Incredible turnaround and a record in Play like Topalov
The young talent Alexander Monev won in the last round with a single point lead and final score of 200 correctly guessed moves
(Sofia, 25 May, 2009) Incredible turnaround and setting of a new record marked the end of this year’s edition og the internet game Play like Topalov. The winner in it is the young chess talent from Bulgaria Alexander Monev who guessed correctly a total of 200 moves of Topalov for the ten rounds of M-Tel Masters 2009 – the biggest score ever since the game was established. Monev won after surpassing with only 1 point the Estonian Valery Golubenko, who was the leader in the standings till the end of round nine.
The game traditionally runs on the official web site of M-Tel Masters – www.mtelmasters.com and in it can take part every chess fan. The goal in the game is to guess the moves of the 19th World Champion in the ten games that he plays in the tournament. The prize for the winner is a chess game against Veselin Topalov before the next edition of M-Tel Masters.
The winner Alexander Monev is 13 and was born in the town of Silistra. He is currently studying in the Sofia Math High School. He started to play chess ate the age of 5 after his father provoked his interest for the game. Alexander started serious chess training when he was 7. he is champion of Bulgaria for children under 14 for 2009, ranked fifth at the children’s European Championship, finished fourth at the World Championship for children in 2007 and was third in the final tournament of the chain M-Tel Masters Junior 2009. His favorite players are Topalov and Kasparov. “M-Tel Masters is a very strong and interesting tournament, where only players with very sharp style participate. I think this is one of the best tournaments in the history of chess”, said Alexander Monev in a phone conversation with the organizers of the tournament. He will have the chance to play a game of chess against Veselin Topalov before the start of M-Tel Masters 2010.
“My warm congratulations to the winner of the “Play like Topalov” contest Alexander Monev! It was really great battle with just one point difference. Frankly speaking this victory is much more important for Alexander as a young promising player. I wish him big success in his chess career”, wrote in an e-mail to M-Tel Masters Valery Golubenko, who is second in the final standings of the game this year.
Dimitar Naydenov
Mtel Press Officer
Congratulations to the winner Monev whose victory is incredible in every way. However, there is a slight factual error in the article as Jason Juett from the 2007 edition of the contest holds the record for most moves guessed with 250.