After almost fifteen months play, Ireland is in second place on points. We have our first three match results, all wins: against Kazakhstan, Latvia and Poland. We still hope for a respectable overall result.
We have now finished 59 of our 78 games, of which all but seven were drawn, and we are now back to the fifty percent mark thanks to a win by Dr Eugene Gibney against Poland.
Windebank drew with the world's top-rated grandmaster, J. J. van Oosterom. He also drew with another former world champion, Tunc Hamarat. He only needs one more draw from four games for a first IM norm; one and a half points more would be a SIM norm. The board is so strong that the GM norm is 50 percent.
The CC Olympiad 15 Final is being played on the ICCF webserver, having started on 30 March, 2006. Ireland qualified for the final, the first time this country ever achieved that distinction.
The other countries in the final are: Kazakhstan, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Germany, Latvia, Slovenia, Portugal, Austria, USA, Norway, the Netherlands and Russia.
Qualifying for this event was the best performance ever by any Irish CC team. We are not posting the games yet to avoid helping our opponents in the Final. This page will be updated as new results come in.
For the full picture of the event, see the ICCF webserver.
Our team is (in rating, and board, order): Garry Windebank, Alan Ludgate, Desmond Taylor, Darrell Nightingale, Dr Eugene Gibney and Tim Harding (captain).
In the 7th European Team Championship preliminaries, where our second team is having a hard time, Ciaran O'Hare (on board two) has earned his first IM norm. Congratulations!
| Ireland | KAZ | POL | EST | LTU | GER | LAT | SLO | POR | AUT | USA | NOR | NED | RUS | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Windebank
|
½ | ½ | . | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | . | ½ | ½ | . | ½ | . | 3½ |
|
Taylor
|
½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | . | ½ | . | . | ½ | ½ | ½ | . | ½ | 4½ |
|
Ludgate
|
½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | . | . | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5½ |
|
Nightingale
|
½ | ½ | . | . | ½ | 1 | ½ | . | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 6 |
|
Gibney
|
½ | 1 | ½ | . | . | ½ | . | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | . | 5 |
|
Harding
|
1 | ½ | ½ | . | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 5½ |
| TOTALS | 3½ | 3½ | 1½ | 2 | 1½ | 3½ | 1½ | 1½ | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2½ | 2 | 30 |
Sadly our board 6 player from the preliminary round, Michael J. Sheehan, died in January 2006 after losing his battle with cancer. Jonathan O'Connor, who had our best result in the preliminaries, declared himself unavailable for the Final.