The elite of the chess world will once again descend on Bunratty Co. Clare this weekend for the 25th Bunratty International Chess Festival held in the Bunratty Castle Hotel.
The festival will be formally opened at 7pm on Friday by Senator Martin Conway.
For it’s Silver Jubilee, the Bunratty festival has attracted a record number of competitors and some of the finest players on the international circuit.
The top games at Bunratty are broadcast live on the internet to a global audience of hundreds of thousands.
The doyen of international chess commentators Raymond Keene OBE will be on-hand once again. Â As in previous years his selection of the most interesting chess problems to emerge over the weekend will be serialised for an international audience in The Times and the Sunday Times.
What began 25 years ago as a small local tournament has steadily grown to become the foremost weekend chess tournament in the world attracting the very finest professional chess players.
Despite this, the tournament remains open to all. It has a unique atmosphere where Grandmasters mix freely with novices and where chess players of all ages get the chance to take on the very best in the world.