Philippines prodigy GM Wesley So finally met his match in GM Malakhov. The Russian appeared to have been following Wesley's matches against Ivanchuk and Kamsky and learnt something. That is, he did not try to wipe the board with So on it. Rather the first two games were drawn which means they went into the rapids tie-breakers where So lost all three games.
This boy did very well here and kudos to him and all. In an interview, he said that he did not get much support from his federation. Now, Philippines chess politics are very partisan. If you are not in or seen to be in the right camp, you will find your chess career stunted. A number of Filipino chess players actually became grandmaster after they have emigrated or started working abroad.
How about our own local talents? Yeoh Li Tian and Tan Li Ting are now in training in China, courtesy of private sponsors. I wondor what happens after their six weeks training completes. I guess they are around 9-10 years old. Wesley made his GM title at age thirteen. Let's hope the kids are given enough financial assistance to continue to show what they may be able to achieve.
4 comments:
Yes, lets hope... (I'm not pessimist about it)
Do you mean "pessimist" or "optimistic" ? :)
I hope they will get enough financial assistance, though Wesley was not financially supported by his chess federation..
Some people has been insinuating that MCF has been following the footsteps of Campomanes, who had siphoned lots of $$ from FIDE, but I'm not buying that without any proof. As I think there is/was not that much $$ in Malaysian Chess. Any comment, Jimmy, as you have more experience in Malaysian chess??
from what I see, nobody had got any assistance from federation simply because the MCF does not generate any funds on its own, but relies on donations. Usually the donations are for specific purposes, but may be channeled through the federation for tax purposes. it is possible for unscrupulous persons to collect donations purportedly on behalf of MCF into their own pockets. there was talk of such a scandal many years ago which was hushed up.
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