Sunday, March 24, 2013

Myths of Raymond Siew

It is really hard for me to keep quiet when Raymond Siew keeps spewing myths like favouritism and sponsorship concerning Yeoh Li Tian. So let me put these myths to sleep now.

Sponsorship

Raymond Siew keeps harping on Li Tian's sponsorships. Raymond Siew is famous (amongst other things) for making stupid ASSumptions. I have not seen any sponsor money, except for the time that he was sent to China a couple of years ago.

For example, Campomanes Memorial in Brunei, Melaka  Chess Festival in 2012, Zone 3.3 Championship and the current HDBank Cup in Vietnam, all these trips were paid by Li Tian's father pocket.




The irony is that in Melaka, our very own backyard and a tournament which received a large amount of sponsor money, Li Tian did not receive any free board and lodging. If Yeoh Chin Seng asked for it, probably Li Tian will get , but YCS is too humble to ask because he does not believe Li Tian should receive special favors over others. However, I know some players who did get free board and lodging but let us not hold anything against them since they did ask for it.

Li Tian will be going to the Bangkok Open next month and again this is fully paid for by his father. So do not make any more  stupid ASSumptions.

Should Li Tian get sponsorship? In my opinion, MCF should arrange for it as Li Tian is the best junior we have.

MCF favourite?

The Melaka Festival tournament should already put this myth to rest. No conditions were offered to Li Tian and his father paid for the hotel room and meals.

Raymond Siew says MCF sent Li Tian to Zone 3.3 tournament. No, Chin Seng wrote to MCF and asked for Li Tian to be allowed to go as additional player. YCS never assumed that Li Tian will be the official representative. He paid all the expenses out of his pocket.

Raymond Siew claims MCF deliberately not allow other juniors to go to tournaments. I do not know that answer. Even if it is true (and I do not believe it) how is that the fault of Li Tian/Chin Seng? Why blame them?


It is true that MCF did not publicise tournaments so nobody knows about forthcoming events. Again how is that the fault of Li Tian/Chin Seng? YCS took the trouble to find out about such tournaments himself and acted for his son.

Nuff' said.

6 comments:

siew fai said...

Dear Jimmy,

You had fallen for the trap of Ambush Marketing! By exploiting your good name and repeatedly smearing it with bad taste, he had succeeded in positioning himself as equal to all chess players. He had achieved instant publicity among the chess community without even lifting a single chess piece in a game of chess. Even though Ambush Marketing is an unethical practice, I must say, he had done well in practicing Ambush Marketing to market himself to the chess community as the chess expert.

And he had been on the spin ever since in a raucous manner to keep himself relevant in the game. Even chess players of respect had not been able to write open letter “addressed to Dato Tan or Dato Sri Santhara”. He claimed he had all the answer to Chess in Malaysia and shown disdain to the efforts of the past...

He exploits the weak spots of money invested and sells the “truth” that any parents spending enough money on chess shall have a said in how to develop the exciting chess talents. If that is the case, we should already have plenty of IMs & GMs by now financed by the many rich Malaysians that had been to the chess halls across the nation. Plainly, all parents should be informed that money spent does not guarantee success over the chess board. Genuine chess players know what it takes to be real good...

He claims he knows the right selection criteria and yet he chooses not to reflect on why the Swiss System was used for chess competition. A system based on estimation is never going to be precise! Throw in the other facts of life; a lack of opportunity to play, a school exam across the horizon, a career in waiting, a life of matrimony bliss, a burden of child-centric, and we will never have the right player in the right selection arrangement. Selection becomes merely a trial for who can commit time for chess and get measured as is where is. He who has time to commit to a selection trial is deemed to be the best in Chess?!

Incidentally, he can tell others not to interfere with selection criteria, but then, happily fired-off a few pieces of open advice on how it should be done to further his own interest.

He claims to be a “mind expert” that knows all except in Li Tian case, he expect Li Tian to be in peak condition 365 days in a year. Make that 365 days every year! He will use cases when Li Tian falters as his canon folders to marshal up his opinions without offering the truth. Of course, the truth will damage his arguments! If the truth is to surface, his “mind expertise” will have to offer the most “unwelcoming advice”, that is, at Li Tian’s level of play, he should be encouraged to be selective on which Tournament his father decide Li Tian should play in and be in peak condition at the right time. After all, Li Tian has 24 hours a day just like us and his precious time resources must only be used to prepare against highly rated opponents.

To round it off, he speaks of chess in Malaysia as though it is institutionalised. This is far from the truth. To institutionalise chess in Malaysia, we needed the government’s will and would probably cost RM387M a year for the next twenty years. During the cold war, the Russian would have spent a lot more. They have committed it as a national passion to show supremacy of the mind (but the nation was lost in an expensive Arm Race that the American had set them up to lose). In our case, we only have MCF with whatever resources available on hand to further the game of chess; to keep the game alive for the benefit of the chess community.

Amazingly, I had once thrived on the goodwill of MCF and equally, had endured their disappointing inaction. But then, my heart is still with them. They are the only volunteers whom are willing to bear the burden of standing up to the challenges of keeping chess relevant until today. Retrospectively, he who had not commit time and effort to the daily chores of keeping MCF alive should have no say on the well-being of chess in Malaysia.

Jimmy Liew said...

Siew Fai,

How I wish everyone in the chess community sees it as clearly as you do. You have hit the nails right on their heads.

I like this sentence, "the truth will damage his arguments!". How true.

BTW, Li Tian does not have 24 hours a day. He has school and school work as well.

Anonymous said...

The chess community is not blind nor stupid.

I think he is suffering from some complex and his reasoning is completely one sided. And he gets offended when you disagree. Everytime you try to disagree he will come back with more. This tit and tat has become very entertaining for us but Jimmy, why do you want to be part of this.?

Jimmy Liew said...

It is not that I want to be a part. I am being dragged in no matter what the issue is , even when it does not involve me. He seems to take perverse satisfaction mentioning me in every negative way possible.

Anonymous said...

can't you file any police report or anything? coz he clearly mentioned your name in every single writings.. you dont have to read between the lines to figure it out...

Jimmy Liew said...

Not saying anything here. The least he knows about my course of action, the better.

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