Ladies and Gentlemen in Biel

by ChessBase
7/21/2004 – The 37th Biel Chess Festival is taking part in the beautiful Swiss town, with a category 18 Grandmaster tournament (including last year's winner Morozevich, and Ruslan Ponomariov) and a ladies section with six very strong participants. We bring you games, pictures and links.
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The Biel Grandmaster Tournament is being held from July 19th to 29th 2004. The very strong field is led by last year's winner Alexander Morozevich (2743) and includes FIDE ex world champion Ruslan Ponomariov (2722). The other players are French champion Etienne Bacrot (2712), India's number two player Krishnan Sasikiran (2666), England's Luke McShane (2643) and Yannick Pelletier of Switzerland (2597). The tournament reaches Category 18


Ruslan Ponomariov vs Yannick Pelletier in round three

After three rounds the Morozevich is in the lead with 2.5 points, followed by Ponomariov with 2.0. The two play each other today. Equal third are Sasikiran, Pelletier and Bacrot with 1.5 points each; while an off-form Luke McShane has yet to score.

Accentus Ladies Tournament

Parallel to the men's event there is a Ladies Tournament taking place, with six strong players.


The participants: Iweta Radziewicz (POL 2431), Monika Seps (SUI 2097), Elisabeth Pähtz (GER 2396), Tatiana Kosintseva (RUS 2462), Kateryna Lahno (UKR 2472) and Eva Repkova (SVK 2411).

Standings after three rounds: 1-2 Radziewicz, Pähtz, Repkova: 2 points each; 4-5. Lahno, Kosintseva 1.5 each; 6 Monika Seps: 0. The games can be viewed in on the official home page (including live coverage).

Picture Gallery


The city of Biel (or Bienne) is famous for its watch manufacturers


The Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen (justice fountain) at the Burgplatz


The Gerechtigkeitsbrunnen surrounded by typical Swiss houses


A real, honest-to-goodness watchmaker in Biel


Last year's winner Alexander Morozevich

Reports from Biel 2003

'I decided to end my professional career'
09.08.2003 Alexander Morozevich has a 2679 rating and is currently number 23 in the world. This enigmatic and innovative player has decided to give up serious professional chess. The reason: there are no real prospects left in the chess world. "That’s why I study chess no more than four or five hours a week." Alex explains it all in this interview given after a stunning victory in Biel.

Morozevich leads in Biel
30.07.2003 Alexander Morozevich, Super-GM from Moscow, is in the lead at the Super-GM tournament at the 36th International Chess Festival in Biel (Switzerland). He is closely followed by the young French player Etienne Bacrot and Israeli Ilia Smirin. We bring you games, results and an illustrated report.

Ridiculous, cheeky, brilliant
30.07.2002 The Swiss national team had already lost the battle, and it was up to Werner Hug to make the final result look a little more graceful. The former world junior champion went to work with circumspection and soon had a commanding advantage. Then came the shock: a "ridiculous, cheeky and brilliant" move (Hug), which took the Swiss veteran to the brink of defeat. You can replay the game here.

'Blitzky' succumbs to Shredder
29.07.2002 The Swiss national team is not doing so well. In the third game against our program Shredder the Internet chess specialist Florian Jenni (22, Elo 2525, handle: "Blitzky") played a few inaccurate moves and was defeated. The final game (against 1971 world junior champion Werner Hug) can be viewed at 20:15h (19:15 London, 18:15 GMT, 12:15 p.m. NY) on the Playchess server, with live commentary by GM Miso Cebalo.

Shredder digs into the Swiss National team
28.07.2002 Our program Shredder has scored 1.5 points out of two games so far against the Swiss national team. The second encounter against Yannick Pelletier was a close call for the computer. The games start at 20:15 European time and are carried live on the Playchess server. Read all about this match and on the Biel Chess Festival in our illustrated report.

Shredder vs the Swiss National Team
26.07.2002 Starting from Friday, July 26, our programm Shredder is playing an interesting match as part of the Chess Festival in Biel. Shredder, operated by its author Stefan Meyer-Kahlen, is taking on the Swiss national team. The games will start at 20:15 European time and be carried live on the Playchess server, with live analysis after the games are over. More

Kortchnoï frappe d'entrée
23.07.2002 Korchnoi starts with a bang. The 71-year-old veteran is once again show his opponents that he is not yet finished with chess – not by a long shot. With a win and a draw he leads the field at the Biel Chess Festival, which is being covered live (from 14:00 MET) on the Playchess server. In the evening at 20:00 MET the best games of the day are discussed there by GM Miso Cebalo. More
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