Friday, July 6, 2012

Malaysia's 2012 Olympiad team composition

The following is the confirmed Malaysia team composition  for the 2012 Istanbul Olympiad. Names are listed in their FIDE rating order.

Men


IM Mok Tze Meng       - 2354
IM Jimmy Liew           - 2297
IM Lim Yee Weng       - 2287
Yeoh Li Tian               - 2258
NM Lim Zhuo Ren       - 2120



Women

WCM Nur Nabila Azman Hisham - 1910
WCM Fong Mi Yen                       - 1885
WFM Nur Najiha Azman Hisham -  1882
NWM Tan Li Ting                        -  1814
Camilia Johari                              - 1788

For the men's team, the current National Champion - Roshan - declined to participate. His place was given to 2011 National Champion Lim Zhuo Ren. Perhaps the surprise is that IM Mas also declined to play citing personal reasons.

After that it is clear that the selection criteria is based on the latest FIDE ratings. The other four players are in the top six of the rating list.

For the women's team, Alia and Shazwani also offered places but declined. The selectors choose all the members of the 2011 SEA Games squad. The last place was filled by Fong Mi Yen who is the next highest rated who is eligible for selection.


I think it is a good idea to include all SEA Games women's squad. They are a young and talented group and MCF is giving them the chance to prove themselves. The addition of the older Fong Mi Yen will help stabilize the team. Possibly this is the youngest women's team we have sent to an olympiad.


The men's team is pretty balanced though board order has not been established yet.  The absence of IM Mas will be definitely missed as he has always been very steady holding the first board in past olympiads. Based on ratings, this board should now go to IM Mok.



32 comments:

Ilham said...

Congratulations and all the best to all!!!

SomeDaysLikeThese said...

Jimmy
I think you would probably have the most "cap" at playing for Malaysia in the Olympiad.... Or is there anyone else that has more "cap" than you?

All in all, good luck and all the best to the team. I believe this is a well balanced team in strength, experience and age.... :) - I am referring to the mens' team.

For the ladies team, it is a young team but most are seasoned international players. I hope they can do well if not better than their male compatriot, or achieve better results than the previous Malaysian teams.

Jimmy Liew said...

Actually hard to say. For a decade I did not participate so Mas and Mok probably have more caps.

SomeDaysLikeThese said...

I believe Mas may have about 8 caps - counting from mid 1990's until about last Olympiad.

And talking about players who have played in Olympiad, just to let you know that our dear chess friend - Mohd Noor Yahya, had a mild heart attack last week and was rushed to the Serdang Hospital Emergency. It was mild enough that the doctor released him on the same day but with advice to get more rest. FYI :)

Jimmy Liew said...

I have seven and I remember one time counting with Mok and he had one more than me. So Mok will have at least eight.

Anonymous said...

Congrats Jimmy.

Unknown Bobby

Sumant said...

ohh...I'm not in it? Damnnn.... :P :P

Anonymous said...

Fide r

Anonymous said...

Fide rating used not valid because nicholas , chern ee , ronnie wasnt offered a place.. Maybe u cn explain for MCF?

Anonymous said...

I suggest the following:

1.There is a publicly available list of 10/12 players to choose from for all international tournaments taking place effective from the date of the list. This listof NATIONAL PLAYERS is updated every 3/6 months so players remain competitive and vie to break into the list as best they can.

2. First 9 highest FIDE-rated (titled or otherwise) who have played minimum 14 rated games in past year.

3. Top 3 from the latest National Closed.

Comments are invited.

Jimmy Liew said...

nicholas and chern ee are not active. maybe ronnie too but I really not sure.

Anonymous said...

Ronnie played in malacca rapid and last year pg open with a few rapid events in between. It would be fair if he declined due to work commitments then to assume otherwise. Whether MCF used fide rating as the benchmark and last year NC winner is a mystery.

Anonymous said...

Mok is not active too compared to Ronnie, any opinions on this? Am not against Mok but just curious how this selection works. I agree with priviledge given to top fide ratings as credits to them, however there is no consistency in it..

Jimmy Liew said...

Only MCF selection committee can answer these questions

Anonymous said...

I wish the team all the best.. I know you are not in the position to answer this, but it is wrong to assume the selection is based on fide rating alone.. Whether MCF selecting commitee (any ideas who these ppl are) or Puan Haslindah, i am sure the malaysian chess community would be grateful to hear the reasoning with full support for the national team.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

i wonder if Roshan will be selected for Sea Games next year since he is the "past" year NC champion

Peter Long said...

Congrats Jimmy!
Looks like a pretty decent team. I hope the two young players will benefit from all the experience the IMs will bring to the table!
Personally I am very pleased that Mi Yen made it and very nice that two more young girls have been included to join the Azman Hisham siblings. Good call to look to the future!

Anonymous said...

MCF just put up on their website their justification for the selection. But it's a bit strange that they have listed Yeoh Li Tian as the President's choice. Granted that Li Tian is one of the strongest juniors around. But does the President have such power to do so? And I think I have to agree with this argument below taken off directly from an "active chess blogger".

"The procedure for any selection is that if the Champion declines, the place goes to the runner up and so forth. So this begs the question, was Eng Chiam offered a place? And if he declined, was Syazwan offered a place?...."

And by the way, normally a selection criteria should be made clear way before the team is selected so that players have a fighting chance of making it to the team.

Jimmy Liew said...

President's choice has been there for some time.

there is no precedent that the procedure for selection goes to the runner-up. let's say if it is correct. how far down do you want to go? if 2-10th decline, offer to the 11th? the second reason is that a Swiss system is only accurate as far as the champion is concerned. below that is mainly decided by tie-break system. how fair is that anyway?

agree that selection criteria should be fixed way before any major tournaments.

Anonymous said...

Yet Ronnie is 3rd in fide list but you are being offered the place, maybe you would like to give a fair comment to the readers?

Jimmy Liew said...

Anonymous @ 4:07PM

You seem to blame me for that. Frankly, I do not know since I am not privy to the selection process. I do not know all the background,maybe Ronnie declined?

Anonymous said...

It shouldn't be because it then gives the impression that the National Closed Tournament isn't an important one. (which unfortunately is already a fact because many of the top players choose not to play). And it's of course not logical to also argue that the Swiss system isn't accurate as far as the champion is concerned, although it might be true. If you are using this Swiss system as your reference, then you should stick to it because there wasn't a selection tournament in the very first place. And moreover only one player gets to be selected from the National Closed. If the 2nd guy doesn't get it, then in future who wants to participate in this "meaningless" tournament anymore?

As for the President's choice, although it is there, I feel that he should only exercise this right unless absolutely necessary and there are no other obvious choice left.

Jimmy Liew said...

I did not say the Swiss is not accurate for the champion, only below that. I already stated my stand that the National champion should have automatic place in Olympiad team , back in 2010. The champion should have some privileges to make the title important and meaningful. This means that those who want to make the team will compete in the Nationals. But why should the 2nd guy be selected?

Now MCF even go one better and include the previous year's winner. I think that is a good decision. So that means there will be TWO national champions in the team (of course provided MCF still stick to this selection criteria).

What happens someone rated say in 1800 , suddenly he makes an IM norm in a tournament. Obviously he/she is deserving (check how many Malaysians have made IM norms). But he did not play Nationals and rating not high enough. He will not get selected. This is where the President's choice can come in.

Anonymous said...

Jimmy, i am just pointing out the fact that the MCF selecting criteria to represent malaysia is totally inaccurate and dubious! Who are they trying to kid when they specially lay out the criteria without even analysing the list that Ronnie is 3rd in the current active list instead of you and Lim Yee Weng. It maybe true retrospective if you say that Ronnie declined yes he has been quite out of the chess scene in past years), but to exclude him like that is not a fair statement. Another thing is, i agree to the point about the president's choice about this time, but dont you think the past national champion to be selected is another dubious idea?! Think of it this way, If A misses a near IM norm in 2012, so can we safely say A will be selected for next years SEA Games? Or a clearer example would be, will Roshan be selected for SEA Games next year? I hope MCF can shed some light about their bold selection criteria. Why not take the champion from the past 2 years, 3 years or 4 years? Did Ronnie not made an IM norm from a Malaysia Open tournament yet was not offered a place? If i am not mistaken, that MCF official was already in the position to select that particular player. I am not sure if you agree with me on this, but i am sure many malaysian chess community would think the whole selection process thingy unjustifiable even more so heart broken for those who actually tried for it.

Anonymous said...

NM Lim Zhuo Ren must have felt the same last year when he was the National Champion at that time, but yet has to go through the whole selection process for the Sea Games. I am sure he must have felt heart broken as well. However, this does not give him the right (olympiad slot) for this year for those who really fought for it. I am sure he is more in the right position to tell you what he has gone through. The blame has to be put on MCF.

Jimmy Liew said...

Regarding SEA Games, you cannot have a selection for everybody and than directly give the National Champ a place. Without a selection, Zhuo Ren has the moral right to a place as reigning champion. My opinion only.

Anonymous said...

Is the list confirmed? In my opinion, the best way to handle this is to select perhaps the 10 top players - 7 based on rating, 2 from the National Closed and 1 President's pick and have another selection to determine the 5 that will go to the Olympiad. Well it may not have to be exactly that way but something alone the lines. It is common sense that a wider pool of players for selection will undoubtedly ensure that the ones selected truly deserve it.

Past performance is one thing but if want to get the best results, everything should be based on current form.

Jimmy, perhaps you should bring this up to the MCF. If these are indeed the best 5, even if there were selections, this will be the 5 going.

Jimmy Liew said...

my opinions

this list is confirmed.

these five are amongst the best say ten. check the post on Kasugi Team to see their results in this event. they scored better than those in the top of the current National Championship.

MCF was not prepared to hold a selection. Time and money. but MCF should have planned early and held the selection.

SomeDaysLikeThese said...

It seems that Anonymous is "pressing for you" to give your opinion on the selection criteria.... Do we have a wolf in sheep's skin? Just kidding..... The writing style is a bit "tone down" but it also feels "fake"??? Or maybe I am just being paranoid here *grin*

Anyway, I agree with you. The President's choice has always been there since the times of Dato Sabaruddin in the late 80's and throughout the 90's. And usually, the slot is being filled by a "young" chess player (with potential) so the selection of Li Tian does not seem surprising. Although it is named as the "President's choice", the selection is actually being approved (and blessed) by the majority of the MCF committee so, i may not be from a single person's say.

Agreed that for a point of improvement, the selection criteria should be mentioned up front and not "after the fact" but still, with many top chess players in the country are not doing chess full time, getting them to play in International events (like Olympiad) are usually up to the mercy of their respective employers. And even then, employer can still cancel someone's application for leave at the 11th hour if there is something pressing that needs to be done and completed in the office.

Even for kids, it depends whether they are in their UPSR/PMR/SPM years, or if the kids have other skills like Karate, Swimming, Music, Badminton, Soccer, etc. that are more "gratifying and worthwhile" than chess. So, if players keep turning down the invitation to play in Olympiad (or other events for that matter), how far down the line (list of players for selection) do we want to prepare and dive into? And of course, the criteria must be that the player is of reasonable strength (you do not want to send too weak a team to Olympiad and get crushed into the 150th place right?)

I sincerely feel that the selection committee is doing their utmost to select the best players for Olympiad (or any other event), regardless whether there is an actual process being used or just a voting procedures where the selection committee discuss and vote for the best players that they can find based on availability and strength. But based on the 2012 Olympiad team that has been selected, their selection seems to be "fair". Of course there are rooms for improvement with regards to the selection process (I think the "room" is bigger than the London Olympic Stadium) but no matter how good the selection is done, there will always be an "a******" that will not like it. So, to satisfy everyone is almost impossible but the problem is, the "a******" that does not like the team (or have issues with the establishment or some or all of the players that are being selected) is unfortunately the most vocal one ergo, a small issue that does not actually irks many, gets blown out proportion by a single voice.

And I also agree that with time and money, a proper selection could be done but still, after the selection concludes, does the top player get automatic placement in the team? And what if the player declines? After all the money wasted and time spent to do the event? Do we ban the player? Or what if after winning the selection event, the boss in the office says - "Sorry, I need you back in the office". It is not the player's fault that he can't go so, we are back to square one yet again....

Anyway, just my 5 sen worth.....

SomeDaysLikeThese said...

I did not realized that I wrote that long!!! *LOL*

Sorry ah Jimmy.... :)

Jimmy Liew said...

If someone enters a selection, he should be prepared to represent the country right? So i do not think that scenario will exists.

if it happens, than I think it is right to go to the next placing, provided the selection is a proper round-robin.

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