Biel Chess Festival

The Biel International Chess Festival is an annual chess tournament that takes place in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. It consists of two events, the Grandmaster Tournament, held with the round-robin system, and the Master Open Tournament (MTO), held with the Swiss system. The Grandmaster Tournament has taken place since 1977.^[1]^[2] The city of Biel hosted three Interzonal Tournaments, in 1976, 1985 and 1993.

Winners

#	Year	Grandmaster Tournament	Master Open Tournament
1	1968		Edwin Bhend (Switzerland)
2	1969		Jan Timman (Netherlands)
3	1970		Predrag Ostojic (Yugoslavia)
4	1971		Stanimir Nikolic (Yugoslavia)
5	1972		Milan Vukic (Yugoslavia)
6	1973		Milan Vukic (Yugoslavia) János Flesch (Hungary)
7	1974		Bela Soos (Romania)
8	1975		Mišo Cebalo (Yugoslavia) John Pigott (England) David Parr (Australia)
9	1976	Bent Larsen (Denmark) (Interzonal)	Dragutin Sahovic (Yugoslavia) Radovan Govedarica (Yugoslavia)
10	1977	Tony Miles (England)	Miguel Quinteros (Argentina)
11	1978		Charles Partos (Switzerland)
12	1979	Viktor Korchnoi (Switzerland)	Yehuda Gruenfeld (Israel) Jean Hébert (Canada)
13	1980	Yehuda Gruenfeld (Israel)	Israel Zilber (United States) Josip Rukavina (Yugoslavia) Beat Züger (Switzerland) Peter Scheeren (Netherlands)
14	1981	Eric Lobron (West Germany) Vlastimil Hort (Czechoslovakia)	Nathan Birnboim (Israel) Laszlo Karsa (Hungary) Ron Henley (United States) Eduard Meduna (Czechoslovakia)
15	1982	John Nunn (England) Florin Gheorghiu (Romania)	Ivan Nemet (Yugoslavia)
16	1983	Tony Miles (England) John Nunn (England)	Jaan Eslon (Sweden)
17	1984	Vlastimil Hort (West Germany) Robert Hübner (West Germany)	Carlos Garcia-Palermo (Argentina)
18	1985	Rafael Vaganian (Soviet Union) (Interzonal)	Ian Rogers (Australia) Alon Greenfeld (Israel)
19	1986	Lev Polugaevsky (Soviet Union) Eric Lobron (West Germany)	Daniel Cámpora (Argentina)
20	1987	Boris Gulko (United States)	Lev Gutman (Israel)
21	1988	Ivan Sokolov (Yugoslavia) Boris Gulko (United States)	Gennadi Kuzmin (Soviet Union)
22	1989	Vassily Ivanchuk (Soviet Union)	Matthias Wahls (West Germany)
23	1990	Anatoly Karpov (Soviet Union)	Viktor Gavrikov (Soviet Union)
24	1991	Alexei Shirov (Latvia)	Zurab Sturua (Soviet Union)
25	1992	Anatoly Karpov (Russia)	Alexander Shabalov (Latvia)
26	1993	Boris Gelfand (Belarus) (Interzonal)	Vadim Milov (Israel)
27	1994	Viktor Gavrikov (Switzerland)	Utut Adianto (Indonesia)
28	1995	Alexey Dreev (Russia)	Igor Glek (Germany)
29	1996	Anatoly Karpov (Russia)	Zurab Sturua (Georgia)
30	1997	Viswanathan Anand (India)	Ildar Ibragimov (Russia)
31	1998	Mladen Palac (Croatia)	Milos Pavlovic (Yugoslavia)
32	1999	Jeroen Piket (Netherlands)	Vadim Milov (Switzerland)
33	2000	Peter Svidler (Russia)	Boris Avrukh (Israel)
34	2001	Viktor Korchnoi (Switzerland)	Boris Avrukh (Israel)
35	2002	Ilya Smirin (Israel)	Milos Pavlovic (Yugoslavia)
36	2003	Alexander Morozevich (Russia)	Mikhail Ulibin (Russia)
37	2004	Alexander Morozevich (Russia)	Christian Bauer (France)
38	2005	Boris Gelfand (Israel) Andrei Volokitin (Ukraine)	Mikhail Kobalia (Russia)
39	2006	Alexander Morozevich (Russia)	Bartosz Soćko (Poland)
40	2007	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	Mikhail Ulibin (Russia)
41	2008	Evgeny Alekseev (Russia)	Vladimir Belov (Russia)
42	2009	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	Boris Grachev (Russia)
43	2010	Fabiano Caruana (Italy)	Alexander Riazantsev (Russia)
44	2011	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	Ni Hua (China)
45	2012	Wang Hao (China)	Igor Kurnosov (Russia)
46	2013	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	Pentala Harikrishna (India)
47	2014	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	Baskaran Adhiban (India)
48	2015	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	Emil Sutovsky (Israel)
49	2016^[a]	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	Samuel Shankland (United States)
50	2017	Hou Yifan (China)	Mateusz Bartel (Poland)
51	2018	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	Suri Vaibhav (India)
52	2019	Vidit Gujrathi (India)	Amin Tabatabaei (IRI)
53	2020	Radosław Wojtaszek (Poland)	Christian Bauer (France)
54	2021	Gata Kamsky (United States)	Salem Saleh (United Arab Emirates)
55	2022	Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)	Mahammad Muradli (Azerbaijan)
56	2023	Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)	Bu Xiangzhi (China)
57	2024	Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)	Rinat Jumabayev (Kazakhstan)

Event results

2024

The 2024 event has 2 invitational sections, Masters and Challengers, with 6 players each. In each section, players would play single round-robin in 15+5 rapid time controls, single round-robin in classical time controls with colors reversed from Rapid, and double round-robin in 3+2 blitz time controls. Points are given each game according to time controls: 4-1½-0 for classical, 2-1-0 for rapid, and 1-½-0 for blitz. After all three phases are played, top 3 in total points, along with 4th place if they are within 12 points from first place, will continue play with a second classical round-robin.^[3]

2024 Biel Masters Triathlon, 14-25 July, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
	Player	Rapid	Classical 1	Blitz	Classical 2	Total
1	Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)	5	12½	6½	7	31
2	Haik M. Martirosyan (Armenia)	7	7½	6½	4½	25½
3	R Praggnanandhaa (India)	5	7	7	5½	24½
4	Abhimanyu Mishra (United States)	4	12½	2½	3	22
5	Vincent Keymer (Germany)	5	8½	2		15½
6	Sam Shankland (United States)	4	3	5½		12½

2024 Biel Masters Triathlon – Rapid, 14 July, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland^[4]
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points
1	Haik M. Martirosyan (Armenia)	2599	Does not appear	2	1	1	1	2	7
T-2	Vincent Keymer (Germany)	2645	0	Does not appear	0	2	2	1	5
T-2	R Praggnanandhaa (India)	2709	1	2	Does not appear	1	1	0	5
T-2	Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)	2659	1	0	1	Does not appear	1	2	5
T-5	Abhimanyu Mishra (United States)	2604	1	0	1	1	Does not appear	1	4
T-5	Sam Shankland (United States)	2622	0	1	2	0	1	Does not appear	4

2024 Biel Masters Triathlon – Classical, 16–20 July, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland^[5]
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points
T-1	Abhimanyu Mishra (United States)	2604	Does not appear	1½	1½	1½	4	4	12½
T-1	Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)	2731	1½	Does not appear	4	1½	1½	4	12½
3	Vincent Keymer (Germany)	2721	1½	0	Does not appear	1½	4	1½	8½
4	Haik M. Martirosyan (Armenia)	2661	1½	1½	1½	Does not appear	1½	1½	7½
5	R Praggnanandhaa (India)	2757	0	1½	0	1½	Does not appear	4	7
6	Sam Shankland (United States)	2683	0	0	1½	1½	0	Does not appear	3

2024 Biel Masters Triathlon – Blitz, 21 July, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland^[6]
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points
1	R Praggnanandhaa (India)	2680	Does not appear	1 ½	½ 0	1 0	1 1	1 1	7
T-2	Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)	2700	0 ½	Does not appear	½ ½	1 ½	½ 1	1 1	6½
T-2	Haik M. Martirosyan (Armenia)	2716	½ 1	½ ½	Does not appear	0 1	1 ½	1 ½	6½
4	Sam Shankland (United States)	2648	0 1	0 ½	1 0	Does not appear	½ ½	1 1	5½
5	Abhimanyu Mishra (United States)	2449	0 0	½ 0	0 ½	½ ½	Does not appear	½ 0	2½
6	Vincent Keymer (Germany)	2607	0 0	0 0	0 ½	0 0	½ 1	Does not appear	2

2024 Biel Masters Triathlon – Final, 23–25 July, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland^[7]
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	Points
1	Lê Quang Liêm (Vietnam)	2731	Does not appear	4	1½	1½	7
2	R Praggnanandhaa (India)	2757	0	Does not appear	1½	4	5½
3	Haik M. Martirosyan (Armenia)	2661	1½	1½	Does not appear	1½	4½
4	Abhimanyu Mishra (United States)	2604	1½	0	1½	Does not appear	3

2024 Biel Challengers Triathlon, 14-25 July, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland
	Player	Rapid	Classical 1	Blitz	Classical 2	Total
1	Salem Saleh (United Arab Emirates)	6	15	9	5½	35½
2	Alexander Donchenko (Germany)	7	11	5	5½	28½
3	R Vaishali (India)	5	15	2½	0	22½
4	Jonas Buhl Bjerre (Denmark)	5	9½	3		17½
5	Marc'Andria Maurizzi (France)	4	3	5½		12½
6	Ihor Samunenkov (Ukraine)	3	1½	5		9½

2024 Biel Challengers Triathlon – Rapid, 14 July, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland^[8]
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points
1	Alexander Donchenko (Germany)	2574	Does not appear	2	0	2	2	1	7
2	Salem Saleh (United Arab Emirates)	2659	0	Does not appear	2	2	0	2	6
T-3	Jonas Buhl Bjerre (Denmark)	2523	2	0	Does not appear	1	0	2	5
T-3	R Vaishali (India)	2359	0	0	1	Does not appear	2	2	5
5	Marc'Andria Maurizzi (France)	2445	0	2	2	0	Does not appear	0	4
6	Ihor Samunenkov (Ukraine)	2428	1	0	0	0	2	Does not appear	3

2024 Biel Challengers Triathlon – Classical, 16–20 July, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland^[9]
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points
T-1	Salem Saleh (United Arab Emirates)	2638	Does not appear	1½	1½	4	4	4	15
T-1	R Vaishali (India)	2488	1½	Does not appear	4	4	1½	4	15
3	Alexander Donchenko (Germany)	2644	1½	0	Does not appear	1½	4	4	11
4	Jonas Buhl Bjerre (Denmark)	2653	0	0	1½	Does not appear	4	4	9½
5	Marc'Andria Maurizzi (France)	2620	0	1½	0	0	Does not appear	1½	3
6	Ihor Samunenkov (Ukraine)	2535	0	0	0	0	1½	Does not appear	1½

2024 Biel Challengers Triathlon – Blitz, 21 July, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland^[10]
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points
1	Salem Saleh (United Arab Emirates)	2654	Does not appear	1 1	1 ½	1 ½	1 1	1 1	9
2	Marc'Andria Maurizzi (France)	2443	0 0	Does not appear	1 ½	1 0	1 1	1 0	5½
T-3	Alexander Donchenko (Germany)	2569	0 ½	0 ½	Does not appear	1 ½	0 1	1 ½	5
T-3	Ihor Samunenkov (Ukraine)	2471	0 ½	0 1	0 ½	Does not appear	0 1	1 1	5
5	Jonas Buhl Bjerre (Denmark)	2519	0 0	0 0	1 0	1 0	Does not appear	0 1	3
6	R Vaishali (India)	2366	0 0	0 1	0 ½	0 0	1 0	Does not appear	2½

2024 Biel Challengers Triathlon – Final, 23–25 July, Biel/Bienne, Switzerland^[11]
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	Points
T-1	Salem Saleh (United Arab Emirates)	2638	Does not appear	1½	4	5½
T-1	Alexander Donchenko (Germany)	2633	1½	Does not appear	4	5½
3	R Vaishali (India)	2488	0	0	Does not appear	0

Notes

^ In 2016 a match between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Peter Svidler took place instead of the traditional round-robin Grandmaster Tournament.

References

^ International Chess Festival Biel – Previous winners
^ Torneo Biel
^ "Regulations". Retrieved 26 July 2024.
^ "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Masters Rapid". 14 July 2024.
^ "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Masters Qualifier". 20 July 2024.
^ "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Masters Blitz". 21 July 2024.
^ "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Masters Final". 25 July 2024.
^ "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Masters Rapid". 14 July 2024.
^ "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Challengers Qualifier". 20 July 2024.
^ "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Challengers Blitz". 21 July 2024.
^ "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Challengers Final". 25 July 2024.

External links

Official website

[3] In 2016 a match between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Peter Svidler took place instead of the traditional round-robin Grandmaster Tournament.

[1] International Chess Festival Biel – Previous winners

[2] Torneo Biel

[4] "Regulations". Retrieved 26 July 2024.

[5] "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Masters Rapid". 14 July 2024.

[6] "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Masters Qualifier". 20 July 2024.

[7] "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Masters Blitz". 21 July 2024.

[8] "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Masters Final". 25 July 2024.

[9] "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Masters Rapid". 14 July 2024.

[10] "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Challengers Qualifier". 20 July 2024.

[11] "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Challengers Blitz". 21 July 2024.

[12] "Biel Chess Festival 2024 - Challengers Final". 25 July 2024.

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Major present (average rating > 2700; round-robin system generally)	Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting (since 1973) Grand Chess Tour (since 2015) Grenke Chess Classic (since 2013) London Chess Classic (since 2009) Norway Chess (since 2013) Shamkir Chess (since 2014) Shenzhen Masters (since 2017) Sinquefield Cup (since 2013) Tata Steel Chess Tournament (since 1938) UzChess Cup (since 2024)
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