Stories from the Thematics.

It was a refreshing experience to switch to a less formal setting like Jax's after the formal setting at Taylor's University for the Ruy Lopez. I believe one of the added advantage of Jax's is the fact that he has places for the players to sleep over. So sharing can continue into the night. And we had the benefit of both Jax and Che Hassan that are proponents in the Dragon. We even had the guest appearance of Chan Mun Fye who played for Malaysia at the Olympiads in Skopje in 72 and Nice in 74. He came for a day and played a few games with the boys.

The sharing was amazing. You can't do better than having the input of both Jax and Che Hassan after each round for 10 running rounds. At the end of the tournament I asked the players if they now have the confidence to play dragon and many said that the learning over the 2 days have given them just that.

So much more was shared. Resources from their lap tops and even other lines in between games. We also saw a little dragon born from this tournament. Ethan Wong pulled some amazing games and I will show one later against his brother. He also played another one where he had a won game against Jax but tamely took a draw.

I also see that the importance of competitor analysis is being slowly accepted with greater understanding of its application. This helps when you are preparing against an equal or higher rated opponent. At the end of the tournament I spoke on negative self talk and its impact in a tournament environment. Here I could really see the players sitting in rapt attention since they just went through it and I used a few examples from the tournament itself.

I cant help but believe that it is from this type of environment, one of positive sharing and healthy competition, that the GM will come.

Pictures to follow.