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.

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.

Our boy's in Kazan.

Ref: Here.

When I look at the results here, I cannot help but think... what if they had better training? We are now seeing Aron Teh jump leaps and bounds after training in China. The big big question is does the difference in results have anything to do with the training here? Ref: Here.

So why not let FGM do our Thematics when we tried to make a difference? If it doesn't work, the players will just stop coming isn't it? How would allowing FGM to continue with it's efforts make MCF look bad as was alluded on Jimmy's blog? Doesn't this type of result look much worse for MCF and begs the question what has MCF been doing for all these years? Questions, questions, questions yes? Will we ever be able to come to the right answers?

Are the right answers shown up better from the results on the table or do they come from PR campaigns?

Comments on Chess X-Pose's "analysis".

Ref: Here.

I believe this "analysis" is not an analysis but an attempt to distort perception by hiding pertinent facts. And hiding is not X-pose yes? Please see these 2 references.

Here  and here.

Surely a very major issue that needs to be addressed in any analysis with integrity is to answer the question of who is allowed to vote? A simple mental maths problem would be if the previous committee was not allowed to vote then Encik Zuhri would have won by a landslide from the State Affiliates. Just subtract their numbers from 20. Encik Zuhri got 20 votes. What would the votes for the incumbent have been if the committee was not allowed to vote for the "committee"?

But as I have been saying the past few days, the chess community needs to move on from the AGM and find ways to work with the new committee so that past abuses will not reappear in this new committee. The genuine voices representing the dissatisfaction and grievances of the vast majority of the chess community needs to be recognised from the vote count. Not the voices of that very small minority with the hidden agendas that have stifled the growth of Malaysian chess for too many years.

An analogy would be if the government was to elect the government. Shouldn't it be the people that elects the government?

ps: Has anyone also wondered who gave Eddy the detailed breakdown on votes? Who would do that and for what reason? What would be Eddy's benefit from trying to distort the perception of the results of the AGM?

Comments on Peter's latest post.

Ref: Here.

In the last line of his post Peter conveniently blames the parents and the players. His overall analysis is also based on missing blocks of theory for the reasons why the players deteriorate as they grow older in Malaysia as opposed to other Countries where many grow stronger.

There is some truth of course. After all the best lies are those couched in half truths. There is truth that the culture fostered in the family structure does affect the child to a big extent. Whether there is a culture where the child is encouraged to explore ideas and the pursuit of excellence within the family or Not, does affect outcome. So ok, that is the truth of the matter which I can accept.

But note also, it is not absolute or there will be no one that can rise above their circumstances in history.

So let ask some questions here. Is Peter not a trainer that teaches the younger age groups? And if so could he not be imputing the necessary "theories" as a trainer for the younger age groups? So I don't think that is the problem. Perhaps the problem is that he is not successful in training the older age groups to compete in situations where mental strength as well as knowledge is needed. That seems to be the feedback I am getting from the national juniors who have been with him albeit for a short time.

He is correct in the implication that technical is just not enough as the kids grow up. When 2 players of about equal technical skills meet you need mental strength and correct preparation.

But he does not talk about the failures of the "ordained" trainers in Malaysia to improve in that understanding and becoming coaches instead of just trainers. He does not talk about the failure of our Associations in allowing back doors that takes the competitive spirit out of our players.

Actually the truth is the players can continue learning to the day they give up on chess (mentally or literally). So any theory deficit can be compensated in time. Age is not the determining factor. That is the FGM experience and we have demonstrated it in competition with Mark who came from nowhere to break into the junior squad at a much later age than the rest. This can happen so long as the fighting spirit of the player remains intact.

The other question I must ask Peter here is why did you take the assignment if you did not think you can be helpful in bringing Roshan up to the next level? Why take the money if you know you cannot deliver? You had already messed up when you promoted Li Tian over Roshan. Are you now saying that it is Roshan's parents fault that you are not successful?

Why don't you study the FGM experience with Sumant? We brought a junior to the senior level via proper selection. All it needed was to foster better mental strength, self belief and proper preparation. Technical remaining a constant.

Is that why you supported the withdrawal of selection? Is that why you need to ban players without grounds? Are you are unable to accomplish that with your players? Why not just improve yourself? I have published my methods so just read my blog and improve yourself. What is so difficult about that? You just need to change right? And I have given you the road map.

So please stop blaming others and making cheap excuses Peter. Look at yourself.

ps: Good thing you added the caveats after my posting.

General Comments.

Ref: Comments here.

I understand that under the current situation with MCF decent organisers/trainers/officials etc have no choice but to publicly defend themselves and chess from the bad apples who are using chess for illicit gains. I hope that once we have a functioning MCF that can and will look into abuses we can go through proper process to resolve issues.

But as far as I can see Zaki is trying to make amends. Maybe his system is too complicated to sustain. So he may need to relook at how to simplify it for the future. To me it is a learning lesson for all of us. Let people try and experiment. If not how can we learn and improve? If mistakes are made, then just rectify and move on from there. I see Zaki's clarification as a good thing. The main thing is to act in good faith.

Ref: Here

But we are totally silent on this issue? Isn't this the bigger issue since the public outside of the chess community is involved? This gives all of us in the chess community a bad name. Look at the comments there. See what the public really thinks of this type of behaviour.

We need to move away from personal likes and dislikes and focus on issues. If Jimmy Liew is in the wrong; if Mark Siew is in the wrong then lets just admit to it, correct it and then move on. Nobody is perfect and all of us are still learning. Nobody here is God. So if Zaki wants to make it right we should support and help him to do it. He has shown good intention. Isn't that enough or do you want a pint of blood too?

Lets focus on encouraging those that still want to practice unethical ways to change too. And then lets put in proper policies and guidelines in the new MCF so that there is less confusion about what is right and what is wrong.