I know of. And many witnesses were present.

And so when I was asked about my opinion of KL Open. I said that it was a showcase tournament. That is the only possible reason I can see for the exclusion of many strong players in Malaysia which could tarnish the show that Peter wants to present.

Allow me to state here more directly what I see are the problems we are facing. We cannot get direct evidence for only MCF can actually get hold of that. That is quite impossible for us to get as we have seen in the past. And we cannot compel MCF to act. So all we have is circumstantial evidence. Here.

But there is a further problem I think. The law governing circumstantial evidence is civil in nature. I do not think there is a syariah equivalent. I could be wrong. And so if that is correct then I think certain people have made use of the loopholes to their advantage to divide the objections.

Example: I have repeatedly said that my reports here are eyewitness accounts of what happened to us. Similar to a witness making a police report. But that can somehow be turned into an accusation of fitnah. And so it may seem that there are no actionable grounds in syariah since we are unable to bring concrete evidence for that is protected by MCF. And so we are unable to mount a concerted objection using circumstantial evidence for the affected parties are separated by 2 sets of laws.

And the authorities with the power to act will close a blind eye. Something like the police seeing a crime in progress but will do nothing until a report is written. And after the report is given then do nothing about it or use the report to hammer the person reporting the crime. Ref: Here. Quite a quandary we are in isn't it?

I am going to be very bold here. I hope you will allow me to speak my mind. I think that is how the strong muslim players get sidelined too. There is virtually no protest from them although in Langkawi many asked me questions. I hope that those questions will lead to some positive action to change things from really understanding why we are so backward as a chess community.

Look, to fix tournaments, they need the cooperation of certain players and officials. These arrangement sets up unfair conditions as only certain players/officials are in on it. And we saw a number of incidences in action at KL Open and at National Close.

Please go here to look at the Vision and Philosophy of First GM Chess Academy again. Here. We have seen many similar slogans in the past. But let me say this. I mean every word of what I have written there. And I will not compromise on those stated aims and I think that is why they attack us the way they do.

We need a system that is not only fair but also seen to be fair. Right now I don't think we have that. And that will be the seed for future problems and I think if it is not corrected then politics will enter into the realm of Malaysian chess. And there will be genuine grounds. No genuine chess player with dignity wants to be the token anything. My belief is that the vast majority of the Malaysian chess community as a whole wants a level platform. And if you win, you win. And we will celebrate genuine winners. All of us.

But no more cronyism and no more match fixing.

That is my sense of what took place in Langkawi. I hope that will be the seed to building a strong Malaysian team in the future. No more kangkung teams that cannot win without crutches.

Ask yourself this question if you are the few remaining that are still not convinced. If they cannot play and win here without unfair assistance then how can they possibly stand up tall and fight for Malaysian honour. They have no honour and integrity themselves.

My 2 cents. Chess belongs to all of us. Not just those cronies. Do not honour winning by cheating. This include back doors. That is wrong and breeds kangkung players.

KL Open R8 results and some comments.

Here.

You really don't need a crystal ball to see what Jimmy and Peter are doing to our Junior players. And it is so easy to sucker desperate parents of around 1300 level or lower into falling for their traps.

I can very well see why they needed to remove Mark from the tournament even after guaranteeing him a place. Even after receiving his entrance fee and then having to return it.

You saw what happened when we got a GM to train our Juniors. You saw what happened to the junior players who trained for SEA games selection. And you saw what happened to the one junior player that succeeded in winning his place in the senior squad. The first Junior who did it via selection.

Do you really really really need more evidence before you can act on this? These 2 are the most toxic and destructive people in Malaysian chess. Anyone that goes near them is severely damaged. But lets give Eddy a special mention here too. He has been trying to do the same to Mark in Perak for years. So maybe that makes 3 toxic people in total. Hmmmmm, maybe more.

Read this again. Here.

Langkawi tomorrow then about a month's break from chess tournaments.

It has been a long journey starting from 2005 when Mark was U12 Champion of Perak to National Junior no.3 in Dec. 2013 and National no.8 in the recent National Close and now we need to take a short break.

I started out wanting to use chess to teach Mark about all these things. Here. But I think we ended up with even more valuable lessons. After Langkawi, Mark will begin his new life in University and then after that he will go out into the wide world as he starts his working/business life.

But he will now start his working life knowing what this world is really about. He will have fewer illusions. He has seen and dealt with the type of people he will meet again later in life. People who will try to steal his hopes and dreams, people who will try to deny him the fruits of his own labour. People who will try to tempt him with the shortcuts so he will lose his way.

However I think he has developed a much stronger character now so that it won't be so easy for them to do that.

More importantly I see that Mark has not grown bitter from his experiences with all those people. He has come to understand that it is they who are suffering. Nothing beats a clear conscience in life. Do no evil to others even if they do evil to you. Otherwise you end up just like them.

Stay true to yourself. Continue to believe in yourself. Do everything you set out to do with courage and fortitude and you will eventually meet success.

Those were the lessons I wanted for Mark. The real lessons. The rest, his success at Junior level chess were actually all secondary. Further down the road, it won't matter. Just like SPM is now over, STPM is now over. It is just a memory and wont amount to much in the larger struggle of life.

But what he has learnt from chess will help to carry him in any endeavour he chooses from this point onwards.

I don't think Mark will quit chess and we are merely marking a new phase in his life and we will need at least a month to prepare all the stuff he will need for his further studies.

We owe much to chess. It has taught us many valuable lessons in life. I believe we have fought the good fight. I only wish I could have helped more during my time in chess. But that was not meant to be. Too many frightened, fear ridden people in a kangkung culture.

A possible reason why Mark Siew was rejected from this KL Open.

This is pure speculation on my part as I cannot read their minds so I will present the facts and you can judge for yourself. From very early on I was assured that Mark would be able to play at KL Open. And I suppose they thought I should be happy with that outcome.

But I wrote back. I said I did not want special favours to enter KL Open. Put up the criteria and we will apply just like any other qualified player in Malaysia. And that begun a flurry of email exchanges etc. I have never accepted the back door in my life and this will not be the first time.

And so finally the money was returned to us at National Close. I think that was a good thing. Better not to play one tournament than to be turned into a kangkung is my view.

A conversation from KL.

I was just down in KL for a few days to talk to a few old friends and also to meet new ones. One of the friends were from my kindergarten days, one from my primary school days and so we had a lot to talk about. I also met a musician who has just taken up chess because she wants to learn how to think ahead.

But I am going to talk about one conversation in particular from my last trip to KL today. This person said, "Raymond, these people have been around from the beginning of history. Those that want it all without having to pay the price. Those that will attack our young. Those that will use their position and authority to suppress and destroy. Those who will never build anything in their empty lives.

They are simply there so that we can be strong. They are there so we can find the courage to stand up for what is rightfully ours. And they will always have their supporters who want the shortcuts too. We cannot stop them from their right to existence."

Point taken.

And so you will see that I have never asked for them to be banned. They are there to tell us what does not work. So let them continue for the next 30 years to see for themselves that Jimmy, Peter and Eddy will never take them anywhere good. That is their right and that is their tournament. They have made their choice.

What I am saying is that there is also the need of a space for players in Malaysian chess who want to do it the right way. Without cheating, without match fixing. There need to be a place for chess players who want to win purely on their chess skills alone. Who want to learn from the rich lessons of chess. Those that believe in training and competing hard in healthy competition.

What about them? Is there no place for them in Malaysian chess?

That is the question that I hope MCF will be able to answer,

Jimmy Liew leads the Malaysian field.

Here.

I was wondering what would be the outcome of the Jimmy versus Yit Ho game last round. So Jimmy won. But let us ask a question at this point. Do you remember the last Malaysian Masters? Jimmy lost to every single Junior who was there and came out dead last. Now he is leading the field. Is something wrong with the picture?

Let us consider this. I have presented this case many times before but I hope this time more people will be able to see my reasoning. The Juniors should be improving at a much faster rate. Last year every single one of them without exception wacked the daylights out of Jimmy. And today they flounder and seem lost.

WHY?

I have postulated that the only thing that can hinder our Juniors is the injection of fear. And fear is easily injected by someone you trust. Does that make sense? Fear cannot easily enter if you don't allow it to enter. But when you trust somebody who does not deserve your trust you allow them in. You allow the poison in. You allow the free points thinking it is a gift. You allow the match fixing thinking they are helping you. And the poison gets in.

And that crop of Juniors is then wiped out.

Are you seeing the picture now? Do you now understand why we would never deal with them? It is poison pure and simple. They do not have your interest at heart. They do not care about Malaysian chess. They are the poison we need to remove before Malaysian chess can take it's rightful place on the world stage.

And how they laugh and make fun of our players when they do succeed in implanting the fears. So how long more are you going to just sit there and allow them to continue this nonsense?

Do you trust your own judgement? Do you believe the evidence presented in front of your eyes? If you don't, if you lack the courage to see clearly, then chess is not serving you well. For chess is about courage, the ability to evaluate without fear or favour. And that is followed by the ability to respond with your move.

Where were our first clues in the making of kangkung players?

Where were our first clues that there is a program to make our players into kangkungs?

Do you remember when First GM organised the first training by a GM for our players going to Asean? Do you remember what happened? Did Jimmy not launch an attack of the training via his blog by the use of multiple anonymous sites? What could be his motive for not wanting our players to train under a GM before they go out to represent the Country? Would he have been able to teach our players better? Did he even want to help the players at all?

Or was it his agenda to stop anyone else from progressing that was not part of his crony group?

And the next clue? What happened when Zhuo Ren and Sumant trained at my house to prepare for the first SEA games that was open to selection? Were they not attacked until they made public apologies via the blogs? Did you not see the statements on his blog that told the Juniors to wait their turn or make enemies?

What was so wrong about training for a selection that invites this type of attacks? That invites bannings. Is it for the good of Malaysian chess or was it to promote one player at that time. If that player, Yeoh Li Tian is that good then he would have blown all opposition apart wouldn't he? Or can he be good only if nobody dares to train and compete with him or be attacked?

But where is Li Tian now? Look carefully at his run at KL Open. But more seriously what has happened to all the players that tried to train and compete?

Why aren't they mounting a fight at KL Open?

So really, who are those players at the KL Open? Are they our strongest players or are they the back door boys who can only progress after Jimmy, Peter and Eddy have knocked out all their competition?

We need to be clear on this for the sake of Malaysian chess.

And MCF, how much more evidence do you need before you try to help the players who dare to train and dare to compete?

Note: I submit that Malaysia will never produce strong players under the culture promoted by Jimmy, Peter and Eddy. And they may even have helpers within MCF.

And then you will continue to see Peter laughing at our players. Why? Because he has managed to destroy them. Don't let this happen to Malaysian chess.

Our current options are to join them and become kangkungs who cannot compete without the fixers or not join them and be attacked and banned. Those options are not good enough for our players. We need to be able to train and to compete without interference from those people before we can get our First GM.

What happens when our players know only how to draw?

I have written a lot about this. Go back to my many evaluations of Li Tian. Scared chess. Chess to just gain ratings. Jimmy Liew's brand of chess.

When you play to win, you can also lose. But that is the proper path to take if you finally want to break the kangkung level ceiling. They are drawing from the 1500 level onwards.

I am only speculating here since KL Open won't put up the games but I think that the rare wins against higher level players only happen when those players underestimate our players and try a high risk maneuver to break the draws.

Are you able to see how kangkung players are made?

Ref: Here.

So what is the cost? Here.

What is the cost of winning on borrowed points? What is the cost of match fixing? What is the cost of attacking and sabotaging our strong players in order to promote cronies? They were strong players once yes?

But tournament by tournament they are becoming more and more like the past crop of kangkungs. So who is responsible for bringing Malaysian chess to this type of low.

This culture needs to be changed or there is no use crying for a GM. And the people who promote this type of culture needs to be stopped. And MCF has that power and authority. But what are they doing instead? Is somebody in MCF actually helping to foster this kangkung culture? We need answers and then we need action for change.

Or we will still be crying for a GM for the next 30 years.

Question. Why did they return the money to us for Mark to play at KL Open? Isn't that the perfect place for them to show that I am talking nonsense?

This is what you are supposed to learn from chess. Here. Can you tell me what is so frightening about what I wrote in 2009?

The playbook.

Have you worked out what the roles of Jimmy, Peter and Eddy are yet?

This is my postulate.

Peter is the deal maker and he controls the tournament by limiting entries to only those that play ball or are not a threat to the show he wants to put on. (Do you remember some of the suspect tournaments he has held before?)

So what could possibly be Jimmy's role? Afterall he only plays around 2000 level. Maybe he is the point carrier. He could be able to offload a point or even two if he doesn't get knocked out too early. Has he ever played this role before? Check out the past Malaysian Opens as well as past National Close.

And Eddy? He has a horse in the race. Not a very strong one relative to the field but a horse nevertheless.

So is there a problem with this picture and with this collusion?

This is what I am also wondering. What about Li Tian? I think it will be quite a complicated affair to manage. I think it will depend on the strength of their teamwork and depth of mutual understanding. And so we will also see something about the age old adage of if there is any honour among thieves, I suppose.

But really, who are the beneficiaries? Would it be Malaysia or for a "chess university"?

Lets not speculate anymore since the hunger games is about to begin and we can see for ourselves. Do follow all the action. Here.

Too shortsighted.

The playbook of Jimmy, Peter and Eddy are just too shortsighted. The name of the game is to raise your game. Not to sabotage all the strong players in Malaysia just so you can promote only your own crony players. For if they accept the shortcuts, they will be of no use in a tough competitive environment overseas for they will have no practice in overcoming their fears by competing here and raising their game first.

This way they will continue to come back from representing Malaysia with a whole bag of their usual excuses as we have seen from the last 2 Olympiads. Then they will only dare to play in tournaments outside of public viewing. Didn't we see that this was what happened to our last crop of senior players?

And then they end up delusional and start dreaming that they are Ferrari's. Then they start to write anonymous notes to themselves telling themselves how great they are. Or they stop playing and just abuse others. Or they become 1300 loud mouth and practised liar. Go and see Eddy's performance at Penang Open last year. Here.

That is what happens when you become scared of competition and only know ways to match fix using our Associations etc.

Is that what we really want MCF? Or do we want players that can hold their heads up high and fight for our honour and Country by playing strong and clean chess by the rules?

We need to make this decision before we can move Malaysian chess forward. Or we will just be doing the same thing we have been doing for the last 30 years and expecting different results.

KL Open- Players List.

Here.

I think if we want to see how our previous crop of senior players eventually became kangkungs this would be an instructive tournament to follow. But I could be wrong of course. (They may get scared).

Why so few strong Malaysian players? What is the basis of playing at KL Open? Those are a few questions we can ask for starters.

Malaysian Masters and what we need to look out for.

Looks like it is on. Here.

There seems to be a good mix of players which perhaps represent the strongest players we have in Malaysia.

But I think MCF needs to be wary of one thing. It is not merely talent that we need. We need talent AND a strong fighting spirit.

So our NC was a problem that we should have looked into. Ref: Here. If there were strong suspicions of match fixing and we don't do anything about it, then we are only going to raise another crop of kangkung players over time.

I think we will soon have another opportunity to see how this works in the coming KL Open. There is a reason for the strong collusion between Jimmy, Peter and Eddy. And they will all be represented there.

I have experienced and seen with my own eyes what happens when they attack and break our Juniors to make them into mirrors of themselves. They don't want strong chess players. They want players they can control. And that is the problem.

Because those players are going to end up playing for Malaysia. We can all sit here and just watch and slowly wait till the poison finally works itself in and they all become so scared that there will be no difference between them and Jimmy, Peter or Eddy. Ref: Here. One is a 2000 IM, the other too afraid to play and the last one a 1300 loud/foul mouth.

These people will never produce strong players. Peter can try all he wants to control the tournaments in the region but we will never have a player we can be proud of this way.

So my point is this. We have both types now on the National squad. Those that have been broken by Jimmy, Peter and Eddy in concert and those that have not been broken and may become somebody worthwhile one day.

What MCF needs to be very aware of is how to protect those that will not agree to match fixing and willing to rise or fall purely on their chess skills alone. For it is those players that will eventually make us proud. If MCF is not careful the kangkung culture can infect the new crop of Malaysian players that are so far untainted or relatively untainted.

My 2 cents.