Admittedly, I have been to quite a few countries -36 in total. It’s not something I am ever proud of or boastful about but when the Olympiads come round, it’s always nice to look out for the countries you are personally fond of.
Laos is one of my favourite ‘countries’ in the world, to use the term broadly. On my last visit there (late March 2016), I cycled just over 140 kms on my Trek in north-eastern Thailand in two mornings before getting my bike over the Mekong river -also the border- and heading inland towards the nearest consulate in a small city, opulent with restored, colonial architecture and casinos -going by the name of Savannakhet. (or sleepy Savannakhet as I dubbed it).
But as lovely as the country and the people may be, or seem to be, their chess team at the Olympiad isn’t the strongest, with the top board being the only rated player, and only in the 1200 region. Still, it’s refreshingly pleasant to see them there as in itself that does constitute progress and it’s good for the country as a whole in terms of building cultural identity and defining progress more readily and explorationally. Should you ever go to Laos, you may notice it is still communist and will always border China. You may also notice that to define it as a nation is stretching the term a quite a bit since it is tribal across the nation and many areas are unchanged in the last 10,000 years, with what we take for granted in modernity, such as electricity and money, having not reached all parts of the country yet, with bartering systems well in place during daylight hours still. Their national language is official but is almost unheard of outside what towns and cities there are, thus almost certainly unlearnt and never used.
On a much more solemn note, the country I am currently a resident of has also entered a team, but having had a good look at it I was sad to see I could beat the entire team if I played any of them, and so returning to work in a land where there doesn’t appear to be anyone better than you isn’t a very pleasant feeling I can assure you. There’s a sense of something not being quite right, provided your level of self-understanding is sufficient enough to realise such things(that’s another way of admitting to not being particularly good at something)…perhaps I will have something to become boastful of when I finally get round going back to work. Some sort of national challenge may be in order then most likely declined, ignored, overlooked, and eventually buried under ceaseless online traffic somewhere… .
Mark. J. McCready
12.13am BKK
McCreadyandChess 
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