UTP Tomorrow.

Would be good to test out some new ideas tomorrow. See you guys there.

Malaysian World Youth U16 Team.

Here.

Courage comes from character.

And vice versa. I have said that confidence is hard to develop. You are not born with courage, with confidence. It can only come when you pay the price of not taking the easy way out. So it has to be carefully nurtured and developed.

I have also said that if the fighting spirit is strong then the technical will come eventually. Lets look at a GM run. You need to beat GM's to get a norm. At that time GM's will probably be your technical superior. So you will need tons of courage.

Note: Competitor analysis and profiling can aid but it cannot replace courage.

So when I see someone who attacks a training program meant for the juniors, attack a program meant to help the parents save some money, attack the thematics meant to provide training tournaments, attack the juniors till they break down, it tells me something about their character.

Is it surprising that they can now lose to players who are around 2100? And is it surprising that they will find tons of excuses to hide their failings? So can that glass ceiling be breached? I think so.

All actions are driven by a core belief system.

It's not the belief system that one espouses but the one that is deep inside. Once you can see that then random actions stop being random.

Note to Jimmy.

Ref: Here.

Maybe you can also show us the game with Jax Tham where you lost as white. I suggest some show of mastery at SEA games will do more to convince us of your superiority.

Today's Contemplation.

One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but cannot be taken away unless it is surrendered.

-- Michael J. Fox

Congratulations Jimmy.

Ref: Here and here.

Bravo! You are the consummate magician. Able to make demons/ghosts/toyols appear and disappear at will. And in broad daylight too! No wonder you have such contempt for the chess community and the juniors. We can all be broken and tricked at will by your amazing mastery.

So what if we dont have proper training, so what if LZR and Sumant is traumatised by your little games. You have lived up to your reputation as the go to guy. You can make players reappear even if they fail selection.

If only all that energy had gone towards improving your chess you might have beaten Fadzil. But then again maybe not. Afterall we are only here to feed your ego.

It doesn't matter if the rest of us is now wondering what is the point of selection if it's only a charade. The really important thing is that the glass ceiling must not be broken.

So now we won't know what it could have been like if the juniors were given proper support and training. Well done again! We can now all sit back and wait to see the results of your machinations at SEA games.

An interesting article on stress.

Here.

National Rapid at UTP. 1st and 2nd Oct.

Reminder. Here.

See you guys there.

Congratulations Fadzil Nayan.

Here.