English Chess Forum

The move rate is unique to Ireland, namely 90 15 as opposed to e2e4's (and everywhere else's) 90 30


The benchmark for increment games is the time given for 60 moves. In this case it would be 105 minutes, so not on paper eligible for rating.

An interesting novelty in rule 25


That's worth keeping in mind if you wanted increments in an evening league.

What is it with Bunratty? Everyone says how good it is but surely it can't just be down to the guinness. There is hardly a pub in England that doesn't do guinness and with 6 games in a weekend there can't be that much time to drink it, unless you are prepared to let your play go to pieces. It's mainly titled players that venture over so perhaps there are good conditions for them?

It's probably approaching fifteen years since my only visit to Bunratty, but from the descriptions it hasn't changed much. It's a sort of Irish theme village with American style hotels. This is because in past times, Shannon airport, which is down the road, attracts or attracted a lot of American visitors, so the hotels are to American standards.The Guinness in Ireland always seems/is much better than in English pubs and the local pubs didn't seem to know about closing times. It's a worthwhile visit for a chess tourist. As you suggest, the top players are enticed by (presumably) free accommodation, but it does have a good reputation for hospitality. You are resident in the hotels, so the late finishes aren't so much of an issue.

The Irish had a tradition of not supplying equipment, so travelling with board, set and clock is a nuisance. They may finally have broken with the American approach and accepted the conventions of the rest of the British Isles and Western Europe where equipment is hired/supplied by the organisers.

It's the craic.

The marketing director of Guinness told me on a trip to visit Guinness in Dublin that really the only real difference in a pint of Guinness is the temperature it is served at. Given that many English pubs do Guinness Extra Cold I imagine the quality difference is largely illusory although I do agree that drinks and food for that matter do seem to taste better if consumed in the country of origin. These hardy souls must be made of stern stuff if they can play 3 games against top quality opposition and then drink to past normal closing time and then have an early morning start! I gave up playing 3 rounds a day long ago (when I accepted a move 4 draw on Saturday evening and asked myself what's the point of playing this round if I'm happy to split the point).