Bunratty Chess Festival

Discuss anything you like about chess related matters in this forum.
Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21301
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: Bunratty Chess Festival

Post by Roger de Coverly » Mon Feb 20, 2012 10:23 pm

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: Which means it can't be FIDE-rated (unless that squeezes into the minimum amount of time?). The minimum amount of time is four hours (each player must have a minimum of 120 minutes).
.
The move rate is unique to Ireland, namely 90 15 as opposed to e2e4's (and everywhere else's) 90 30
Bunratty wrote:Time control Masters, Challengers & Major
1hr. 30 minutes per player for all moves + 15 seconds increment from move 1.
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
Bunratty rule 25 wrote:When a player has less than 5:00 minutes on the clock, s/he must mark on the score sheet "T" which will indicate to the arbiter that s/he has reached this point. S/He no longer needs to record the game, even if the clock subsequently goes back above this time, however, if s/he does not record the moves, s/he forfeits the right to claim a draw under the 50 move or the 3 fold repetition rules.


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

Andrew Stone
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:13 am

Re: Bunratty Chess Festival

Post by Andrew Stone » Mon Feb 20, 2012 11:56 pm

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?

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21301
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: Bunratty Chess Festival

Post by Roger de Coverly » Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:16 am

Andrew Stone wrote: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.

Simon Ansell
Posts: 509
Joined: Tue May 05, 2009 10:27 am

Re: Bunratty Chess Festival

Post by Simon Ansell » Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:18 am

Andrew Stone wrote:What is it with Bunratty?
It's the craic.

Andrew Stone
Posts: 141
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2011 11:13 am

Re: Bunratty Chess Festival

Post by Andrew Stone » Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:27 am

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).

Post Reply