The first international Biel Chess Festival was held in 1968. A Grandmaster Tournament has taken place since 1977.
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# Year Grandmaster Tournament Masters Open Tournament 1 1968 Edwin Bhend (Switzerland) 2 1969 Jan Timman (Netherlands) 3 1970 Predrag Ostojic (Yugoslavia) 4 1971 Stanimir Nikolic (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 (Australia)
David Parr (Australia)9 1976 Bent Larsen (Denmark) (Interzonal) Dragutin Sahovic (Yugoslavia)
Radovan Govedarica (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)
Beat Züger (Switzerland)
Peter Scheeren (Netherlands)14 1981 Eric Lobron (Germany)
Vlastimil Hort (Czechoslovakia)Nathan Birnboim (Israel)
Laszlo Karsa (Hungary)
Ron Henley (United States)
Eduard Meduna (Czechoslovakia)15 1982 John Nunn (England)
Florin Gheorghiu (Romania)Ivan Nemet (Yugoslavia) 16 1983 Tony Miles (England)
John Nunn (England)Jaan Eslon (Sweden) 17 1984 Vlastimil Hort (Germany)
Robert Hübner (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 (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 (Germany) 23 1990 Anatoly Karpov (Soviet Union) Viktor Gavrikov (Soviet Union) 24 1991 Alexei Shirov (Spain) 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) Milos Pavlovic (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) Milos Pavlovic (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) Hua Ni (China) 45 2012 Wang Hao (China) Sergei Movsesian (Armenia)
Famous quotes containing the word chess:
“What have we achieved in mowing down mountain ranges, harnessing the energy of mighty rivers, or moving whole populations about like chess pieces, if we ourselves remain the same restless, miserable, frustrated creatures we were before? To call such activity progress is utter delusion. We may succeed in altering the face of the earth until it is unrecognizable even to the Creator, but if we are unaffected wherein lies the meaning?”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)