6/4/2020 – The preparations for the 53rd International Chess festival Biel continue and take into account the Corona requirements. In a press release the organisers said that they are preparing for the key event, the Grandmaster Tournament (GMT), a main tournament (C-HTO) and a youth tournament, including Swiss championships. However, some tournaments and events including the Master Open (MTO) will be cancelled. | Photo: Biel International Chess Festival 2019

9/22/2018 – Today is the birthday of Swiss Grandmaster Yannick Pelletier, who was born in Biel in 1976. During the Biel Chess Festival, where he served as the Tournament Director for the GM tournament, he was interviewed by Macauley Peterson and we bring you the full audio as well as transcribed highlights. Pelletier explains how he got into professional chess and the evolution of his career which will soon include magazine publishing. | Photo: Biel Chess Festival

8/1/2018 – Get set for one of the summer's biggest events and one with a long tradition. The Biel Chess Festival is LIVE with World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov leading the GM tournament. ChessBase brings you live commentary from Biel with GM Daniel King and IM Anna Rudolf.

7/20/2018 – Get set for one of the summer's biggest events and one with a long tradition. The Biel Chess Festival is LIVE with World Champion Magnus Carlsen leading the GM tournament. ChessBase brings you live commentary from Biel with GM Daniel King and IM Anna Rudolf.

5/9/2018 – The Chess Festival in Biel takes place from July 21 to August 1, 2018, and the grandmaster tournament will be exceptionally strong. All six players of the ACCENTUS Grandmaster Tournament are now known. World Champion Magnus Carlsen will also face world number 3 Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan) in Biel. A new multi-round Fischer Random Chess Tournament will be held at the Biel Chess Festival, as well as three ACCENTUS simultaneous tournaments for 75 juniors. Press release.

8/2/2017 – One could hardly imagine more exciting final round pairings! Hou Yifan and Pentala Harikrisha both had White against their closest pursuers, Nico Georgiadis and Etienne Bacrot respectively. Bacrot benefitted from a one-move blunder, to reach 6 points, which meant Hou was in a must-win situation. But win she did! | Photos: Pascal Simon

8/1/2017 – Alexander Morozevich and Hou Yifan both won again, but so did Harikrishna, and so he and Hou will take a half point edge into Wednesday's final round. But Morozevich, Etienne Bacrot and Nico Georgiadis are all withing striking distance.

7/31/2017 – Round 7 saw a stark reversal of fortune for tournament leader Etienne Bacrot whose loss to Hou Yifan, coupled with a win by Morozevich, infuses new drama into the 50th Biel Chess Festival's GM tournament. Half the field now has chances to win!

7/30/2017 – Leader Etienne Bacrot drew against Peter Leko to remain on top with 4.5 / 6. The closest pursuers are now Pentala Harikrishna and Ruslan Ponomariov. The Ukrainian former FIDE World Champion overcame of David Navara's Najdorf, as the Czech's slide continues. Rafael Vaganian got a win to pull himself out of the cellar. | Photos: Pascal Simon

7/26/2017 – The third round of the Grandmaster tournament in Biel ended with five draws, but two of them were exciting and varied. Once again it was Alexander Morozevich, with tactical and combative play who caused the most excitement, with an honorable mention to David Navara, who also impressed with many surprising ideas | Photos: Pascal Simon

5/19/2017 – It is the one of the oldest chess events in Europe, and the 50th edition starts on July 22. The ten-player Grandmaster tournament fields experienced players and young stars, the Rapid tournament includes former World Champion Anatoly Karpov and World Championship candidate Vlastimil Hort. You can participate in the Master Tournament. Full details in this press release.

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.

7/27/2016 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, or "MVL", is on a winning streak. After recently winning the grandmaster tournament in Dortmund with 5.5/7 he now has a virtual rating of 2814.8 and is the clear number two in the world. His run continues in Biel. He won the rapid part of his match against Peter Svidler 2.5-1.5 and leads 1.5-0.5 after two classical games. Today, in a live-masterclass with Daniel King, the French Grandmaster answers questions and talks to the public. It starts at 16.30 CEST. Don't miss it!

7/26/2016 – Yesterday, Peter Svidler and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drew the first game with classical time-control of their match in Biel. The Juniors, however, played two decisive games. Today, Svidler and Vachier-Lagrave play their second game with classical time-control and the Juniors will try to win again or take revenge. The games began 14.00 CEST, on 17.00 CEST Daniel King starts his daily live-show.

7/25/2016 – The most illustrious event of the International Chess Festival Biel is the match between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Peter Svidler. Yesterday's rapid games were entertaining and made one wish for more. Now follow four games with classical time-control interrupted by a rest day after two games. But one should not forget the strong A-Open. Daniel King comments the most interesting moments in a daily live-show.

7/24/2016 – The 49th International Chess Festival Biel has just started and will go from Saturday, July 23 until Wednesday, August 3 2016. Of great interest is the Masters Challenge, an eight-game Rapid and Classical match between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, currently World number two, and Peter Svidler, number 14. Here is the illustrated report with video and games.

1/25/2016 – The 49. International Chess Festival Biel will start and end a week later than planned, and will now take place from 23rd July to 3rd August. The reason for the delay is another sporting event: the Tour de France. The 16th stage of the tour leads the cyclists and their followers to Bern and thus all hotels in the region will be fully booked. Press Release

7/30/2015 – MVL and Wojtaszek went into the last round with the lead. MVL took care of Rapport without any problems: after only 20 moves the Frenchman was up a pawn and had a better position. Wojtaszek was thrashing Navara's position, his passed pawn crushing his opponent. Navara was lost, but in time pressure... he survived! MVL wins the tournament! In the last game, Eljanov suicided against Adams.

7/29/2015 – Another exciting round in Biel, this time with two more black wins. MVL demolished Navara in the nice side of an English, baiting the Czech player with a "free" pawn that turned out to be rather poisoned. MVL crushed his opponent's activity and now is tied with Wojtaszek in the lead, who drew Adams. Rapport lost yet again, this time agains Eljanov, and is last by 2.5 points...

7/28/2015 – The super tournament in Biel is coming to a close, but the fighting continues in strong fashion. Two decisive games were seen today, and the one draw could easily have been a win for Eljanov in his duel against Wojtaszek. The Pole survived and shares the lead against Navara, who simply wiped Rapport off the board. MVL put the positional pressure on Adams, who eventually cracked.

7/27/2015 – Two of the three leaders faced each other, and it was Wojtaszek that came out on top in that game with a strong positional grind against MVL. Navara only managed a draw against Eljanov in a complicated position which dissolved into a drawn endgame. Catching him in second place is now Adams, who took a long time to convert an extra piece against now last place Rapport.