Biel Chess Festival opens Sunday

A great tradition is about to start its next edition: Tomorrow Sunday, the International Chess Festival will begin for the 55th time in uninterrupted sequence in Biel. Once again, the world's top players and hundreds of amateurs from all over the world will meet in Biel under the eyes of the entire global chess world. The opening day will begin with a simultaneous tournament at 4 p.m. in which GM Yu Yangyi, the world's No. 27, will face 25 opponents. At 6 p.m., the official opening ceremony of the Chess Festival will take place at the Bieler Kongresshaus.

"In memoriam Peter Burri" - this is the motto of this year's Biel Chess Festival in memory of "PeBu", as everyone called him. For more than 40 years, Peter Burri was involved in the festival in various functions. At the end of March, he unfortunately passed away much too early at the age of 65.

Simultaneous tournament and opening ceremony

The activities of the Biel Chess Festival will start on Sunday, 10.7.2022 at 4 p.m. with the simultaneous tournament in the counter hall of our partner BEKB, the Berner Kantonalbank. Grandmaster Yu Yangyi will face 25 amateur players at the same time, who will set themselves the goal of wresting as many moves as possible from the Chinese player.

The Biel Chess Festival will be officially opened with the opening ceremony in the foyer of the Bieler Kongresshaus on 10.7.2022 at 6 pm. In the presence of Martin Schlup, President of the Grand Council of the Canton of Bern and André Vögtlin, Central President of the Swiss Chess Federation, the President of the Organising Committee, Peter Bohnenblust, will open the 55th edition of the Festival.

Open to everyone

After the restrictions of the last two years, the organisers are pleased to announce that this year all events on the occasion of the festival are again freely accessible to the interested public – and even some new events are to discover. Spectators are requested to maintain absolute silence in the playing rooms and not to disturb the players in any way.

Upcoming dates: Wednesday Excursion with the Grandmasters to Omega Watches

Media representatives are cordially invited to the following events within the framework of the Chess Festival:

• 10 July, 18.00: Official opening of the Festival
• 10 July, 20.00: Gala dinner with the GMT participants
• 13 July: Excursion to Omega with the GMT participants and GM Vishy Anand (former World Champion)
• 18 July: Excursion on St. Peter Island with the GMT and DAQ participants.
• 21 July, 2 p.m.: Award ceremony of the Swiss Junior Championships
• 22 July, 6 p.m.: Closing ceremony with prize-giving for GMT, DAQ, MTO and ATO
• 22 July, 7.30 p.m.: Brain Battle: Chess vs. Poker

You are welcome to contact us at: media@bielchessfestival.ch 

From Sunday onwards, as usual, you will receive our daily press release with all the results and highlights of the day.