Bunratty Chess Festival 25th. to 27th. February 2011

[LozCooper]

Bunratty Chess Festival 25th. to 27th. February 2011

Website: http://www.bunrattychess.com/

Live coverage: http://www.bunrattychess.com/live1.html

Players include Nigel Short, Gawain Jones and Simon Williams.

[LozCooper]

The top 14 boards all went with seeding but boards 15 and 16 were drawn thereby denying me the chance of losing to Nigel Short in the morning

There are several titled players playing including:

GMs: Short, Kosten, Williams, Jones & Baburin

IMs: Collins, Pein, Hunt A, Heidenfeld and last and definitely least myself.

Some interesting pairings tomorrow though including Adam Hunt v Nigel Short on board 1. We made the mistake of telling Nigel his pairing at which point he left the bar in favour of an early night Bizarrely I was the last of the English titled players to leave the bar but I daresay it won't be the only category in which I finish last

[LozCooper]

Afrer 2 rounds only Sam Collins is on 2/2. Adam Hunt and Nigel Short had a hard fought draw after Nigel sacrificed a rook in the opening, I found about the only way not to convert two extra pawns against Simon Williams after he went astray in a messy position where he had play for a pawn.

Round 3 pairings:

Short-Collins 1-0
Cooper-Kosten 0-1
Williams-RR Griffiths 0.5-0.5
Heidenfeld-Jones 0-1

and also wins for 3 other 1.5s, Baburin, Malcolm Pein & Adam Hunt. I spent most of my game having my king chased around the board in a Trompovsky with castling on opposite sides, it briefly settled on b1 before two black rooks were sacrificed to mate it on g2. A nice game by Tony albeit a bit one sided.

[LozCooper]

Round 4 pairings:

Gawain Jones (2.5) v Nigel Short (2.5) 1-0
Tony Kosten (2.5) v Malcolm Pein (2.5) 0.5-0.5
Adam Hunt (2.5) v Alexander Baburin (2.5) 0.5-0.5
Sam Collins (2) v Simon Williams (2) 1-0
Ryan Rhys Griffiths (2) v David Fitzsimons (2) 0.5-0.5

Leaders:

Gawain Jones 3.5/4
Baburin, Collins, Hunt, Kosten & Pein 3

[LozCooper]

Breaking news:

Gawain Jones ground down Nigel Short in a rook ending to take the outright lead with 3.5/4

[LozCooper]

Round 5 results:

Tony Kosten (3) v Gawain Jones (3.5) 0.5-0.5
Alex Baburin (3) v Sam Collins (3) 1-0
Malcolm Pein (3) v Adam Hunt (3) 0.5-0.5
Nigel Short (2.5) v David Fitzsimons (2.5) 0.5-0.5
Mark Heidenfeld (2.5) v Philip Short (2.5) 0-1

Leaders:

Baburin & Jones 4/5
RR Griffiths, A Hunt, Kosten, Pein & P Short 3.5/5

Other than Nigel being overtaken in the race for the highest placed player with the surname Short I should also mention Simon William's game which opened 1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 g5

[LozCooper]

Round 6 pairings:

Gawain Jones (4) v Alex Baburin (4)
Adam Hunt (3.5) v Tony Kosten (3.5)
Ryan Rhys Griffiths (3.5) v Malcolm Pein (3.5)
Philip Short (3.5) v Nigel Short (3)

[LozCooper]

Round 6 pairings:

Gawain Jones (4) v Alex Baburin (4) 1-0
Adam Hunt (3.5) v Tony Kosten (3.5) 0-1
Ryan Rhys Griffiths (3.5) v Malcolm Pein (3.5) 1-0
Philip Short (3.5) v Nigel Short (3) 0-1

Final scores:

1st Gawain Jones 5/6
2nd= Tony Kosten & Ryan Rhys Griffiths 4.5
4th= Alex Baburin, Lawrence Cooper, Nigel Short & Simon Williams 4

[LozCooper]

Congratulations to Mark Heidenfeld who beat Tony Kosten, myself, Adam Hunt and Gawain Jones in the knockout stages to win the Bunratty Blitz. He needed three games against Tony and Gawain. Gawain beat Nigel in the semi.