CHESS TALENTS IN MALAYSIA

Malaysia is a land of abundant talents. If i am not mistaken, pen drive has been invented by a Malaysian citizen located at Taiwan. In arts we have Ramli Ibrahim the Indian dancer, Ib the painter, Nicole David the squash player, Azizul Hasni the cyclist, Michelle Yeoh the actress and many others.

But when it come to chess...Yes, maybe now we yet to have a giant in chess but we surely not lacking in this department.

From my personal observation, we were blesssed with a great talent in every decade.

• 70's Jimmy Liew
• 80's Rosazman Rosley
• 90's Mas Hafizul Helmi
• 00's Anas Nazreen
• 10's Yeoh Li Tian

Same goes to women section

• 80's Audrey Wong
• 90's Eliza Hanum
• 00's Siti Zulaikha
• 10's Tan Li Ting

The list above is ofcourse debatable (Nabila, Wong Zi Jing, Nico Chan, Ooi etc) but my point is we are not lacking when it comes to chess talents.

The sad part is all those bright talents fade away after a few years of showing lots of promise. Reasons identified are many (MCF-the usual punching bag, lack of good coach etc) but i think the real culprit is moment of truth junction. There will come a time when they have to chose between study/ career and chess. All of them chose study/career.

Guess that provide us with one real and obvious solution in managing chess talents in Malaysia.

Groom and support them before they are 17 years old.