The Greatest Bunratty Festival Yet What drew more than 350 chess players to a remote hotel in the south-west of Ireland, including twelve grandmasters and many IMs just for a weekend, 20-22 February? Perhaps it was the wet, windy Irish weather. More likely, it was the beer. Most likely of all it was the traditional festival atmosphere created by the sponsor Gary O'Grady of the London Heathrow-based Blackthorne International Transport (www.blackthornetransport.co.uk) which specialises in delivery cargo to Russia. This was about the twentieth time a winter chess congress has been held in Bunratty but only the second time I have attended. The previous time was 1997 when there were only a … [Read more...]