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.

#	Year	Grandmaster Tournament	Master Open Tournament
1	1968		Edwin Bhend (Switzerland)
2	1969		Jan Timman (Netherlands)
3	1970		Predrag Ostojic (Yugoslavia)
4	1971		(Yugoslavia)
5	1972		Milan Vukic (Yugoslavia)
6	1973		Milan Vukic (Yugoslavia) Janos Flesch (Hungary)
7	1974		Bela Soos (Romania)
8	1975		Mišo Cebalo (Yugoslavia) John Pigott (England) (Australia)
9	1976	Bent Larsen (Denmark) (Interzonal)	Dragutin Sahovic (Yugoslavia) (Yugoslavia)
10	1977	Tony Miles (England)	Miguel Quinteros (Argentina)
11	1978		Charles Partos (Switzerland)
12	1979	Viktor Korchnoi (Switzerland)	Yehuda Gruenfeld (Israel) Jean Hebert (Canada)
13	1980	Yehuda Gruenfeld (Israel)	Israel Zilber (United States) Josip Rukavina (Yugoslavia) (Switzerland) (Netherlands)
14	1981	Eric Lobron (West Germany) Vlastimil Hort (Czechoslovakia)	Nathan Birnboim (Israel) (Hungary) Ron Henley (United States) (Czechoslovakia)
15	1982	John Nunn (England) Florin Gheorghiu (Romania)	Ivan Nemet (Yugoslavia)
16	1983	Tony Miles (England) John Nunn (England)	(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 Campora (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	Alexei 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)	(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)	(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^[3]	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France)	Samuel Shankland (United States)
50	2017	Hou Yifan (China)	Mateusz Bartel (Poland)
51	2018	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	(India)
52	2019	Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (India)	Amin Tabatabaei (IRI)
53	2020	Radosław Wojtaszek (Poland)	Christian Bauer (France)
54	2021	Gata Kamsky (United States)	Salem Saleh (United Arab Emirates)

References[]

^ International Chess Festival Biel - Previous winners
^ Torneo Biel
^ In 2016 a match between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Peter Svidler took place instead of the traditional round-robin Grandmaster Tournament.

External links[]

Official website

[1] International Chess Festival Biel - Previous winners

[2] Torneo Biel

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

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t Major recurring international chess tournaments
Strong chess tournaments Mini chess tournaments Round-robin chess tournaments
Major present (average rating > 2700; round-robin system)	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) Tal Memorial (since 2006) Tata Steel Chess Tournament (since 1938)
Other present (Swiss system generally)	Aeroflot Open (since 2002) Australasian Masters (since 1987) Biel Chess Festival (since 1968) Canadian Open (since 1956) Capablanca Memorial (since 1962) Cappelle-la-Grande Open (since 1985) Carlos Torre Repetto Memorial (since 1987) Chigorin Memorial (since 1909) Doeberl Cup (since 1963) Dubai Open (since 1999) Gibraltar Chess Festival (since 2003) Hastings International Chess Congress (since 1920) Hogeschool Zeeland Tournament (since 1995) Lublin Grandmaster Tournament (since 2009) Paul Keres Memorials (Tallinn, since 1969) (Vancouver, since 1975) Reykjavik Open (since 1964) Riga Technical University Open (since 2011) Rubinstein Memorial (since 1963) South African Open (since 1962) U.S. Open (since 1900) Vidmar Memorial (since 1969) World Open (since 1973) Xtracon Chess Open (since 1979) Zurich Christmas Open (since 1977)
Recently cancelled (after 2000)	Alekhine Memorial (1956–2013, irregular) Acropolis (1968–2009) Aerosvit (2006–2008) Amber (1992–2011) Bilbao Chess Masters Final (2008–2016) Howard Staunton Memorial (2003–2009) Linares (1978–2010) Mar del Plata (1928–2001) Millionaire Chess (2014-2016) M-Tel Masters (2005–2009) North Sea Cup (1976–2008) Pearl Spring (2008–2010) Qatar Masters Open (2014–2015) Reggio Emilia (1947–2012) Zurich Chess Challenge (2012–2017)
Major past (19th–20th century)	American Chess Congress (1857–1923) Carl Schlechter Memorial (1923–1996) DSB Congress (1879–1932) General Government (1940–1944) IBM international (1961–1981) Konex (1977–1994) Leopold Trebitsch Memorial (1907–1938) Lone Pine International (1971–1981) Max Euwe Memorial (1987–1996) Monte Carlo (1901–1904; 1967–1969) Netanya (1961–1983) Palma de Mallorca (1965–1972) Phillips & Drew Kings (1980–1986) Piatigorsky Cup (1963–1966) San Sebastián (1911–1912) Silesian Chess Congress (1922–1939) Tilburg (1977–1998) Triberg (1914–1917)
Chess competitions National championships Supranational championships