The annual Bunratty Chess Festival was held over the weekend of the 20th - 22nd February with a total of 290 players vying for the 4 titles at stake. The Masters field was probably the strongest ever with defending Champion, Peter Svidler being top seed. There were no less than five other grandmasters, eight international masters and a few FIDE masters as well to try to wriest the title from him.

The first round was under way on Friday evening and there was nothing but fighting Chess in the Masters - no draws! Jan Heinrich (Slovakia, 2133) had the honour of playing Peter Svidler in round 1 and he certainly didn't waste his chance, accepting Peter's Benko type pawn sacrifice and "having a go".In the end the rating gulf of almost 600 points was too much for him.

Heinrich, Jan—Svidler, Peter

Most of the games went to seeding but not all. Two Irish Junior international players, Stephen Moran and Oisin Benson, managed to beat Mark Orr IM (game) and Callum Kilpatrick (game) respectively.

As the Masters was particularly strong this year, titled players were already clashing in round 2. Peter Svidler faced English international master Chris Baker in round 2. Chris was "out-gunned" in a pretty game after which Peter told me that "Chris believed me too much" - both players agreed that after 15...Kf8, Black is still in the game.

Svidler, Peter—Baker, Chris W

Peter reached 3 out of 3 by Saturday afternoon, his Kings Indian defence holding up against Simon Williams assault in a game that kept the audience on the edge of their seats.

Williams, Simon—Svidler, Peter

Peter Wells beat Simon Ansell to reach the same score, setting up a clash of the Peters on Saturday evening. This game was watched by probably the largest audience of the weekend and they were certainly entertained by the following exciting game.

Svidler, Peter—Wells, Peter K

Round 4 also featured a lovely game (at least from Karl McPhillips' point of view) on board 7 where Lawrence Cooper's Moroczy Bind failed to "Bind"!

Cooper, Lawrence—McPhillips, Karl

On Sunday morning, the top pairings looked like this: Bogdan Lalic v Peter Svidler, Simon Ansell v Alexander Baburin, Karl McPhillips v Gawain Jones, Peter Wells v Malcolm Pein, Adam Hunt v Mark Heidenfeld, Simon Williams vs Gavin Wall.

Peter Svidler prepares to face Bogdan Lalic on Sunday morning

Simon tried a King's Gambit against Gavin and sacrificed 2 pawns for an attack that never really arrived, Gavin went on to win. Adam Hunt and Mark Heidenfeld shared the point while Peter Wells extracted the full point from his encounter with Malcolm Pein. Gawain Jones beat Karl McPhillips to reach 4/5 while Alex Baburin did exactly the same at the expense of Simon Ansell. Bogdan Lalic managed to convince Peter Svidler to share the point after only 12 moves or so which left the following interesting final round draw: Peter Svidler (4½) v Alex Baburin (4), Gawain Jones (4) v Peter Wells (4), Gavin Wall (3½) v Bogdan Lalic (3½), Alex Lopez (3½) v Adam Hunt (3½)

Alex Lopez managed to get the better of Adam Hunt to end up on a fine score of 4½ for the young Corkman.

Lopez, Alex—Hunt, Adam

Gavin Wall was beaten by Bogdan Lalic while Peter Wells and Gawain Jones drew their encounter, but not before seeing the fireworks on board one. Last year, when these two met in round 5, Alex managed to hold Peter to a draw. This year they met in the final round and a draw might allow either of the board two players to catch him. Peter had to go for the full point - he couldn't rely on a board two draw.

Svidler, Peter—Baburin, Alexander

With this game, Peter had the title of Bunratty Masters Champion and at the closing ceremony, he "threatened" to return in 2010 to go for the three in a row. That's one threat I hope he follows through with. If you'd like to mark your diaries, Bunratty 2010 is scheduled for 19th - 21st February.

Challengers

The Masters was not the only event taking place, the challengers was a fiercely contested event ending up with a 4 way tie for first place on 5/5. As is tradition at Bunratty, ties for the titles are decided by a blitz play off which was won by Nigel Fleming (England).

Nigel Fleming receiving his prize from former mayor of Limerick - Diarmuid Scully

Major

The Major was won impressively by Terence Fayne, top seed, on 6/6! Terence had originally wanted to enter the Challengers but due to a clerical error (by me) he was put into the Major. With a rating of 1597, he was quite entitled to enter both. When he arrived in Bunratty he had second thoughts and decided to go for the win in the Major, and he didn't regret it.

Terence Fayne receiving his prize from former mayor of Limerick - Diarmuid Scully

Minor

The Minor needed another Blitz to decide the title after David Hobbs and Sujith Manjooran tied on fantastic score of 5½/6, same as Peter Svidler, albeit it in a lower section. David managed to beat Sujith in the Blitz to claim the title.

David Hobbs receiving his prize from former mayor of Limerick - Diarmuid Scully

Full tables: Masters, Challengers, Major, Minor.