Irish Open and World Qualifying Tournament

The 2010 Irish Open and 3-Move World Qualifying Tournament were held back-to-back this past week in Dublin, Ireland, at the Radisson Hotel. Competition was fierce in both tournaments, and they generated lots of commentary and argument at the ACF Forum. The winner of the WQT earns the right to challenge World 3-Move Champion Alex Moiseyev for the title, with a match likely to take place in late 2011.

After the smoke had cleared, Ron King won the Irish Open Masters convincingly, while Bernard Coll topped the Senior division (analogous, I think, to the majors division in US tournaments). In the WQT, Michele Borghetti edged King out for first place, which will make for an exciting match-up in the next WCM. Borghetti is known as the Marion Tinsley of Italian checkers, and he has proven himself to be an extremely strong crossboard player in many variants of the game. Toyeva Hurhagul won the women's WQT over Jan Mortimer and Kim Willis (Amangul Durdyeva, the current Women's Champion, played in the open division), while Maksat Durdyev beat Gechakov Gochmyrat in the youth WQT. Congratulations to all the competitors, and thanks for an exciting week of checkers!

Here are the full standings for both events, courtesy of Graham Young. You can also view the crosstables at Google Docs: Irish Open and World Qualifying Tournament.

Irish Open - Masters

Ron King
John McElhone
Michael Shabshai
Filip Karetr
Igor Martynov
Shane McCosker
Tom Watson
John Webster
Sean O'Drscoll
Tom Kee
Brian Kilgour
Colin Young
Joe Schwartz
Danny Oliphant
Frank Moran
Myles Hannigan
Liam Stephens
Peter Kierans
Anthory Rose
Charlie McKenna
Bill Dobbins
Paddy Doyle
Jaroslav Tichy
Thomas Wien
Sean Phillips
Franice McNally

Irish Open - Senior and Intermediate

Note: Everyone played as one group, but I've grouped the intermediate players below for ease of reading.

Senior
Bernard Coll
John Jolliff
Sean McKenna
Graham Young
Joe Maguire
John Preston
Tommy Canning
Sean Davis
Con Boyle
Jan Mortimer
John Joe McGee
Brendan Murray
Billy Kelly
John Reade
Charlie McElory
Kim Willis
Vencent Beirne
John Davis
Liam Doyle
Ian Caws
Joan Caws
P J Furry
Con McCarrick

Intermediate
Paddy Byrne
John Kelly
Mick Brennan
Mick O'Dowd
Pasty Quinn
Mick Martin
Liam Harkin
Lisa Cuito

World Qualifying Tournament
Michele Borghtti
Ron King
Shane McCosker
John Webster
Joe Schwartz
Garrett Owens
Bagtiyar Durdyev
Robert Tovagliaro
Michael Holmes
Igor Martynov
Micheal Shabshai
Myles Hannigan
James Morrison
Bashim Durdyev
Amangul Durdyev
Filip Kareta
Colin Young
Thomas Wien
Frank Moran
Donald Oliphant
Tony Boyle
Paddy Doyle
Anthory Rose
Jaroslav Tichy