International chess festival is returning to St James
MORE than 120 players are expected to take part in the 47th BWCI Guernsey International Chess Festival.
Held over seven days between 15 and 21 October, the event will take place at St James for a second time and is being organised by the Guernsey Chess Federation.
St James director Jon Bisson said that the federation had been struggling to find a permanent home for the festival since before the Covid pandemic. The festival had been staged most recently at the Peninsula Hotel.
‘The festival is a bit of a family affair for me as my grandfather actually founded both the festival and the federation back in the 1970s,' he said.
'The federation reached out to me asking if St James would consider hosting the festival because hotels had become too expensive. I was more than happy to say yes, and to help out for free.’
About 110 players, including 90 from overseas, took part in last year’s festival, and Mr Bisson was optimistic that that figure could be eclipsed this time round.
‘I’m hoping there will be over 120 players from all over Europe who come over. Players hear about the event via chess forums and websites.’
Guernsey Chess Federation president Jonathan Hill said securing BWCI as headline sponsor had been very important for the festival.
‘Without their support we would potentially have had to scale it down due to rapidly rising costs due to inflation.
‘With their sponsorship the event will be a bigger and much better one than we would otherwise be able to offer.
‘We also must give our thanks for the support from our other sponsors including the Guernsey Sports Commission, the International Chess Federation, Chessable and others.’
He added that about 15 local federation members would be taking part in the event.
‘St James is a fantastic venue, we have been lucky to have their support and hope to continue holding the festival there for the foreseeable future.’
BWCI managing partner Diana Simon said the company was delighted to support the event.
‘It will allow our community to witness first hand some of the most accomplished players across the Channel Islands, the UK and Europe. Our thanks go to the festival organisers for their hard work in putting this together.’
n Players are able to register for the festival via the event’s website: https://guernseychessfestival.org.gg/
