However, the first Bunratty Chess Festival, held in 1994, was a much more modest event than we are used to today. There were no visiting titled players and only 62 competed in one open section. The winner was Colm Daly from Dublin. Things began to improve in 1995, Alexander Baburin had settled in Ireland and managed to win the event ahead of English grandmaster Danny King.
The 1996 festival was the first to be sectioned and the Masters event was confined to players over 1900. The total entry was on a steady climb at this stage and almost 150 players attended. The Masters was now attracting strong players and it resulted in a tie for first place between Danny King and John Nunn. On the way to coming joint first, John Nunn won the following excellent game against Andy Hammond, the then "Combined Forces Chess Champion" of Britain.
Andy Hammond v John Nunn [E97], Bunratty Masters 1996
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Nf3 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7
9.Bd2 Nh5 10.b4 Nf4 11.c5 f5 12.Bc4 fxe4 13.Ng5 Kh8 14.cxd6 cxd6 15.Ngxe4
Bf5 16.Be3 Ng8 17.Rc1 Rc8 18.Bb3 Nf6 19.f3 Nxe4 20.fxe4 Bh3 21.Rf2 Nxg2
22.Rxg2 Bxg2 23.Kxg2 Qh4 24.Qe2 Bh6 25.Rc2 Bxe3 26.Qxe3 Rxc3 27.Rxc3 Qg4+
28.Qg3 Qe2+ 29.Kh3 Rf4 30.Rc8+ Kg7 31.Rc7+ Kh6 32.Bc4 Qh5+ 33.Kg2 Rg4
34.Rxb7 Rxg3+ 35.hxg3 Qg4 36.Bb3 Qxe4+ 37.Kh2 Qe2+ 0-1.
Despite this wonderful game, Danny won the title on tiebreak.
In 1997, the Bunratty set a new record for itself with 182 players attending. This was to be Jonathan Speelman’s year, as well as tying for first place with Danny King and Mel O’Cinneide, he also produced the following fantastic game:
Jonathan Speelman v Jonathan Rowson [A07], Bunratty Masters 1997
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Bg4 3.Bg2 Nd7 4.0-0 Ngf6 5.d4 e6 6.c4 c6 7.Nbd2 Bd6 8.b3
Qe7 9.Bb2 Ba3 10.Qc1 Bxb2 11.Qxb2 0-0 12.e3 Rac8 13.b4 Bxf3 14.Bxf3 e5
15.Rac1 Rfe8 16.b5 exd4 17.exd4 Nf8 18.bxc6 bxc6 19.Qc3 Rcd8 20.Qa5 Ne6
21.Rfe1 Qd7 22.cxd5 cxd5 23.Nb3 Ng5 24.Bg2 Nh3+ 25.Bxh3 Qxh3 26.Nd2 h5
27.Qxa7 Qg4 28.Re5 Ra8 29.Qb7 Reb8 30.Qe7 Rxa2 31.Qd6 Rbb2 32.h3 Qxd4
33.Qf8+ Kh7 34.Rg5 Qxf2+ 35.Kh1 Qh2+ draw agreed
To avoid a tiebreak deciding the destination of the Tipperary Crystal trophy, we introduced our policy of a blitz game play off. Danny and Jon’s tiebreak scores were identical, placing both ahead of Mel O’Cinneide, so a 5-minute game was hastily arranged. Jon managed to steal King’s crown to win the 1997 Bunratty Masters.
By now we were starting to get tight for space, 196 players competed in the 1998 event. Again there was a tie for first place between John Nunn and fourteen-year-old international master Luke McShane. There was another blitz match to decide the title and a huge crowd watched a very exiting, very fast game. When the dust had settled, John’s flag had fallen while Luke had a full four seconds left, and so Luke won the 1998 Bunratty Masters.
Last year’s event was the biggest yet, 216 competed for the five titles on offer, Masters, Challengers, Major, Minor and Veterans, each with its own Tipperary Crystal trophy. There was no need for a playoff as Sergey Tiviakov won the Masters outright. He had competed at the Kilkenny Masters not long before, without much success. At the Bunratty prize giving ceremony, upon receiving his trophy, he asked, "is this mine to keep". When he was told it was, he smiled and said, "I think I won the correct Irish tournament".
This year’s Masters sees Tony Miles, Jonathan Levitt and Mark Hebden visiting us for the first time, all more than welcome. John Nunn is also returning for a third shot at the title which he has so far tied for twice, but not yet won. Luke McShane is also joining the fray along with lasts year’s winner of the Sunday night blitz, Matthew Turner. Mark Orr, Ireland’s first international master, completes the line up of titled players in this year’s Masters. There will be plenty of "home grown" Irish players present, besides Mark, to upset the aspirations of our titled visitors and it must be remembered that this year the event is on the English "Terence Chapman Group Plc" sponsored British Grand Prix. This should add a bit of excitement to the competition as both Mark Hebden and Matthew Turner are chasing the £5,000 first prize.
Whatever happens, it is the sincere hope of the organisers that all competitors in the Bunratty Chess Festival 2000 enjoy themselves and come back again and again to one of Ireland’s best tournaments.
ROUND 2
Three of the GM contingent maintained their winning ways, but Jonathan
Levitt could only draw against Joe Ryan. Meanwhile Sam Collins showed that
his first round win was no fluke by beating the 1994 champion Colm Daly in
a game of opposite side castling where Black’s attack broke through first.
Stephen Scannell wore a teeshirt with the legend "Black as Night, Strong as
Sin, Sweet as Love, Hot as Hell" but despite this ambitious declaration of
intent only scored three draws from the day's play.
ROUND 3
A short draw on the top board between John Nunn and Matthew Turner
allowed Mark Hebden to take the lead by beating Tony Miles. He was
joined on 3/3 by Sam Collins who continued his good run by beating IM
Mark Orr. The opening in this game, and in Brady-Ryan from the same round
was the currently trendy 3...Be7 in the Tarrasch French, but Black lost both
games, so it remains to be seen how long 3...Be7 is trendy. Meanwhile Paul
Delaney was involved in his third Open Sicilian in a row. The score: 3/3 to
the white pieces. John Hurley won a spectacular game by employing a Kasparov
recommended move against Mel O'Cinneide.
Top scorers in the other sections: Challengers: Gordon Freeman and Jack Short; Major: Shannon Clements and Tom Fitzpatrick; Minor: D J O'Donoghue, Walter Fitzgibbon, John Bourke, Georgie Casey, James Coakley (all on 3/3).
ROUND 4
Sam Collins came up against his first GM of the tournament and
succumbed to the positional skills of Mark Hebden in a Tartakower QGD.
Jon Levitt's Winawer French was treated harshly by John Nunn. Tony Miles
offered an early draw to Luke McShane but Luke tried too hard to win and
ended up losing. On the lower boards, English visitor proved his
participation in the Masters was justified by moving up to 50%.
At 9 years and 2 months old, David is the youngest ever qualifier for
the British Championships and clearly has a great future in the game.
After the exertions of the day, the four Evangelists (Matthew T, Mark H, Luke McS, and John N) repaired to the hotel restaurant for some well-earned sustenance, to find it was completely booked out. Only divine intervention in the form of Chief Controller Gerry Graham ensured that the visiting masters did not go hungry.
ROUND 5
After a long night's sleep the players returned to the fray, but must have
been equally refreshed because the top three boards (Nunn v Hebden, Collins
v Turner and Miles v Levitt) all finished drawn. Uri Rochev moved up
to join the leaders by beating Stephen Brady. David Howell made it 3/3 over
the last three rounds by defeating Irish international Mel O'Cinneide in a
difficult English opening.
That left the scores at the top: Hebden 4.5; Miles & Turner 4; Nunn, Rochev & Collins 3.5 going into the final round.
ROUND 6
The first board clash between Hebden and Turner finished in a draw in 21 moves. John Nunn took the chance to join
Hebden on 5 points by grinding out an endgame win over Uri Rochev.
Collins appeared to get a solid
enough position against Tony Miles but after e6 [ef6] his position
deteriorated rapidly. Young Mr Howell concluded his tournament with
another fine result, drawing with Paul Delaney.
The traditional blitz play-off between the joint winners was won by Mark Hebden in the second game after the first was drawn.
Final standings:
Jt lst: GM M.Hebden, GM J.Nunn 5/6
Jt 3rd: GM T.Miles, IM M.Turner 4.5
also GM J.Levitt, L.McShane, C.Daly (best Irish prize) 4
S.Collins (grading prize), U.Rochev, P.Delaney, IM M.Orr, J.Ryan, D.Howell 3.5
J.Stoklasa, D.McMahon, S.Brady, J.McCarthy, G.O'Connell, P.Short, J.Hurley, S.Scannell 3
R.O'Donovan, M.O'Cinneide 2.5
H.Barber, M.Castricum, J.Kennedy, E.Keogh, J.McDonnell 2
P.Cafolla, A.Fox, R.O'Brien, C.Egan 1.5
Hebden