For once I have to agree with ‘Malaysian’. FM Lim Yee Weng and IM Mas Hafizulhelmi’s valiant efforts in chess is a good example to Malaysian chess players. Both have come close to obtaining the GM norm.That in itself is must be inspirational to many Malaysians.
Both have made sacrifices in their work to strive and better themselves in chess. They keep on trying in the face of impossible odds. I for one would like to see more of this “near misses” as I’m sure one of this tries will hit their target.
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Malaysian : 26 August 2008 at 10:06 am
Having said what I did, I have something to say which may not please you.
You can clearly see both LYW and Mas stumbling at the very last hurdles. Why? Because they are still not good enough YET. Like I always say, they have to improve their Elo ratings substantially and just reaching the GM norm is not good enough. It would be a shame to be a 2400 GM because you will be trashed left and right in tournaments and sooner or later you will lose confidence and withdraw from active competitions. That is what happened to many of our National Masters who were “flashes in the pan”, “one tournament wonders”, who I suspect do not have the confidence to compete regularly against local Malaysians. What a shame if they lose, being a NM.
GilaChess : 26 August 2008 at 2:34 pm
Is there such a thing as a 2400 GM?
Anyway, Malaysians getting trashed in international tournaments is nothing new but to keep trying and ignore negative comments such as yours is pretty hard if you ask me. No offense intended. It’s just natural they will take lots of flak when they fail to perform.
That’s why I say they are heroes. It takes a strong willed individual to weather all that public perception and negativity. For someone weaker, they would have given up long ago.
Remis Aman : 26 August 2008 at 2:59 pm
Any coverage on Double Round Robin GM Tournament today at Hotel CitiTel Express? 1st round @ 3 pm.
Malaysian : 26 August 2008 at 5:10 pm
If you think my comments are hard to take, please read the newpapers. Our badminton world class players were trashed, whitewashed,torn-apart and what not and got big bashes for their failures.
If you keep on heaping praises for mediocre performances, Malaysians will remain mediocre players.
I have seen <2400 GM’s also, and you can guess where they got their norms from. My saying 2400 GMs refer to their normal playing strength, not their peak performances. I think you overestimate by a big margin the playing strengths of our top players. It is a fact that those with real talents find little difficulties in breaking into IM ranks in 3 years and into GM ranks within 5 years. Lots of juniors are GMs before reaching 20, refer World Junior Championship participants list. Mind you, our twice DATMO champ Li Chao could not become Junior champion.. such is the strength. Maybe you should have asked Li Chao what sort of hardships he had to endure to reach his position today.