M-Tel Masters
The M-Tel Masters was a chess tournament that was held annually in May in Sofia from 2005 to 2009 . It was developed by the Bulgarian mobile operator Mobiltel sponsored and Silvio Danailov organized. In addition to the tournaments in Dortmund , Linares and Wijk aan Zee , it was one of the best-attended chess events of the year. In 2010 it was canceled because of the World Chess Championship , which was also taking place in Sofia in May, and has not been held again since then.
Tournament mode
Six invited grandmasters played in a double-round tournament with a classic time rule (2 hours for 40 moves, 1 hour for the following 20 moves and 30 minutes for the rest of the game).
A special feature of this tournament was that players were not allowed to offer draws to their opponents. A draw was therefore only possible if the position was repeated three times , continuous chess or if there was a theoretical draw position. The decision as to whether a player's claim for a draw is justified was made by a referee .
2005
Topalow won the premiere of the tournament from May 11-22, 2005 by a whole point ahead of Anand.
| space | Surname | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wesselin Topalow | 6.5 |
| 2 | Viswanathan Anand | 5.5 |
| 3-4 | Ruslan Ponomarev | 5 |
| 3-4 | Judit Polgár | 5 |
| 5-6 | Vladimir Kramnik | 4th |
| 5-6 | Michael Adams | 4th |
2006
The second edition of the tournament took place from May 10-21, 2006. Topalow won the tournament by winning the last four games after losing to Anand and Swidler.
| space | Surname | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wesselin Topalow | 6.5 |
| 2 | Gata Kamsky | 6th |
| 3 | Viswanathan Anand | 5.5 |
| 4th | Pyotr Swidler | 5 |
| 5-6 | Ruslan Ponomarev | 3.5 |
| 5-6 | Étienne Bacrot | 3.5 |
2007
The third M-Tel Masters took place from May 10th to 20th, 2007. Topalow also won the third edition of the tournament by beating the then leading Sasikiran in the final round.
| space | Surname | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wesselin Topalow | 5.5 |
| 2-5 | K. Sasikiran | 5 |
| 2-5 | Şəhriyar Məmmədyarov | 5 |
| 2-5 | Gata Kamsky | 5 |
| 2-5 | Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu | 5 |
| 6th | Michael Adams | 4.5 |
2008
The fourth edition of the M-Tel Masters took place from May 7th to 18th. The tournament was dominated by the Ukrainian Vasyl Ivanchuk , who won all five games in the preliminary round and, after four draws in a row, concluded the tournament with a win against Ivan Cheparinov . A special feature of the tournament was that the participants played in a soundproof glass booth, which enabled the spectators to chat during the games.
| space | Surname | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vasyl Ivanchuk | 8th |
| 2 | Wesselin Topalow | 6.5 |
| 3 | Teymur Rəcəbov | 5.5 |
| 4th | Ivan Cheparinov | 4th |
| 5 | Bu Xiangzhi | 3 |
| 6th | Levon Aronjan | 3 |
2009
The 5th M-Tel Masters, which took place in Sofia from May 12th to 23rd, was surprisingly won by Alexei Shirov . Last year's winner Wassyl Iwantschuk landed this time in last place.
| space | Surname | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alexei Shirov | 6.5 |
| 2 | Magnus Carlsen | 6th |
| 3 | Wesselin Topalow | 6th |
| 4th | Wang Yue | 4.5 |
| 5 | Leinier Domínguez | 4th |
| 6th | Vasyl Ivanchuk | 3 |
Individual evidence
- ↑ Interview with Silvio Danailow, Chessdom.com, March 28, 2010