The 19th Bunratty Chess Festival took place from 17-19 February in Ireland and England's Michael Adams (pictured) won the Masters event.
Top seed Adams finished the 6-round Swiss competition with a score of 5 points, but needed to win a blitz playoff with rival Nigel Short to take the title.
Adams trailed both Short and defending champion Gawain Jones by half a point going into the final round but pulled out a win with the black pieces to catch them and force the playoff.
The top finishers in Bunratty:
|
Name |
Elo |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
Pts |
TPR |
| 1 |
Short, Nigel |
2641 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
5.0 |
2796 |
| 2 |
Adams, Michael |
2709 |
1 |
1 |
½ |
1 |
½ |
1 |
5.0 |
2772 |
| 3 |
Jones, Gawain C. |
2566 |
1 |
1 |
½ |
1 |
+ |
½ |
5.0 |
2680 |
| 4 |
Arkell, Keith C. |
2502 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
1 |
4.5 |
2560 |
| 5 |
Ionescu, Constantin |
2453 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
1 |
1 |
4.5 |
2514 |
| 6 |
Istratescu, Andrei |
2613 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
- |
1 |
4.0 |
2665 |
| 7 |
Pein, Malcolm |
2410 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
4.0 |
2494 |
| 8 |
Ansell, Simon |
2417 |
1 |
0 |
½ |
1 |
½ |
1 |
4.0 |
2440 |
| 9 |
Hebden, Mark |
2550 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
½ |
0 |
3.5 |
2472 |
| 10 |
Galego, Luis |
2496 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
½ |
1 |
0 |
3.5 |
2458 |
| 11 |
Williams, Simon K. |
2513 |
½ |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3.5 |
2448 |
| 12 |
Trent, Lawrence |
2240 |
= |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3.5 |
2420 |
| 13 |
Collins, Sam E. |
2440 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
3.5 |
2388 |
| 14 |
Baburin, Alexander |
2482 |
1 |
½ |
0 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
3.5 |
2330 |
| 15 |
Lopez, Alex |
2400 |
1 |
0 |
½ |
1 |
½ |
½ |
3.5 |
2395 |
| 16 |
Short, Philip |
2218 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
½ |
1 |
1 |
3.5 |
2244 |
| 17 |
Rendle, Thomas |
2369 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
½ |
0 |
1 |
3.5 |
2419 |
| 18 |
Fitzsimons, David |
2265 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
½ |
1 |
3.5 |
2218 |
| 19 |
Griffiths, Ryan-Rhys |
2326 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
½ |
½ |
0 |
3.0 |
2326 |
| 20 |
Orr, Mark |
2192 |
0 |
1 |
½ |
1 |
0 |
½ |
3.0 |
2269 |
The time control was 90 minutes plus a 15 second increment.