Malaysian Chess Websites and Blogs

At the ASEAN Age Group Championships I was preoccupied with preparations for the ASEAN Chess Confederation Board Meeting while doubling up as arbiter for the Danang IM Tournament and with an on-off Internet connection, still trying to keep up with posts and updates to the FIDE Website.

Many offered to contribute to the official Tournament Blog at www.aseanagegroups.blogspot.com but talk is always cheap and so if in the end I managed 10 posts that was not bad at all!

I wanted very much to keep tabs on the performance of the Malaysian team - primarily because so many were from KL and also coming off what I personally think was a disaster for MSSKL at the MSSM Finals where they were only second in terms of Gold Medals won and barely ahead of Selangor.

It was obviously impossible given my workload but people talk and I have eyes so these were some observations regarding the Malaysian delegation/Malaysian chess in general:

1. Malaysia (52 entries) has joined Brunei (22 entries) in again supporting the event.

2. Vietnam got 134 medals, Philippines got 66, Singapore got 21, Indonesia got 14, Brunei got 11 while Malaysia got 4! (How can Brunei do better?)

3. Malaysia got no Gold medal and only got 1 individual medal. And informed all that was because our superstars (Yeoh, Lee and Anas) did not come. Same as the Philippines’s So. But Vietnam’s Super-GM did play however.

4. Malaysia had both players and officials staying and eating in multiple hotels (official and unofficial) and had no trainer(s). Even Brunei did have a top international trainer with them.

5. Malaysia withdrew from and reentered players for the Rapid and Blitz events as many went home early. Why? Medals were on offer. Our SEA Games and MAIGOC experiences should have told us that.

6. Malaysia had its new Honorary Secretary present but he could not make any commitments on behalf of the Malaysian Chess Federation as they needed to look at their accounts.

7. Malaysia is the only regional National Federation with a President that does not play chess!

The above are not my opinions, just the facts as seen or told to others. Malaysian officials, teachers and parents there would confirm my refusal to discuss local chess politics, training matters, or even their player performances with them!

My only personal observation was made to Gregory Lau at the closing ceremony as follows: “We are far behind - forget today’s names for results - we need a new generation starting with the 7-9 years olds who will allow us to compete in 3-5 years!”.