Statement
ICU international selection sub-committee

At its meeting of 11th May 2002, the ICU executive nominated the following individuals to the new International Selection Sub-Committee: Gerry Graham (chairman), Herbert Scarry (junior liaison officer), Jonathan O'Connor, John Hurley, Anthony Fox, Stephen Scannell.

This sub-committee met on 26th May 2002 and all were present except Stephen Scannell.  The committee's immediate task was to make recommendations for selection for the following events:

Senior events

Olympiad (Bled, Slovenia) 25th Oct - 11th Nov 2002 6 men, 4 women
British Chs. (Torquay) 28th July - 10th Aug 2002   2 players

Junior events

Glorney and Faber Cups (Swansea) 22-26 July 2002 5 boys, 3 girls (U18)
European Junior Chs (Baku, Azerbaijan) 10-20 Sept 2002 1 boy, 1 girl (U20)
World Junior Chs (Yerevan, Armenia) 19-Sept-2 Oct 2002 1 boy, 1 girl (U20)
European Youth Chs (Peniscola, Spain) 28 Sept.-9th Oct 2002 1 boy, 1 girl (U10 to U18)
World Youth Chs (Iraklion, Crete) 14-22 Nov 2002 1 boy, 1 girl (U10 to U18)

In an effort to make the selection process more transparent, the newly appointed ISC has decided to make public the basis of its recommendations regarding selection for forthcoming junior and senior representative events

It was decided to adopt as its primary selection criteria, where applicable, a weighted rating calculation.  In practice, this selection mechanism will only apply to recommendations regarding the selection of the men’s senior team in 2002 though it may in due course, with the extension of the international FIDE rating system, apply to other Irish representative selections as well. 

For the present, all international selections other than that of the men's senior representative team will be based primarily on the most up-to-date ICU rating at the time of selection.  Secondary consideration will be given to ICU rating performance over previous nine months, any previous representative performances, performance in National Championships, FIDE rating (where applicable) and level of activity.  

The following table details the weighted rating calculation applied to determine recommendations regarding selection of the remaining players.

Weighted rating

FIDE

50% of current rating

30% of Oct rating of last year

20% of previous year

Total

 

0.5 x

0.3 x

0.2 x

 

ICU

50% of current rating

30% of last September's rating

20% of previous year rating

Total

 

0.5 x

0.3 x

0.2 x

 

Final weighted average = 60% ICU weighted average + 40 % FIDE weighted average.

As can be seen, the weighted rating is a combination of a player's most recent ICU and FIDE ratings weighted to give emphasis to more recent ratings and to the national rating over the international rating.  Please note that Ulster players received a rating bonus in November 2000, which varied from player to player, depending on their rating.  For the proposes of calculating the ISC weighted rating 66.66% of this bonus will be deducted.

The above calculations will be the primary selection criterion in determining the team/teams.  It will not however, be used to determine board order.  The decision on board order will only be made after the Irish Chess Championships this July.

For players interested in making the above calculations for themselves, an excel spreadsheet will be made available to enable this to be done easily.

Where there is a marginal difference between players based on the above calculations (no more than 10 points), the subcommittee retains discretion to overrule the order determined by the weighted rating in favour of the lower of two rated players taking the following factors into account: performance in previous two Irish senior championships, performance in previous Irish senior representative teams and level of activity.

The meeting also decided for practical reasons to finalize all of the selections by mid-June 2002 in order to give selected players notice in order to make the necessary arrangements for work holiday, travel.  For the men's senior representative team selection, the sub-committee is obliged by ICU rules to select the current Irish champion.  As the terms of reference of the subcommittee did not specify which Irish Champion is automatically selected for the Olympiad team, it was decided to regard the current Irish Champion at the time of selection as automatically selected. 

The above decisions are adopted as the policy of this I.S.C. and will be in force for the life of the current committee.   

Selections

Stephen Brady, as current Irish Chess Champion, is automatically selected for the Men's Olympiad team.  Bearing this in mind, and applying the above criteria, the I.S.C. announces the following teams for this year's Olympiad in Bled, Slovenia.

Men's Olympiad Team  rating calculations Woman's Olympiad Team rating calculations
GM Alexander Baburin  Suzanne Connolly
IM Brian Kelly   Sarah Hegarty
IM Mark Quinn  Deborah Quinn
IM Mark Heidenfeld  Gearoidin Ui Laighleis
FM Colm Daly   
FM Stephen Brady Reserves
  Michelle Cowley
Reserves Elizabeth Shaughnessy        
FM Gavin Wall  
IM Mark Orr  
FM Joe Ryan  
Sam Collins  
Adrian Gillen  

The committee notes that Alexander Baburin, Brian Kelly and Gavin Wall have all yet to complete the minimum number of games required by the eligibility criteria.  They have until September 13th to do so.  Alexander Baburin's case is a little different from the others though.  The ICU activity requirements discriminate against Irish citizens who were not born in Ireland or whose parents were not born in Ireland. Mr Baburin is now a citizen of Ireland and the selection committee will be recommending that the ICU amend the eligibility criteria to include the word "citizen".  If this is done, then Mr Baburin will have to play the same amount of games as any other citizen of Ireland in order to fulfil the criteria, i.e. 24, and will be deemed in compliance having already played 32 ICU-rated games in the relevant period.

The Glorney and Faber teams were selected as follows: (Bold text indicates selection for team, remaining names are reserves list in order of priority)

Glorney Faber
Simon Jeffares    Sarah Hegarty
Alex Lopez Emily Alfred
Karl Mc Phillips Hannah Lowry O' Reilly
Matthew Dignam  
Stephen Stokes    Reserves
Lesley Fennelly
Reserves Aileen Wallace
Mark E. Mc Govern
David Murray
Stephen Branigan
Killian Delaney
Graeme Walsh

European and World Junior Championships
For these two under 20 competitions we were required to select one boy and one girl.  However, it was decided there was no suitable candidate in the girl's section and that the following list of boys would be offered places in the order they appear below.  First option would be given to no.1 and whichever one was left would go to no.2.  In case either player refuse, the candidates further down the list would be offered the opportunity in sequence.

Sam Collins
Paul Dempsey
Michael Dooley
Gordon Freeman
John P.A. Kennedy

European and World Youth Championships
There are various age groups in these competitions and selections were made as follows:

Under 18
Boys: Simon Jeffares will be offered both European and World spots and if he refuses either event then
David Murray
No Girl selected.

Under 16
Boys: Alex Lopez will be offered both European and World spots and if he refuses either then
Stephen Branigan
Girls: Sarah Hegarty

Under 14
Matthew Dignam (choice of either European or World spots; if either rejected, it will be offered to
Karl Mc Phillips
Girls: Sarah Hegarty (Both)
Hanna Lowry O' Reilly

Under 12
Shane O' Connor (Choice of either European or World spots, the one which he rejects will be offered to
Jamie Flynn
No girl selected

Under 10
Jamie Flynn (Choice of either European or World spots, the one which he rejects will be offered to
Max Drakeford
Girls: Catherine Danaher

The British Chess Federation also invites the Irish Chess Union to select two players to participate in the British Chess Championships.  This year's championships are being held from 28th July to 10th of August in Torquay.  The Selection Committee offers these places as follows:

Mark Orr and Joe Ryan

Reserves: Sam Collins, Adrian Gillen

Please note that all selections made by the International Selection Committee are subject to Irish Chess Union Executive Committee Approval.

If readers have any queries / comments, please feel free to contact the ISSC by emailing gerrygraham@eircom.net

International Selection Subcommittee
June 14th 2002