This is a tribute to Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi, the Inimitable and Infatiguable, the 'Lion from Leningrad'. Master of aggressive counter-attacking, in fact, the greatest counter-attacker in chess, and a brilliant defense artist, expert of rook endings, full of fantasy, with a unique willingness to enter double-edged, unbalanced positions.

The iron man of chess who played and beat grandmasters of five generations, from Levenfisch (born 1889) and Lilienthal to Carlsen and Caruana (born 1992), beating a non-surpassed nine undisputed World Champions (including all from Botvinnik to Kasparov).

With a persistant search for new ideas and truth at the chess board, Korchnoi is winner of more than 220 tournaments, matches and team events of grandmaster strength in his adult career.

His fresh style and unrivalled combative longevity should be an inspiration to all of us. A fearless competitor and a non-conformist, always pushing himself to stay in front of theory. GM Viktor Korchnoi will be remembered for a life dedicated to chess.

Lennik Rempe, an amateur kid in a chess affiliated family

Lennik Rempe, 9 years, in play during the Biel / Bienne International Chess Festival in July 2020 at the (sic!) Special Corona Amateur Tournament C-HTO, restricted to 150 players, most came from the hosting nation Switzerland and the neighbour countries Germany, Austria, France or Italy, without physical spectators, using extra-large boards, nine round swiss system, a side event of the GM Triathlon (classical + rapid + blitz combined format, see above).

Gukesh D. at Biel MTO 2021. Photo: Organiser

Biel had also been held in 2021, despite the continuation of COVID-19.

Legendary Gata Kamsky (born 1974, a Soviet origin US top grandmaster) won the combined classical-rapid-blitz Triathlon tournament in style. Second place went to Kirill Alekseenko from Russia, Indian youngster prodigy Nihal Sarin (born 2004) finished third. Eight players, including Boris Gelfand, Israel, Vincent Keymer, Germany, and Alan Pichot, Argentina.

In 1993, Gata Kamsky reached third place at the last FIDE Interzonal (swiss system), held in Biel as a 19-year-young. Thanks to this he qualified for the Candidates Tournament 1994/95, which he won and he was thus allowed to compete against Anatoly Karpov for the FIDE World Championship title in 1996. Although he then lost, the IZT in Biel 1993 was the beginning of his world vice champion title. Now, 28 years later, Kamsky has come full circle by winning the Biel Chess Festival 2021!

The Biel Master Tournament Open (MTO) was won by Emirati grandmaster Salem Saleh, ahead of Karthikeyan Murali from India, who tied on points. Hungarian Tamás Bánusz placed third.

In the Open field also renowned Pavel Eljanov, Ukraine, and many strong Indian players, among them Sethuraman S.P., Praggnanandhaa R., and Dommaraju Gukesh (born 2006), better known as Gukesh D., an enthusiastic and highly promising junior.