Tradition and innovation are the two terms used by OC President Peter Bohnenblust to describe the Biel International Chess Festival, which ended successfully on Sunday. With 56 editions, it is one of the oldest chess events in the world – and this without interruption every year since 1968! But the festival does not stand still: This year, two new formats were on the programme: as a complete innovation, the week's tournament, which is held over only five days and thus offers a full tournament in classical chess within only one week. In addition, the Main Tournament (HTO), which has been revived after many years and is positioned between the Amateur Tournament (ATO) and the Master Tournament (MTO) in terms of strength. Another innovation that was met with a positive response was the Beauty Awards: After each round, players had the opportunity to enter their game for this prize if they considered it particularly well played. The most beautiful game of each of the three tournaments, MTO, HTO and ATO, was then chosen by voting on social media. The winners could then look forward to a non-cash prize – and, like the grandmasters, present and analyse their game in front of the camera in the festival studio.
The flagship event of the festival, the GMT Grandmaster Tournament, remained exciting right up to the last round and once again featured a top-class field. Tournament director Paul Kohler managed to put together the strongest field of participants since the triathlon format was introduced for the GMT five years ago. The grandmasters from eight different European, Asian and African countries had an average Elo rating of 2699 – among the best in the world! The players also delivered an even competition, so well-balanced that before the decisive last round, three players were still in the running for the tournament victory. The winner was Lê Quang Liêm, who had already won the Biel Grandmaster Tournament in 2022 – and did not play a single other game in the intervening year. Thanks to his victory in Biel, the Vietnamese Lê achieved the best Elo rating of his career and climbed to world rank 16!
The Biel Chess Festival again met with a good response in the media this year. The regional media repeatedly reported on various aspects of the festival and Biel was very present on the international chess platforms. The event again had a very international character: a total of 801 participants from 45 countries took part this year, except for Oceania, all continents were represented in Biel.
From the organisers' point of view, two aspects in particular are less pleasing. Firstly, the financial uncertainty that has preoccupied the festival for years. In order to achieve greater planning security, the organisers are striving for a multi-year agreement with the city of Biel. In addition, they are constantly seeking further sponsorship commitments. On the other hand, the organisers regret that other tournaments in Switzerland take place at the same time as the Biel Chess Festival. In particular, the clash of dates with the Swiss Individual Championships is unfortunate.
Rapid: IM Gähwiler double champion – strong women
The Swiss champion in blitz chess is also the strongest in the rapid chess category: IM Gabriel Gähwiler defends his title from last year in this category as well and proves that he is currently the measure of all things in Switzerland in the rapid disciplines. Today's tournament, however, was fiercely contested: IM Fabian Bänziger also finished on 7½ points, equal with Gähwiler, and thus took the silver medal – just like yesterday. Simon Schweizer, who plays for the Japanese Chess Federation but has a Swiss passport, came third.
Two women also played strongly: WFM Mariia Manko and FM Lena Georgescu even led the rankings for a while and ultimately placed 5th and 6th. Manko was also the best player under 16. Anton Thaler was the best senior in 17th place.
Final Ranking Swiss Rapid Championship
|
Rank |
Name |
Country |
Games |
Points |
|
1 |
IM Gabriel Gähwiler |
SUI |
9 |
7½ |
|
2 |
IM Fabian Bänziger |
SUI |
9 |
7½ |
|
3 |
Simon Schweizer |
JPN |
9 |
7 |
|
4 |
FM Oliver Sutter |
SUI |
9 |
7 |
|
5 |
WFM Mariia Manko |
SUI |
9 |
6½ |
|
6 |
FM Lena Georgescu |
SUI |
9 |
6½ |
|
7 |
Robin Angst |
SUI |
9 |
6½ |
|
8 |
Raphael Erne |
SUI |
9 |
6½ |
|
9 |
Mikayel Zargarov |
SUI |
9 |
6½ |
|
10 |
FM Fabrizio Patuzzo |
SUI |
9 |
6 |
Pictures of the Biel International Chess Festival are available under the following link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143150736@N02/collections/72157721909678547/
On the evening of each day of the Festival, the OC sends out a media report on the day's events.