20th Bunratty Chess Festival
The 20th Bunratty Chess Festival took place from 1 - 3 March in Ireland, featuring 39 players in a 6-round Swiss "Masters", and a 10-player single round-robin "Classic" competition.
The Masters event starred perennial rival English grandmasters Mickey Adams and Nigel Short. This time it was Mickey Adams (pictured) who repeated his success in last year's event, taking first place with a score of 5½/6, ahead of Nigel Short and Richard Bates on 5/6.
The inaugural Classic competition was won by another English GM, Mark Hebden with 7/9 points.
Veselin Topalov was a guest at the opening of the festival and made the ceremonial first move in the Masters competition.
The time control used was 90 minutes for all moves plus a 15 second increment.
20th Bunratty Masters - Top Standings
| # | Name | Elo | Pts |
| 1 | Adams, Michael | 2725 | 5½ |
| 2 | Short, Nigel | 2690 | 5 |
| 3 | Bates, Richard | 2375 | 5 |
| 4 | McPhillips, Joseph | 2132 | 4½ |
| 5 | Wells, Peter | 2491 | 4½ |
| 6 | Wall, Gavin | 2340 | 4 |
| 7 | Rendle, Thomas | 2382 | 3½ |
| 8 | Aguera Naredo, Javier | 2417 | 3½ |
| 9 | Pein, Malcolm | 2376 | 3½ |
| 10 | Baburin, Alexander | 2534 | 3½ |
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Inaugural Bunratty Classic Final Standings
| Name | Elo | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Pts |
| Hebden, Mark L | 2518 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 7 |
| Pert, Nicholas | 2539 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 6½ |
| Collins, Sam E. | 2482 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 5 |
| Hamitevici, Vladimir | 2444 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 5 |
| Astaneh Lopez, Alex | 2416 | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Daly, Colm | 2340 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | 4 |
| Arkell, Keith C | 2472 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 3½ |
| Quinn, Mark | 2388 | 1 | ½ | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 3½ |
| Burns-Mannion, Stephen | 2376 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Rombaldoni, Denis | 2510 | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 2½ |
.
.
.
.
.
Games via TWIC.
