I normally do not write posts like this but I am well and truly fed up with certain people out there who seem to have nothing better to do.
When Olimpiu founded SCN, he shared his vision to create a platform for up to date and honest chess reporting for the chess community, something which has been lacking in recent times. Junior spent his time doing up tournament reports while I mainly presented training articles, hopefully useful, during my gap year.
We do not claim to be the best in what we do. However, its certainly the best out there as there are no similar sites that produce the same kind of work we did.
Most importantly, SCN is an independent body which means we are not biased towards or against anyone. We write what is going on out there, both good and bad news. Unfortunately, there are certain people who just cannot live with this and after 2 good years, the chief editor (there is only one - i.e. Olimpiu Urcan) decided to shut down SCN despite our lengthy persuasions.
I believe the work we have done is beneficial to chess players. We have put in a lot of effort, spent hours and hours of our time, and asked for virtually nothing in return except for the satisfaction from the fact that we have given something worthy of the chess community's attention.
Since SCN has closed, I thought it would be a good idea to have Junior on board since he is keen and willing to spend the time to cover interesting tournaments. He has done an incredible job, spending almost the same amount of time he did for SCN and again for nothing in return. Amazingly, the last comment I saw on my blog appears to indicate that there are people who are not happy about this too! And to these people, I have this to say:
On this blog, I will work with whoever I like, whenever I want. If you don't like it, stay away. No one really cares about what you think. Create your own blog. Do up your own website. No one appreciates your smart-alec jokes and sarcastic remarks here.
Junior will continue to work with me despite his offering to stop. I don't see why he has to, even if some people may dislike him. I have been tolerant of anonymous comments so far and will have no choice but to moderate comments if more of such comments surface.
I reiterate that this blog will only focus on chess. Any unrelated comments will be removed so pls don't waste my time reading comments that I will not publish anyway.
Back to the chess from now on.
Bravo! You have my utmost support. Please continue your training articles and Junior Tay's annotations. There are very few bloggers who annotate asian chessplayers' games.
ReplyDeleteBTW, Mok did unveil his mokdern but it did not bring the desired point.
Further to my earlier Comment, if I may be so bold as to request from Kevin a sort of guide to French opening books of which many have come onto the market very recently. Not so much book reviews but a guide to the books, their strength and weaknesses, their opening repertoire, their usability, and learn-ability, aimed at the so-called Club amateur players. Making the request on the ground of the general all-round acknowledgement that Kevin is a French Defence guru.
DeleteThe books: Watson's PTF 4, Vitiugov's French Reloaded, The Modern French by Antic & anor, Williams' Attacking Chess: The French, and McDonals's older French book, and from the White side, Denis Yevseev's Fighting the French, Tzermiadianos' book.
Please don't give up on the blog! I loved chess when i was younger (went as high as the state-levels in Malaysia), but had to give it up due to increasing work commitments. Really love your commentary and Singapore and Malaysian chess, particularly olympiad performances. Its so good that Jimmy Liew links to your blog directly from his, so after reading one, i jump to the other.
ReplyDeleteAt least with your blog around, i can continue the pleasure of being an armchair player, enjoying watching!!!!!!!
Dear Kevin
ReplyDeleteMy son and I enjoy reading your site and appreciate very much the effort that Junior Tay and you put in. It was indeed tragic that SCN had to stop as Olimpiu and all of the contributors did a wonderful job. I sincerely hope that Junior and you will carry on this valuable work that you are doing. Rest assured there are many young chess players who are benefitting tremendously from all of your efforts and that of Junior. You are making a difference. Best of luck.
Siva
Well said. You are inspiring Jimmy and I to do the same - but targeted at helping young 1800-2000 players as we simply do not have your capacity for work! Targeted to be launched on 1 October after we recover from the Olympiad! Everyone should remember too that you were in great form and on track to a final GM norm when you had to return home.
ReplyDeleteHi all,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice comments. Both Junior and I will certainly continue our work when time permits.
Weng Nian, I have not bought The Modern French and even though I do have the rest of the books, I have not really studied all of them in detail. Your suggestion of writing a sort of guide to these books is interesting though, and I'll make it a point to come around to this eventually once I have read enough to make a fair comparison.
For the time being, you may want to refer to GM David Smerdon's review of The Modern French here: http://www.chessvibes.com/reports/review-the-modern-french