Why it is essential for us to change our chess culture if we are to succeed.

For 10 years since Mark was U12 Champion in Perak in 2005, I have watched with much incredulity at how our chess culture has affected our children. I was witness to the horrendous attacks on our top Juniors over the training for SEA games in 2010. I saw the viciousness of the blog wars where pure intimidation, lies and slander were spread. And no amount of clarification or evidence produced was sufficient to quell even more lies and slander from spreading. And they used our top kids as proxies in the "war". And we experienced fixing in one form or another from 2006 onwards. And these usually come from the top boards.

So over the years I have seen many potentially strong players drop by the wayside. I will try to explain why from my perspective. There is a character trait among our top juniors that make them particularly vulnerable to the type of attacks I mentioned above. Our top players are extremely intelligent and extremely driven to win. And I felt that we could use that drive to teach them this. Here.

But what are those people teaching them instead? In our current climate it does not take a genius to come to the very logical conclusion that they must cheat to win. If you don't do it, the other party will. This seems to be the inevitable conclusion if we follow the logic of our current climate and we do not have another purpose from chess.

This was aptly described during the blog war by a staunch Jimmy supporter from Singapore. Law of the jungle. Kill or be killed. No rules.

That is our reality. Our institutions are not working. In fact many seek office to get the power to give their players the extra edge against their opponents. And there is no redress. Or so it seems.

So let me try to offer you another perspective today.

During National Close I spent an evening with some old friends. I also met a new friend who works for SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd. He told me of his experience when he started working for an American company. After the submission of his first claim for expenses, the CEO returned his claim to him and asked him to read up the rules and claim his full entitlement. Not one cent more and not one cent less.

I am not sure if you can see the full ramification or implication of that "statement". In global businesses the culture is different. The Company doesn't try to cheat you out of your money. They want you to get everything you worked for, everything that you are entitled to. Why?

It is simply because their outlook is that they are working in partnership with their employees, they are working in partnership with their suppliers and their clients. Only by working together can they succeed against the other team. So nobody should be shortchanged.

So let's just quickly contrast that scenario to ours today. I was informed that a player disputed the final result that determined the Champion. Now this player is also on the National squad. Now imagine us sending out a team to the Olympiads that consist of these players. Imagine if the squad also had a member who came in from the side door.

Law of the jungle. Winner takes all and there are no rules and no redress. Cheat if you have to, to get in. And then we ask them to fight as a team for TEAM MALAYSIA.

But what is their experience of each other? Can they fight as a team in a team event? What do you think? Do you think trust is a necessary ingredient to function as a team?

Perhaps we cannot change other realities. But I think that we may succeed to change the culture in chess at least if we all work together. And why is this important?

I think it is very important because our top chess players represent our best brains in the Country. They have the greatest potential to rise high in our business world. And they have the best potential to become global players in many fields. So lets not disadvantage them because of our short sightedness. Because of our narrow self interests. And because we lack the courage to correct wrong doings or to think clearly in difficult situations.

Those kids are our collective responsibilty. They are being formed and moulded under our watch. Are we developing global players or are we creating Frankensteins that can never survive is a world with rules without cheating. For very simply they will likely end up in prison outside of this Country where they seem to be protected instead here. Their perspective and mindset is being formed by the reality they are currently in.

I hope we can think on this. What have they learnt about chess if they allowed/encouraged to cheat? Would they be able to bring those skills to the world stage without consequence?

Isn't this what they should be learning?  Here.

Growth and self development comes from trying all we can within the rules. We learn nothing from cheating or using the back doors. I think that was Michael's message in the post below. We grow and develop only by increasing our knowledge and skills and not by sabotage. Can you see that? Can you see the results of our past culture today? What type of players have we produced so far from this culture?

Strong chess and the need to introspect.

I wonder if we realise just how much the ability to introspect is related to our progress in chess. Let us look at some of our common scenarios first. We like to put the blame on others. Since coming to chess all I see are the fingers pointing all around but none pointing to themselves. So lets think a little about this today. Is it all their fault that we are not doing well today? Blame MCF, blame this and blame that.

But what about us? Do we not have a role at all? Do we not need to train, do we not need to be responsible in our posts? Do we not need to say something when we see something wrong going on?

That is what introspection does. It helps us to see the proportion of our own role within the drama/game. But this is the difficult part. For when we introspect we will come face to face with our own fears. So much so that even a simple question can start our minds screaming. That is the price we pay for self delusion, for trying to live in a bubble devoid of reality. And so we want to shut out any questions that causes the screaming in our minds. It does not matter if the question is asked softly or even gently. We hear it as a loud scream.

Can you see that? If you can then let us proceed to the chess part.

In chess we look for weapons that will trip you emotionally. To make your mind scream till you cannot see the board. This is what our opponents do when they compete with us. That is why we are not world class but can only be jaguh kampungs. Too much fear.

That is what all openings and variations simply are and do. We look at the technical aspects but we do not know which weapon to use for which opponent to trigger that fear in them. That part only comes from competitor analysis. And we use competitor analysis only when we dare to compete.

Otherwise what we do is to carefully prepare our tournaments with the right arbiters to manipulate pairings etc. We select only certain tournaments to hide our lack of skill. We arrange for the back doors because actually our players cannot play. We learn the art of manufacturing numbers to cast the illusion we are strong etc etc etc.

But the fact remains that we cannot compete on the world stage. Why? Because we do not dare to introspect. We do not dare to look at what we need to improve. It is much much easier to blame somebody else. So we try to change the whole world so we do not need to hear the screams in our minds, so we do not have to look at our fears.

My question to you today is if that is a sensible way of doing things. Do we change the whole world first before we change ourselves? Is that even possible? Why don't you just learn to introspect, face your fears and then when your opponent does try to trip your mind, they will find that you can still think for you would have conquered your own demons and cannot be deflected, distracted, manipulated, intimidated etc.

I believe that is the only doable way to improve and progress. Try it. I think it may even be easier than trying to make the whole world into your own image.

Note: Looking at it this way also helps us realise that competition is not so much about taking down the other but also about raising our game. This can also be called healthy competition. The competition with ourselves to improve ourselves. And the "opponent" is just someone we benchmark our progress against.

Have a look at this and see what you think. Here.

We need to identify the problem before we can find the solution.

You may realise that I do not overly protest the so called abuse of funds in MCF. Why is that? In reality the people who are working hard in MCF needs to be paid. That is the fact of life. But lets look at this a little closer today.

Actually this is the responsibility of Council. 

(They need to find legitimate ways for their working people to be paid. Otherwise they expose their workers to the risk of prosecution).

However I do actively protest the way Jimmy and Peter has been using the net to spread lies and slander; to attack players and perceived competitors in the business of chess. I do protest about the unfair selection criteria. And I do protest the use of the State Associations to promote a single chess "university" that has not produced a single strong player yet. Why? Simply because this affects all of us. This is used as a method to protect the back door boys and to prevent the rise of strong players in Malaysia.

Can you see that?

If you can, then let us examine even closer still. Can you now see that the failure of Council to address the income issues of it's workers has lead to the second part? Without a legitimate income they need all those dirty tricks to cari makan.

So it is an interconnected problem. We cannot solve the second part till the Council solves the first part.

If and when the Council solves the first part then we can all focus our energies to developing our players. Right now tremendous amounts of energy is wasted from trying to prevent people like Peter and Jimmy from sabotaging our players.

Is it clearer now? It takes 2 hands to clap. For us to progress, each need to fulfill their responsibility from where they are. It is the job of the players to train and play strong chess. It is the job of the Council to set the conditions where our players are able to do that and progress according to their chess playing strength and not from manufactured numbers etc. That way only produces kangkung players who think they are Ferraris. They have become delusional and have bought into their own lies.

What can we learn about hidden agendas from chess?

Ref: Here.

When your opponent makes an unusual move, that is usually the time to look for a hidden plan. That is quite plain and obvious in chess.

Did you know that this knowledge is transferable to real life situations? Lets look at this situation. When somebody objects to a case you present, there could be a few possible reasons. Sometimes it is because they are not convinced by your argument. However you continue to show the evidence. And the evidence is conclusive or at least casts doubt onto the situation. Therefore if you are convinced that the evidence does at least that in your best reasoning then this often means that you are in the face of a hidden agenda.

They have something to hide. And if instead demonstrating that your argument is flawed in some way, they proceed to use intimidation then you can be almost certain that there is something going on that you should know about before you proceed.

These are all part of the lessons from chess that makes you smart. If you are not learning these things, then something is going on. Read this again. Here..

They are correct in a way. Chess is supposed to make you smart. But some people use it as a slogan to deceive you and to keep you dumb. Those people have a hidden agenda. Can you see that better now?

Now apply this to other situations yourself. With some practice, you will learn to make better decisions in life.

All my best.

And tough questions are tough because of the emotional elements.

Winning in chess becomes tough when we compete. When we compete there is the element of fear. As a chess player would you agree with me?

Finding the way forward for Malaysian chess becomes tough when we compete. When we compete with our neighbors we will need to have a good look at why they are so far ahead of us. And then you have to face your fears for all the lost time. As a chess official would you agree with me?

Would you not need to develop your fortitude, not get dejected and give up? Would you not need to have the courage to stand up to all the false accusations that is Malaysian chess?

So let me ask you a question here. If that is the reality then is it not the solution to develop your courage, to sit down and really think of a good plan to move forward?

Or is the answer to develop the back doors so you do not need to compete. Or is the solution to knock out or to subvert all the good officials so you do not have to face that question?

Let me try to illustrate my point on how fear can make you stupid with my favorite example.

Peter does not want to allow Mark to play at KL Open. He says that the player to watch out for is back door Li Tian. In fact he doesn't want many players from Malaysia to play because then we can benchmark Li Tian's and Jimmy's true standard.

If he is confident of himself then he would want Mark and all the strong players in Malaysia to play so that he can show what a great analyst he is. Does that make sense?

Instead he hides. Instead he uses the entire State Association to ban players without grounds. That is how much fear he has. He cannot face any tough questions. Yet he wants to infect all of KL with his fears; yet he wants to attack other players when he cannot even play chess anymore.

I have offered many times in the past to pay for his entrance to tournaments if he cannot afford it and if he writes in to me. If he is so sure of himself then he would have offered Mark the same. Why? Because that is the best way to prove that he is right and put mud on my face? And in full public view too. Think of the publicity. After that all the top players in Malaysia will rush to his university because he is the man.

And he thinks of himself as a businessman, as a smart man. And yet he cannot see this. Does this prove my point? Fear.

So Peter, a word of advice. If you have lost your confidence and cannot compete and cannot teach chess anymore, I hear there is a profession without stress. Try planting kangkung. No stress and not much thinking needed there. And you do not need much skill either I am told.

So Peter, either change yourself and improve or leave chess. I have offered a suggestion to you. Take it or not it is up to you. But do not do any more harm to Malaysian chess players. Ok Peter?

Answering tough questions makes smart chess players.

I was just following the postings of a Malaysian friend of mine in the UK. And when he says something his friends on FB will ask him to quote the source. Then they will investigate and then decide if they agree or not. And they can ask awkward questions.

That is one of the reasons why I like to work with our top chess kids. They ask insightful questions. They want me to prove the veracity of my thinking. And as a result I too grew.

So that is the way chess makes us smart. Chess openings are also statements. "This is my analysis. Prove me wrong. And if I am wrong then I lose". As simple as that.

But have you found that they do not like you to ask questions in Malaysian chess? They do not like to be challenged on the table to prove their thinking.

Instead they have all these ways to shut you up instead of looking at whether their thinking is correct or not.

Then they want to go out there and challenge people who are not afraid of tough questions; who are able to defend their reasoning on the table.

Do you think that may be a possible reason why we produce kangkung players? Just wondering.

The game only starts after you are elected.

Ref: Here.

Have you ever noticed that the election slogans for change almost always disappear after the election? Why is this so? Let me share from some of my experiences. Back in 2009, after the contest in the Perak AGM, we got a fairly balanced group of old and new in the committee. Those that got into PICA on my ticket were jubilant. But I adviced caution. You see, the game has just started. We haven't won anything yet. Nothing substantive except for the posts. We got good positions from which we were supposed to initiate the changes we campaigned on but nothing came of it.

I think part of the problem is that many who seek positions do not realise this. They think they have won at the AGM. No, my friends, nothing has been won yet. The game has just started. And to win, you need to know how to play the game.

So I have seen one by one seduced by the power of their position and then they forget why they were elected in the first place. Then some are attacked as I have mentioned in the link above. And then they become incapacitated or join the other agenda or removed.

And very quickly the game is lost. So the moral of this story is that you are only a player when you sit at the table. At the AGM you have merely won the right to play but you have not won yet.

To win, you must know your game plan. You need to know your opponents play book. And you need to have the wisdom and courage to form a good plan and then stick to it.

And what is the win?

For me it is when we can stop the agenda of certain officials that penalizes and attack our strong players who are not in their camp.

For our success in Malaysian chess will be measured by the number of strong players we can produce. When they can win medals etc. This agenda must not be hijacked by officials who use their position to only bring in their kangkungs that goes to their chess "universities" etc. And especially one that has not produced a single strong player but is very good at stealing or attacking the players developed by others by exploiting their position in the Associations.

Simply put. If the players are no good and cannot survive tough selection without back doors, they deserve to be knocked out. And officials that do not know how to play the game to bring success to Malaysian chess also deserve to be knocked out. Same difference.

For it is the results that finally matter.

Why are hidden agendas so dangerous?

By almost all accounts we know that MCF is in crisis. Almost daily we hear of some drama or another. And we know that these dramas sap our energy do we not? Where is the energy to develop if there are daily dramas created? Where are the new ideas for improvement when we are all kept busy fire fighting?

So let me try to explain that the source of all dramas are caused by hidden agendas.

Can you see that?

The daily dramas are caused by people wanting to subvert the National and State agendas for private gain or profit. So they are always scheming one thing or another to deprive someone of something that is rightfully theirs.

The simple fact is that they will not need to scheme and plot if they can earn the money legally, win their place on the squad legitimately.

So if we want to solve this we need to develop our Vision. That acts as the guide. It tells us if we are still heading in the right direction or if the agenda has been hijacked.

And for that to take place we need every remaining good official to stand up and do their job. Or we simply will not progress by default.

Can you see that? Do you now understand why hidden agendas are so dangerous? Is the example from KLCA obvious enough for you to see how it works? Once you can see that then you can also see it in operation wherever you are. It does not exist in KLCA alone. KLCA is just the most transparent example.

Why MCF will never change unless you change.

Yesterday when I was in Kampar, a Perak State Official asked me about the cert from MCF for an arbiters course that he attended when I organised it in 2009 for about 20 Perakians. So I told him to write in to MCF. But he said he didn't know who to write to. I told him, I can supply the contacts of the relevant people but he has to write the letter himself.

Over the years I have heard this a lot. MCF must change. Then I ask them, what can you do in your position? You are the treasurer, the chair of this committee or the other; the President/Deputy President of this Association or the other. Why don't you ask what you can do in that position to change things?

Why do you want everybody else to change before you change? Isn't that an impossible thing? For instance, if I am to wait for Jimmy or Peter to change then I could be waiting forever no?

Do your job and fulfill your responsibility where you are. If you are a player and the rules have been infringed, call for an arbiter. If you think there is cheating in a tournament, inform the organiser. Then it is up to them. If you do not get satisfaction then follow the process and keep writing up. Somebody somewhere with the authority will act. Don't despair and don't give up hope. Just keep pushing the envelop.

I told that State official that I will help him to address his concerns to the right party. But it is up to him to write the letter. I cannot force MCF to issue the cert.

If each one of us fulfill our roles then we will see change. But don't wait for MCF to change before you change. It just doesn't work. Start with yourself from where you are. Then MCF will change. Why? Because MCF is you. MCF is MCF because you are you.

The other side of the coin.

There have been so many officials in MCF, past and present, who has told me that they have been attacked from the moment they enter the Federation. They will be accused of everything under the sun. I have told a number of them that this is normal. This is Malaysian chess. Now how do we look at this?

On the one hand it is bad, since the officials will leave, the good players become victims of the politics in favour of kangkung players etc etc. And there will be no progress.

BUT lets try to look at it another way today. 

That is also the way to separate the wheat from the chaff, the men from the boys. As the song says, if you can make it there (in MCF), then you can make it anywhere.....

If you don't quit, if you don't get bought, if you can stay with the game plan to improve and not get deflected, dejected etc etc.

So MCF is actually primed for us to find a true leader. For only under that type of leadership will our players find the example of what it takes for Malaysian chess to shine on the world stage.

U think?

Note: This also applies to the players. If you can withstand the mental assaults, trust in your own training and game plan. Then you too will become a strong player/leader. 

KL Open is closed for admission and the ramifications.

Peter's announcement. Here.

Have a look and see how many Malaysian players are there. I have written, spoken to State officials as well as talked to top organisers in Malaysia to try to increase the Malaysian participation. All to no avail. Some of the reasons given is that they want to boycott the event. Others say that they are worried that the President won't honour his word to me and so they don't want to go through the hassle of getting a bank draft. So this is a problem. But the question I want to ask today is how do we look at this?

The first thing we need to understand is that this is a KLCA event endorsed by MCF. So both parties has a say. Peter is just an organiser but he seems to have hijacked the event.

I think the problem lies here. The first thing we need is a Vision on the National level. Then the States need to buy into that vision and attempt to replicate it on the State level. Without doubt there will be difficulties with people like Peter. So we need strong and committed leadership who are willing to make difficult decisions with courage. Or nothing will change.

In the event above the President of KLCA himself has asked me to quote his name to bring in extra participation. Here. Not only is Dato Santhara the President but he is also the sponsor of the event. And in fact this offer also had the agreement of the Deputy President of KLCA.

That is one side of the coin. The question above is what does KL Open mean to KLCA and why was Peter allowed to hijack the event?

The other question I'm afraid has to be addressed to you. Why did you not take up the offer by the President to participate? Would you rather point the finger at Peter as a way to vent your anger? Isn't that cutting off your nose to spite yourself? You have a responsibility as a player to uplift your skills. You have a responsibility as a State Association to expose your players. In the past you were not given a door in. We have provided the door for you. Both the President and Deputy President. And me. I was willing to collect the bank draft on your behalf even though it would be a difficult process.

It takes 2 hand to clap. Ignore Peter. He is not relevant. But why don't you trust what Dato has said? Why don't you find out for yourself if he is a man of honour? Why didn't you give him a chance?

On my part, I will buy the bank draft for Mark and pass it on as agreed. I believe we should not prejudge anyone without giving them a chance. Do not rely on rumours. Make your own determination.

Am I making sense to you? Think about it. Is that not also a lesson from chess? You need a plan, you need to trust your own evaluation and then you need the mental strength and courage to go for the win.

Teamwork and Team events.

Since the USM team event is going on today, this may be a good time to investigate this. Now depending whether the event is match point or game point the strategies will differ. But lets use match point today for an illustration. In match point play, depending on the goal of the team, sometimes players are asked to take a hit for the team. Sometimes a player is required to win above his class. So an accurate evaluation of team strength vis-a-vis the other teams is essential to establish realistic goals. Are you a Champion team or is the best you can hope for is a placement? And the Captain evaluate chances round by round.

But I am not going into the technical aspects today. For that you can consult with the many technical experts around us. Today I would rather explore the concept of teamwork.

Now for a team to work, every member of that team has to function. They need to fulfill their role or the team breaks down. A good model can be found in football. I see many comments on Man U on FB.

So the first prerequisite of a team is that you cannot pass the ball when it is your responsibility. When you have the best chances to affect outcome. Each must carry their own burden or the team fails. Agreed?

And now we come back to chess. Did you see from the last Olympiad that we didn't have a team? Everyone was either trying to achieve a norm for themselves or not playing for fear of losing rating. Nobody was playing for Malaysia in the team event. And the captain was totally useless. We can see this clearly when it is football yes? Now lets us try to see it where it matters to us. In chess.

In chess, the role of the players is to train and play good chess. The role of the managers, trainers and coaches is to assist and to prepare the players. The role of the officials is to facilitate this by carrying out their responsibility. The role of the State Associations is to develop their own players. The role of our Open Classical Fide events is to develop Malaysian players since MCF is involved. The role of the organisers is to keep their tournaments clean. 

But what are some of our officials doing instead? And then they finger point. So all I am saying is to fulfill your job responsibility wherever you are on the totem pole and then we become a team. Then we become a better team if we work at it. Then we become a Champion team. But it all starts with you. Pointing the finger and then not fulfilling your individual responsibility and role is what got us into this mess in the first place. Agree?

The point is each has a role. And your job is to perform your role well. That is being part of a team.

Do your job. And stop making excuses. Or worse, deflect from your own shortcomings by attacking the Fide President, attacking other players, trainers and coaches because you cannot develop even one strong player yourself or play strong chess anymore etc etc etc.

A team is created and bound by a common vision and brought to success by a strong and commited leadership.

Note: It may become more obvious when we use the football analogy to see that the role of the manager/coach is also to protest when the rules have been infringed and their players have been unfairly dealt with.

The pot calling the kettle black again.

Here.

Peter, the most transparent practitioner of all the dirty tricks/tactics in Malaysia is Jimmy and you. At least the rest of your cohorts have the sense of embarassment to do it in the dark. Perhaps this means they still retain a semblance of knowing right from wrong. But the both of you have no such redeeming features.

For your information, I will be forwarding this to Fide in the hope that they will sue the pants off you. This is called slander and defamation of character in the real world.

And chess is about decision making.

Chess is about the quality of your thinking before the power move. It will include all the accurate past postmortems. And then you have to make a DECISION before you touch your piece. And you have to make all those DECISIONS for the win or for the draw before your time runs out.

For that to happen you need to have a clear understanding of what your STRATEGY is relative to the field. And for a realistic strategy you need to have an accurate evaluation of your current skill level.

And STRATEGY encompasses all variables that affect outcome. Including the emotional elements of decision making like fear, impatience, anxiety, exuberance etc etc.

Make the wrong decision at any level and you lose. Is that what you have learnt from the game? The technical elements are merely the engine parts. It does not drive the car. It does not make you a winner in a competition.

Read this again. Here.

Those that use fear and manipulation to control the players have effectively killed off their ability to become strong players. Because fear affects good decision making. Now do you understand how kangkung players are made? Why they crash at the next level?

Chess. Relationship between postmortem and decision.

What did you learn from your time in chess? Did you find out that an accurate postmortem is essential to your development? If your postmortem is flawed then you have no idea of what went wrong and very liable to make the same mistakes again. Agreed?

Let us use the KL Open again as an illustration. With every KL Open, the organisers make more and more enemies within the chess community. I offered to act as the go between to mitigate the issue but nobody has taken up the offer. Why is this? Ref: Here. It seems to me that our top players are willing to forgo this event so that they will be able to keep their anger because of their perception that Peter has somehow insulted them. Which is probably true.

But what I can't understand is why there were no accurate postmortem of the past KL Opens? Did those events meet the objectives and goals of KLCA? Even the sponsor and President of KLCA has asked that I quote his name to bring in more players. Ref: Here. But apparently to no avail.

So accurate postmortems are important yes? Has the event achieved the goals and objectives?

But postmortems are still only a part of the story. It is useless on it's own. I have written on this blog a few years back that postmortems are only good at finding out why a building has collapsed AFTER it has collapsed. So it really has no practical use by itself although the exercise is essential as the first step.

The other half of the story is decision making.

How to make better decisions the next time, from the accurate postmortems, BEFORE the building has collapsed.

So it appears we have 2 problems in Malaysian chess. No proper postmortems and then the inability to use those lessons, if any, to make sure we don't make same mistakes again.

Is that what you learnt from chess too? Well you should have if you have been taught right. Do you not see that this is a problem that is plaguing the whole Country? Read this again. Here.

The general application of the concept of the power move.

The power move is defined by the amount of analysis and thinking behind each chess move. This concept has very broad applications.

Allow me to use an example from my past life. Directly after my appointment as group project director of a multinational development and construction company, I was brought to a briefing with my contract manager. His job was to show me in financial terms the impact of each decision that I made at that level. For instance if I was to express an interest in a project, he showed me how much resources and man hours would be allocated by the corporation to investigate my interest. I cannot remember the exact figures but I think it showed something like RM80k plus in the first week in terms of allocation of staff and other resources every time I said that a project looks interesting.

So the purpose of that briefing was to inculcate the lesson for us at the director level not to simply express interest without first deeply thinking through the issues before each move. And it was explained in terms of dollars and cents. That is also called power move.

Now obviously the higher up the management chain you are the cost implications are different. Mistakes on the lower levels are not so impactful. But mistakes at the leadership level has very broad ramifications and financial implications.

Do look at how our leaders are making decisions lately. And I mean on a National level. You saw the implications for a single corporation. Are they not rolling out National projects and then rolling it back in because no one seems to have thought through the issues, the implications? What are the costs on a National level to do that?

Now this is what you can learn from chess. Understand the concept of the power move and apply it later in life. Think through everything that needs to be thought through before you implement anything. Before you make your move.

But surely if we are to teach this concept from chess we need leaders who also can make good decisions and not act like gangsters. They have struggled for 30 years and we are going backwards. So what kind of decisions are they making?

This is chess. We call it a mental sport. We are supposed to be building thinkers. But what are we doing instead when our Country is crying out for solutions to our never ending man made problems?

What and where are our power moves? Does it merely lie in developing more and more sophisticated ways of installing the back doors? Of making questionable incomes and finding new ways to intimidate other officials, parents and players?

Is that the way?

Read this again. Here.

What would you like to learn from chess? What would you want your child to learn from chess?

A fundamental principle.

As I have said before, under normal circumstances you are free to have your own beliefs and your own choices under the rule of law. But this changes if we agree to pursue a goal together. Then there is right and wrong.

This is a fundamental principle.

When your actions impinge upon my right to use the trainer/coach of my own choice then you have impinged upon my rights.

When your actions affect the rights of my children to compete and win fairly in a sport then you have infringed upon my rights.

When your actions encroach into my life and prevent me the right to live peacefully according to the law then I have a say.

This is something gangsters do not understand. They think they can threaten and intimidate all into not daring to think or to speak up. They operate outside the law.

Somebody once said the the power of a terrorist lies in direct proportion to the amount of fear they can cast. That is what some people in MCF are trying to do, are they not? And you empower them more by allowing this to happen without question. You must at least retain the power to speak your mind even if you have no other power or authority.

My 2 cents.