Michael Adams Wins Bunratty Masters
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.
