Of Becoming A FIDE Arbiter....

I was browsing the FIDE website recently in view that the Presidential Board Meeting is just over in Elista, eager to know the result of my FA application. The late submission of my application for approval in the last Presidential Board Meeting held in Al-Ain has delayed the approval and I was hoping very much that I would get it confirmed this time around. Along with me, there are three other candidates from Malaysia - Collin Madhavan, Mok Tze Meng and Khairunnisa Wahiduddin. For most of us, this application came in after a long void with Peter Long as the last Malaysian making the FA title, and Tse Pin as the last Malaysian to attain the IA title (only two of them in the last 10 years or so). For Khairunnisa, if she made it, she would be the first female recognized Arbiter in Malaysia and I am sure, she is eager to secure the IA title - as the youngest Arbiter in Malaysia as well. Whatever it is, I hope the title for all of us - Mok, Collin, Nisa and me, would be approved soon.... It has been a long wait so I guess, what is another week or two (or more!). I believe, had I not gone back to Johor to work in the early 90's, I would have made the IA title much much sooner (but that is another story)

I was already browsing the FIDE website on Monday (the Presidential Board ends on Sunday) and what I saw was encouraging - but still, I need to wait for the "official" word from FIDE and MCF. In any event, it was enough to put a smile on my face....


Well guys.... If this is official, the next step would be going for IA. And that, would probably take another year or so. And whilst the country is also hoping to get our own GM in the near future, competent and able officials are also needed to ensure that chess events are conducted professionally and efficiently. Of course the glamor and glitter may not be the same, but nonetheless essential to ensure a proper growth and chess development in the country. Political belief and differences aside - I am referring to political from a chess stand point and not the BN-PKR General Election hype *grin* - the support and cooperation from everyone, every chess player, chess club, association, parents, officials, supporters and fans from within the chess community and outside of the chess fraternity, are essential and crucial to see the game move to a higher plateau....

In any case... This question is to MCF - Are the titles now official for me and my 3 arbiter friends?

Of Taking Credit and Talking BS.....

Early Saturday morning and I was doing my usual 'chess work' by writing emails focusing on the 750 Years Melaka International Chess Festival 2012 which is starting in the next couple of weeks. After doing my work, I realized that I have not written in my blog for the last 4 - maybe 5 days and so, without wanting to jump into a "random topic", I decided to see what is the latest hot topic in Chess and my first choice of blog was DATCC Chess Blog. Of course, since I am one of the contributors for the blog (and a few others), this would be the most obvious and logical starting point but alas, the news on the blog is the same as before - the Melaka Chess Festival. So, I decided to update the news a bit and once I have done that, I decided to look at the hot topic on other blog and the first one I looked at was Jimmy's blog, Chess is Chess. There was not much written but a hilarious face of The Rock (from the movie "Race to Witch Mountain") caught my attention. The caption was "Purrrrfect" and whilst the article itself does not have any written words on it, the comments was full of interesting notes from many chess enthusiasts, parents, players.....

Yeah... It was about our common "friend" Mr.... Well, I do not want to waste valuable key strokes on my laptop to spell that name. But based on the same topic, I now know that I can take credit for Anand becoming a World Champion because I sparred one game with him in the mid 1990's and because of that game, Anand has become a World Champion! Wow!!! I feel really good.... I can use this to promote myself as a coach, trainer because somewhere, some many moons ago, I was the one who sparred and inspired Anand to become the World Chess Champion.... And coaxed him to say the famous quote "Nowadays, when you're not a Grandmaster at 14, you can forget about it"


I was told that a lot of parents "believe" Mr.... (that name which I do not want to waste my valuable keyboard strokes on) because he seems to know about chess.... But did you guys also know that he DOES NOT PLAY CHESS IN AN ACTUAL TOURNAMENT? And from what I understand, he does not even PLAY THE GAME!!!! I mean, how can one comment about something that he never experienced? It is like saying "I like Pizza and it is supposed to be cooked with a lot of cheese and tomatoes, and olives, and pepperoni but hey, I have NEVER eaten Pizza....???" Duh............. Well, this is what we call "Of Taking Credit and Talking BS" - by the way, BS does not mean "Best Story" or "Best Strategy" or in the case of the Pizza mean "Best Sauce" although "that-person-which-I-do-not-want-to-waste-my-keyboard-stroke-on" may think that it is.


Anyway, the negative impact created by the "person-which-I-do-not-want-to-waste-my-keyboard-stroke-on" has deterred many sponsors, parents, teachers and chess players from the game. Whilst he thinks that he has done the country and the sport a favor, he is actually destroying - that is the real word folks.... DESTROYING..... the game and the good image of the game beyond imagination. And to top it of, most of his stories and claims were heresays, rumors, spinners, gossips and blatant lies that were not true or stretched and exaggerated beyond belief! 


The problem with telling a lie is that the person has to continue telling more lies to cover up for the initial lie that was made. And as the lie become more and more entangled and intertwined, and as the person continues to tell more lies, the person begin to belief that the lie is actually the truth.... and this is when the problem begins. Because from here on, everything becomes unclear and clouded, and because this person believes the lie that he/she has told many many many many many many (ok... I stop at that) lies before, the person believes the lie so much that he/she can tell the lie in such a convincing manner (because in the person's heart, it is the truth,the whole truth and nothing but the truth) and get other people to believe it.


Well... you be the judge.... Do you believe the Pizza man that he knows what is best for pizza, or another "insignificant on the side person" who have not tasted any pizza and preach how and what a pizza should be? The answer is plain and obvious... no need to use a rocket scientist (or a chess grandmaster) to figure this out....

By the way, you can catch Jimmy's blog related to this topic HERE

Of Spinning An Innocent Comment

Someone told me that someone said Jimmy, Peter and I have been talking a lot about Li Tian as the next GM and accuse "that we are promoting the boy through back door".
Allo??? What back door ah??? Just because we said, does not mean we are promoting back door. Haiya some people..... So sad la.... Benda yang innocent pun boleh jadi isu... Saya tak paham la!!! After all, in my article, I also mention 2 other names...
Anyway, do we have any other 12 year old boy currently that has passed the 2200 FIDE Rating mark? None.... And, Li Tian is currently ranked number 7 in the country. So, go figure... who would be the most likely candidate then? And I did mention in my article - at the end of it, that we need to find a 7, 8 or 9 year old as a better bet because there are obvious challenges with Li Tian - SPM in 4 years time. So susah la.... 
It is really frustrating dealing with a nincompoop who just "tembak" for the sake of "tembaking". Cuba la ada substance sikit. Ini main hentam ajer..... 
So, either he has something against Li Tian or he has human brain dysfunction complexity syndrome (that this person is unable to see things straight!). Maybe both.... 
Or maybe, this person is just looking for cheap publicity because nobody is reading (or commenting) on his blog anymore??? 
P/S Actually, I am promoting "an underground door"... LOL! Where you can't see how it came, and before you know it, it has left....

Of Getting Our Own GM

I tend to agree with a lot of people who sees Yeoh Li Tian as our next best bet to achieve the accolade but of course, with the ever important SPM lurking in the next few years ahead of him, it would be a real challenge for him to balance between the two. If he can make it as an IM within the next couple of years, he would probably be able to make it as a GM just in time before his SPM exams but, this will be a tight call. But beyond the challenge of facing SPM, can he get the support and drive to reach the finish line and beyond in order to achieve the GM title? And if he decide that chess is not his cup of tea, who else after that? Aron Teh? Yinn Loong? Elgin? To be honest, I would bet on Amir Muqqri or Amir Ghazi - the sons of Mohd Saprin. If the interest continues, they might come on top. The siblings have the ingredient and they seem to like chess, and within just a year, Amir Muqqri - the youngest of the three, has already shown he can match wits with some of the more established junior players. And with Saprin steady solid play, and sound understanding of the game, nobody can be a better coach than the father himself. But of course, to go beyond, they still need the correct development program and the right path... I am sure there are other talented youngsters around but these are the ones that I can see now - especially Muqqri who is barely 9 years old.

For the girls, we had a chance in the form of Siti Zulaikha who made her WIM title but between medical school and chess, the medical option won the battle of choice hands down. There are probably a few girls that we can watch for i.e. the Azman Hisham daughers in Nabila and Najiha, Tan Li Ting and Camilia. Nabila and Najiha maybe the better bet because the entire family plays chess and with an elder brother like Nabil, and Azman Hisham who he himself was a strong player in his younger days, the girls may be able to go where no Malaysian woman chess player has ever gone before - beyond the WIM title.

With good results and at times, excellent showing at the age group championship in the region (and sometimes, at the world level), Malaysia has shown that it does not lack talent. We do have an abundance of them but as the talent grows, it lack continuous nurturing. And, as we all have found out - the hard way, talent alone is not enough. It must be polished, wiped, washed, cared for but for now, we lack the machine to help us do that work.

But, how long does it takes before Malaysia to get our own home grown Malaysian born GM? How many years (or months) does it take to become a GM or to hit above the 2500 FIDE rating mark? How many games does a person need to get across that line? How many GM does he (or she) has to slaughter to earn valuable points towards reaching the 2500 benchmark to be a GM?

I looked at some of the young and leading chess players in the world today and came across some interesting finding. It can be done within 2 to 3 years but.... it will be very demanding. A nice pace would probably be about 2 years to reach the 2400 points (from 2200 points), and another 2 years to break the 2500 points. But, let us look the achievement of some of the World's best, and some players from around the region.

The world no. 1 chess player GM Magnus Carlssen jumped from a 2200 player to a 2400 player within 15 months, playing over 100 rated games to jump almost 300 points. If we take an average of 9 rated games per event, he would have played at least 12 events in that 15 months span which comes to about one serious event between 1 and 2 months. And to jump to above 2500 points, he did it in 6 months playing 81 games and again, if we average it at 9 games per event, he played 9 major tournaments in that 6 months, roughly about 1 major event every 3 to 4 weeks.

Well of course, one can argue that this is Magnus Carlssen so let us go somewhere closer to home.

GM Le Quang Liem of Vietnam took 3 years to jump from a FIDE rating of 2132 to 2422, playing more than 130 games in the process. Based on this figure, he would have played something like 1 major event every 3 to 4 months. With the lack of International event around ASEAN, this is a more likely figure for us Malaysians to compare with. Of course, if the chess circuit in ASEAN is as vibrant as Europe, this would have been different for Quang Liem.... For GM Le, the jump from a 2400 player to a 2500 player was completed in 9 months with 63 games being played - about 7 events in that time span or at an average of 1 event every 1 1/2 to 2 months.

Another person closer to home is GM Negi Parimarjan of India who incidentally won one of the Malaysia Open series some years back.... As one of the 10 youngest person ever attain the GM title (at 13 years 4 months and 22 days), Negi managed to improve his rating from a 2200+ player to a 2400+ player in a span of 21 months, playing almost 200 games to achieve the feat. At an average of 9 games per event, he would have played at least 1 serious tournament per month during that duration to attain the 2400+ rating. Maintaining his momentum, he broke the 2500+ barrier in 6 months, playing 64 games (about 9 major events) at an average of 1 event per 3-4 weeks - even more intense. Of course, for GM Negi, India has plenty of events to go around with and it was not surprising that he can rake in 1 serious event per month. At the same time, India also has a lot of good GM - Anand is of course, one of them.

Let us look at someone even nearer.... GM Megaranto Susanto reached 2254 in July 2000 at the age of 13 - something we can relate to since Li Tian is also 13 years old now and he has just broken the 2200 marker. GM Megaranto Susanto was able to break the 2400 point barrier after 21 months - almost 2 years later, at the age of 15. He did so by playing in 31 rated games which is approximately 4 to 5 events at an easier pace of 1 major event every 4 to 5 months, something that we Malaysians can understand because traveling to other countries can be expensive and time consuming (and because we have major events in Malaysia every 2-3 months in a year). Megaranto only broke the 2500 point barrier 39 months later (slightly more than 3 years) at the age of 18, having played more than 151 games - about 18 to 22 major events, at an average of about 1 major event every 2 months.

Based on these observations, if we have a talented Malaysian who is already at 2200 rating points, playing at a moderate pace of 1 major event every 2 to 3 months (and getting good scores in these event), we can actually have a Malaysian born GM within 4 - 6 years. Or even earlier if the pace is quicken i.e. to 1 major event every 1-2 months. But of course, we are looking at a player with a 2200 starting point. So the next challenge is, how fast can we get our current youngsters to hit 2200 from where they are now? I assume, that will probably take us another 1-2 years to achieve this feat taking into consideration that the junior player already know how to play chess considerably well. Based on all these, if I were to look at someone who is 9 years old now, with a moderate improvement and participation in major events, he (or she) can probably earn the GM title at the age of 16 - give or take a year or two. Of course, if there is money and time to spend (traveling all over the world to play in strong events), then this would be much easier and faster but still, money alone without talent may not work.

The next question is, do we have the infrastructure to make that happen? If we were to keep the moderate pace of 1 major event every 2 months to achieve the GM title (hitting above 2500), we already have the events needed as platforms for our kids to achieve the feat of getting to be a 2400 player. With the 5-6 major events per year that we have i.e. Malaysia, KL, Selangor, Penang, Sarawak and Melaka (and we can add 1 or 2 regional event like Singapore or Bangkok as back up plans) the numbers of events to achieve this feat are there, albeit the strength may not. Of course, training and development, study, dedication and so on, must come hand in hand. And of course, we need to continue to have these events going (or increase the number of International events in the country) in order to keep the lifeline going.... of getting our own GM

Once the 2400 points has been achieved, the next part of the challenge kicks in. Based on the same observation, almost all the players that made GM had to play between 100 and 150 games to improve from 2400 to 2500 - a mere 100 points but a lot of games to catch up. At 9 games per event, that come to about 16 events that a player needs to play in order to have a realistic shot at the GM title and if we are looking at a moderate pace of 1 event per 2-3 months, that come to about 3 to 4 years for it to be realized.

So, to sum it up, at a moderate pace of 1 major event every 2 months based on our country "chess activeness", I calculated a realistic timeline of between 8 and 9 years for a Malaysian junior to be a GM by the age of 16 years old - or 17 years old at worst! The calculations is from 0 rating (or current strength) to 2200 would take 2-3 years to achieve, and from 2200 to 2400 will take another 2 years, and finally for the home run, another 3-4 years to get from 2400 to 2500. And as we pass on that dream in the hands of our Junior players, the main challenge now is - how fast can we get them to be a 2200 FIDE rated player from where they are now? And if we look at fresh talent, what we seek now are talents from primary schoolers whow are between the ages of 7 and 9 years old, who has interest towards the game and preferably, whose parents know how to play chess - the stronger the parents, the better, are our best candidates to get the GM title.

I am not saying they cannot be older but, with our society putting "everything on the line" for SPM, the only way to get a GM is to earn one before the boy (or girl) reaches 16 years old and if 8 to 9 years period is the most logical and realistic timeline to get a potential youngster to be a GM, then the children who are 7, 8 and 9 years old would be our better bets!

Anybody beg to differ?

Of Finger Pointing and Witch Hunting

You know who is the best person to catch a thief? The policeman? Maybe.... The Detective? Maybe too..... But the best person to catch a thief, is another thief because only a thief knows how another thief works.

So for someone who can come up with stories of how bribery, accounts manipulation, and all that stuff can happen in an association, that someone must have had the experience of doing so during his/her time in the association. Otherwise, how does he/she knows what is going on?

Another former boss of mine - I have many good bosses who has part to me many wise words, trust me on this - one of his wise words is, when you point a finger at someone for his wrong doing, take note that there are 3 fingers pointing back at you. Sometimes, the biggest culprit are those who yell thief!

When I was young (not that I am very old. FYI, I am still 24.....!), the advice that I have from my teacher (can consider as my boss too lah - albeit in a smaller scale), "Berani kerana benar, takut kerana salah" - Be strong when you are right, and scared if you are wrong - (Betul ker translation nie - sounds corny but, I know you know what I mean) but in the current world, it has turned upside down - "Berani kerana salah, takut kerana benar". So, when someone is loud, maybe it is not because he/she is right, but maybe because he/she wants to hide his wrongdoing so that others can focus on other people mistake than his/her own.

All this hype are clear intention to steer the issues away but of course, the words of the wise (yet again - but this time not from my boss) - "sepandai-pandai a squirrel hops, one day it will tergolek also"

Anyway, I found one saying in the internet which says "No matter how nasty people are to you, be nice anyway because there is nothing wrong about being nice". And another one which says "Some people are born a@%$&*# and no matter how nice you are to them, they will remain as such"

And with that, I end my article for the day....
Psst... all this time that I have been in hibernation, suddenly the urge to write increases......