Category Archives: Bunratty

A puzzle solved

Posted on April 24, 2020 by Sean Coffey

Three years ago, when a report on the Bunratty Masters 2006 was posted here, I asked how on earth White could have recovered from the diagrammed position, where Black has just played 31… Qh3 (How?, February 28, 2017). Van Voorthuijsen … Continue reading →

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Bunratty Masters 2020

Posted on March 13, 2020 by Sean Coffey

A report on the Bunratty Masters 2020 has been added to the Tournaments pages here. Nigel Short won for the third time in the past five years; it’s strange to think he had never won before then. The organisers did … Continue reading →

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Two knights versus a pawn

Posted on February 23, 2020 by Sean Coffey

The celebrated ending of two knights versus a pawn is the hardest of the ‘basic’ endings, and was exhaustively analyzed long before the tablebase era. Interesting though it is, its importance is mostly theoretical, as the ending is very rare … Continue reading →

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Bunratty Masters 2019, contd.

Posted on March 30, 2019 by Sean Coffey

The report on the Bunratty Masters 2019 mentioned in the last post had only the 36 games that were available from live boards. The organizers have now made available the full set of 151 games (excellent job; I hope this … Continue reading →

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Bunratty Masters 2019

Posted on February 25, 2019 by Sean Coffey

The Bunratty Festival concludes today. A report on the Masters, including 36 games that were broadcast live, has been added to the tournament section here. The winner was Luke McShane, for his second title; the first was when he won … Continue reading →

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Bunratty Festival 2018

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Sean Coffey

This year’s Bunratty Festival, the 25th in the series, was, as has been very widely reported, the largest ever, with 362 players across 4 sections. All 155 games from the Masters were made available on the tournament website almost immediately … Continue reading →

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How?

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Sean Coffey

Tournament reports have been added for the Bunratty Masters 1999 and 2006 editions. As always, there was much interesting chess in both. But there were also some puzzling games. Now it must be emphasized that even when a game is … Continue reading →

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Bunratty Masters 2016

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Sean Coffey

A full report on this year’s Bunratty Masters is now available here. Nigel Short finished clear first, apparently and surprisingly for the first time ever. All 135 games are available. In perhaps the most interesting of all, the French player … Continue reading →

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Bunratty Classic 2015

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Sean Coffey

The Bunratty Congresses have been around for many years now but they still post-date my own playing career by several years, so I have never played in any of them. Looking at the various reports this is a matter of … Continue reading →

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