After the last announcement of the Federal Council of 19 June 2020 and the review of our corona protection concept, we are now able to officially confirm that the 53rd Biel International Chess Festival will definitely be held.

We would like to thank all players which are already signed up. Now, they are welcome to transfer the tournament entry fee. Due to the alleviated distance rule, it is furthermore planned to organize the C-HTO with one single chessboard per game. The corresponding distance has been reduced from 2 m to 1.5 m. Possibly one needs to get up from chair in order to execute certain moves or to press the clock button. That is why the time bonus per move will be increased from the usual 30 sec to 45 sec.

Please take notice of the new corona protection concept on our homepage.
Therein you will find all special sanitary precautions that are planned for this time period, as well as its impact towards the tournaments. Every participant receives during the check-in process upon signature the mentioned document in the latest version and a badge for access to the Congress Center. Due to these administrative procedures and the social distancing rules to be met all players of the C-HTO are kindly requested to arrive on Monday 20 July early for the check-in, so that the first round can start as planned at 2:00 pm.
All information details will be published some days before the start of the festival on our website.
We thank you for taking note to this information!