Olivier Breisacher, one of the organizers and driving force behind the Biel Chess Festival, passed away last Thursday. The 44-year-old journalist drowned during a holiday in Mallorca, according to Swiss media. From there he was flown to a hospital in Geneva, but to no avail.
Breisacher grew up in Biel and studied in Geneva, where he earned a master’s degree at the Institute of International Studies. Working as a freelancer at the Swiss Teletext in the late eighties, he quickly developed into a highly respected international sports journalist, specializing in tennis, icehockey and football. For example, this year he attended the Icehockey World Championship in Helsinki, Finland as well as the UEFA European Championship in Poland.
For twelve years Breisacher worked for Tribune de Genève, a French-language, regional daily newspaper. At their website a eulogy was published this morning, where it is mentioned that he did exclusive, face-to-face interviews with tennis stars like Roger Federer (his big idol) and Novak Djokovic.
Full details here.
That is so sad.
I was studying chess with him and Yannick Pelletier (amongst other names) at the Chess club of my birth town, Biel (or Bienne). I could be at the tournament (main tournament) this summer and I’ve contacted the organization for a detail. He answered me warmly, remembering me after all those times.
I didn’t see him for 20 years, and I can’t met him anymore.
Life is zeitnot.
Yes, sad, indeed.