THE Bunratty International Chess Festival has been held every February for the past 20 years, initially in The Shannon Shamrock Hotel and now more recently in the Bunratty Castle Hotel.

Chess players are expected to travel in big numbers to this year’s event from March 1 to 3.

When it started as a small weekend chess tournament, with less than 60 players, no-one envisaged that it would grow to become the strongest weekend chess tournament in the world, with numbers regularly exceeding 300 players. The games of the top players are transmitted live on the internet and these games attracted hundreds of thousands of hits to the Bunratty Chess website last year.

The top event, the Bunratty Masters, regularly attracts some of the most famous chess players in the world, including Danny King grandmaster (GM); Jonathan Speelman GM; Luke McShane GM (chess columnist for The Sunday Times); Dr John Nunn GM; Nigel Short GM (who played Kasparov in a televised match for the world title in 1995); Simon Williams GM (international chess correspondent, www.gingergm.com); Peter Svidler GM (ranked number five in the world when he played); Joel Benjamin GM (American champion); Michael Adams GM (British champion); Alex Baburin GM (Ireland’s only resident grandmaster) and Malcolm Pein International master (Daily Telegraph chess correspondent).

Its leading members, John Cassidy from Ennis Chess Club and Stephen Danagher from Shannon Chess Club, ensure there is always great support for the tournament from Clare.

This year, Clare County Council is supporting the event as part of The Gathering. Know as ‘The Bunratty,’ the chess tournament is famous for its unique atmosphere, which makes the festival a must-attend event on the world chess stage.

Over the years, the après match setting has allowed ordinary players to meet and often play their chess heroes in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere. It’s rare in the chess world to see grandmasters playing grandmasters in blitz chess just for fun or, rarer still, playing a mere chess mortal.
This makes the Bunratty festival unique. Younger players can see their heroes play and even get an autograph, while the older ones can have a pint with them in the bar after the battle has ended.

The tournament is open to chess players of all strengths and ages and regularly attracts players and their families from all over Ireland and the world. Last year, the youngest player was five, while the oldest player was 80 and he has played in every one of the tournaments over the past 20 years.
As usual, this year’s tournament is divided into four sections: minor (for beginners), major (intermediate), challengers (advanced) and masters (for the top national and international players).

As part of the 20th anniversary, the organising committee of Gerry Graham, Paul Carey, Ted Jennings, Brian Scully and Gary O’Grady have achieved their goal of adding an extra tournament, called the Bunratty International Classic, which will be rated by FIDE (World Chess Federation).
The organising committee wants to offer the international standard Irish players an opportunity to gain points (norms) towards their international and grandmaster titles by playing other invited grandmasters and international masters. This will help Irish chess towards achieving its first Irish-born grandmaster.

Visit www.bunrattychess.com for details of the tournament and entry forms.