7/14/2023 – The 56th Biel Chess Festival, one of the most traditional and beautiful chess tournaments, begins next Saturday, 15 July 2023. In his review, Eduard Frey presents ten surprising and interesting facts about the history of the tournament. | Photo courtesy of the organiser: Playing Hall, Congress Centre Biel

4/14/2022 – As has only just become known, the long-time organiser and tournament director of the Biel Chess Festival, Peter Burri, has died. Burri was involved in the organisation for 40 years and was the tournament director of the traditional tournament for 20 years. The 55th edition in summer will be played as a memorial tournament for him.

6/23/2020 – The organizers in Biel were confident that they would be able to hold the 53rd Chess Festival this year as planned. In a press release they now confirm that the event will indeed take place. From 18 to 29 July 2020 the tournament will be played in the Biel Congress House. Time to register!

8/5/2016 – The last piece of the Biel Chess Festival puzzle was finally completed: the prestigious Main Open. It saw the top spots fought over by dozens of grandmasters and masters hailing from all over the world. The top seed was Russian GM Nikita Vitiugov (2728), but the player in form who dominated it was US grandmaster Sam Shankland, scoring one of the best victories of his career.

8/2/2016 – Parallel to the Masters Challenge was the Juniors Challenge, following a similar format. There were two matches involving two Swiss juniors Noel Studer and Nico Georgiadis against guest youths Francesco Rambaldi and Benjamin Bok repsectively. In both cases they played four rapid games, followed by six classical games for a through workout and valuable experience gain in match play. The games were all hard-fought with dynamic play.

8/1/2016 – Among the many activities and events hosted at the Biel Chess Festival were two excellent Master Classes. The first was presented by MVL, and this second one is by GM Daniel King together with GM Yannick Pelletier. The theme is suitably a tribute to Viktor Korchnoi, who was a Swiss citizen for much of his life, and his games played at the Biel tournaments. Enjoy this video presentation on Viktor the Terrible!

7/31/2016 – It was the final event of the Biel Chess Festival, saving dessert for last: the blitz challenge. The six players from the matches, Studer, Bok, Rambaldi, Georgiadis, and of course the stars Peter Svidler and Maxime Vachier Lagrave, would face off in a round-robin of blitz. The two elite players won and faced each other in a mini-match that led to a memorable and epic battle. We bring you the report, commented games, and exclusive videos.

7/29/2016 – As so often before it was the Najdorf that brought Maxime Vachier-Lagrave an important victory. The French Grandmaster had Black in the third game of his match against Peter Svidler, and Svidler, who had to win the game to stay in the match, tried an unusual, sharp line of the Najdorf. But while Vachier-Lagrave at one point in the game was worse he managed to win with a surprising counterattack. Including rapid and classical games Vachier-Lagrave now leads 7.5-2.5 and won the match with one round to go.

7/28/2016 – On Tuesday, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scored the first win in his match against Peter Svidler in Biel. In their second game with classical time-control Vachier-Lagrave used a small inaccuracy by Svidler to liquidate into a better endgame which he could win. In the "Junior Challenge" Benjamin Bok outplayed Nico Georgiadis in a Benoni. Daniel King talked with the winners and the losers of the day. Video, impressions, games...

7/26/2016 – On Sunday Peter Svidler and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave played the rapid part of their match in Biel. Vachier-Lagrave won 2.5-1.5. On Monday the masters changed pace and played the first of four games with classical time-control - a draw. But the "Junior Challenge" brought two decisive results. In his video summary Daniel King provides an overview of the day, presents highlights and interviews the players. Video, impressions, games...