Bunratty

The tournament at Bunratty is Ireland’s premier chess competition and has been for several years.

This year’s event, to which I was invited as a guest to deliver the closing speech, attracted a powerful field including the former world title challenger Nigel Short and the former British champion Gawain Jones as well as grandmasters Peter Wells, Simon Williams and Alexander Baburin. This year, Nigel Short dominated proceedings by winning his first five games and only relaxing his pace with a quick draw in the final round to clinch his victory.

The unique selling point of Bunratty is the social atmosphere generated by the hundreds of chessplayers — grandmasters and neophytes alike — all packed into the Castle Hotel over a long weekend. The social nature of the occasion is so enjoyable that even luminaries such as the Bulgarian Fidé champion Veselin Topalov have been tempted to visit Bunratty simply for the fun of it, without feeling the necessity to compete in the event itself.

Short-Villeagas: Bunratty Masters 2016; Caro-Kann Defence

1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 One of Nigel Short’s favourite weapons against the solid Caro-Kann Defence. Previously it had been favoured by Nimzowitsch and Tal, notably in the latter’s unsuccessful 1961 world title defence against Botvinnik. 3 … c5 Somewhat risky. The standard main line commences 3 … Bf5 as for example in Nimzowitsch-Capablanca, New York 1927 which continued 4 Bd3 Bxd3 5 Qxd3 e6 6 Nc3 Qb6. 4 dxc5 e6 5 a3 Less ambitious than 5 Qg4 as played in game 8 of the Tal-Botvinnik, 1961 world title match which continued 5 Qg4 Nc6 6 Nf3 Qc7 7 Bb5 and White went on to win. 5 … Nc6 6 Nf3 Bxc5 7 b4 Bb6 8 Bb2 Nge7 9 Nbd2 More usual is 9 Bd3.