Mtel Masters

Bulgarian chess player Vesselin Topalov, number one on the April 2009 Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation (FIDE), will play with the black set against the Norwegian Magnus Carlsen in the first round of Mtel Masters, on Wednesday, May 13 at 4pm. The 18-year-old Norwegian is considered one of the main contenders for the title with a 300 000 euro fund attached to it.

“Veselin is the favourite for me, and I would definitely place Carlsen behind him,” said Silvio Danailov, Topalov’s manager, reported by Dnevnik.

Last year’s champion, Vasili Ivanchuk, will defend his title against the Spanish Alexei Shirov, whereas the Cuban Leinier Dominguez will take on Yue Wang from China.

The matches begin tomorrow at 4pm outside the national theatre Ivan Vazov, where the players will be positioned within a special glass booth.

Topalov became the FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. He lost his title in the World Chess Championship 2006 match against Vladimir Kramnik, during which he accused his opponent of cheating. He defeated Gata Kamsky between February 16-28 2009 in Sofia, so earning the right to be the challenger for the World Chess Championship

The M-Tel Masters is an annual super-GM chess tournament, which has been held since 2005 in Sofia. The tournament has been sponsored and organised by the Bulgarian mobile network operator, M-Tel, and the event’s venue is the five-star Grand Hotel Sofia. According to regulations, each of the six participants plays two games against every other, so making it a double round-robin tournament.

Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar