Advance postponement of the 55th Chess festival Biel for 2022

The FIDE has scheduled the 2022 Olympics for the end of July 2022. Therefore, the organizers of the International Biel Chess Festival are forced to bring forward the start of their 55th. Furthermore, they announce the launch of a new competition, the "Quadriathlon", which will be proposed for the participants of the opens with classical rate of play.

FIDE has recently confirmed that the 2022 Olympiad will start on July 25. After various clarifications, the Organizing Committee of the Biel International Chess Festival has decided to bring forward the previously published dates of its 55th edition. Peter Bohnenblust, President of the OC, notes that: "without this postponement, the five best male and the five best female players of each nation would not be able to participate in our closed Grand Master Tournament (GMT), nor in our no less prestigious Master Tournament (MTO)!"

The new official dates of the Festival are: from Saturday July 09 to Saturday July 23; details below:

July 9, 2022	Arrival GMT-players
July 10, 2022
July 11, 2022	ACC GMT	ACC Quadriathlon
July 12, 2022	RAP GMT	RAP Quadriathlon
July 13, 2022	Free day	MTO 1	ATO 1
July 14, 2022	GMT 1	MTO 2	ATO 2
July 15, 2022	GMT 2	MTO 3	ATO 3
July 16, 2022	GMT 3	MTO 4	ATO 4
July 17, 2022	GMT 4	MTO 5	ATO 5
July 18, 2022	BTO GMT	BTO  Quadriathlon
July 19, 2022	Free day	MTO 6	ATO 6
July 20, 2022	GMT 5	MTO 7	ATO 7
July 21, 2022	GMT 6	MTO 8	ATO 8
July 22, 2022	GMT 7	MTO 9	ATO 9
July 23, 2022	Departure

 

The main event starts on Monday, July 11, with the Rapid-960 ACCENTUS Grandmaster Tournament and a parallel open tournament in the same format (960). The following day is the start of the Grandmaster Triathlon (GMT), first with rapid games followed by the seven classical games, in between on Monday, July 18 the blitz games.

The start of the opens MTO and ATO with classical rate of play is fixed on Wednesday, July 13. The final round will be held on Friday, July 22, followed by the award ceremonies and prize distribution. In between, players will have a day off on Monday, July 18, when they will have the opportunity to participate in the blitz tournament (BTO).

The Secretary General Paul Kohler points out that the ATO and MTO participants can take part in a new competition called "Quadriathlon". "This final ranking will be determined by adding the points scored at the ATO or MTO to the two best results of the three tournaments 960, RAP, BTO."

The dates for the Swiss Rapid and Blitz Championships and the final round of the Swiss Youth Championships will be set in November.

Further information:

• Peter Bohnenblust, OC President: 076 405 80 87
• Paul Kohler, Tournaments Director: info@bielchessfestival.ch