“ “Veni, Vidi, Vici!” could well have been the cry of the victor at the Iona Technology Masters this year had it not been for the fact that the winner was the unassuming Grandmaster Stuart Conquest. For many years now, a favourite V.I.P. visitor to the Kilkenny tournament. Stuart was a very popular and most deserving winner albeit on tie-break. Equal first were Luke McShabe IM and Bogdan Lalic GM. Mark Hebden was fourth, again on tie-break, and Mark Quinn FM received £150 for the best performance by an Irish player. ...

Grandmaster Sergei Tiviakov, boasting a fine ELO rating of 2655 and many people's pre-tournament favourite, could only manage 10th place, such was the ferocity of the competition.

Another first this year was moving the premier event to a new venue across the road to “Butler House”, a magnificent building, lavishly furnished and lighted–superb conditions for playing top class chess. The social life of the tournament continued unabated in the “Club House Hotel” of course, until the early hours each day. ... ”

—from the Irish Chess Journal, vol. 11 no. 1, January-February 1999, p. 4