M-tel Masters
Encyclopedia
M-Tel Masters is an annual super-GM chess
tournament held since 2005 in Sofia
, the capital of Bulgaria
, sponsored and organized by the leading Bulgarian mobile network operator, M-Tel. According to the regulations, each of the six participants plays two games against every other, thus making it a double round-robin tournament
. The venue is the five-star
Grand Hotel Sofia
.
, Vladimir Kramnik
, Michael Adams, Judit Polgár
and Ruslan Ponomariov
. M-Tel Masters 2005 was classified in FIDE's
Category 20 and was named the strongest tournament of 2005 according to the average Elo rating
of the participants of 2744. The winner of the tournament was the Bulgarian Veselin Topalov, with the award being conferred by President Georgi Parvanov
.
, Étienne Bacrot
and Gata Kamsky
. Brazil
ian writer Paulo Coelho
played the token initial move of the 2006 tournament, which was officially opened by the President of Bulgaria, Georgi Parvanov.
Topalov won the tournament for the second time after a decisive comeback from a somewhat hesitant start. He recorded four consecutive wins in the final rounds to clinch the M-Tel Masters 2006 first place with 6½ points, also defeating his main rival Gata Kamsky in the penultimate round.
, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
, Gata Kamsky, Michael Adams and Krishnan Sasikiran
. Topalov won the tournament for a third consecutive time in a dramatic fashion, defeating the then-current leader Sasikiran in the final round.
, who had won the tournament the three previous years, was second.
, Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexei Shirov
, Wang Yue
and Leinier Domínguez.
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
tournament held since 2005 in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, the capital of Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, sponsored and organized by the leading Bulgarian mobile network operator, M-Tel. According to the regulations, each of the six participants plays two games against every other, thus making it a double round-robin tournament
Round-robin tournament
A round-robin tournament is a competition "in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn".-Terminology:...
. The venue is the five-star
Star (classification)
Stars are often used as symbols for classification purposes. They are used by reviewers for ranking things such as movies, TV shows, restaurants, and hotels. For example, one to five stars is commonly employed to categorize hotels.-Restaurant ratings:...
Grand Hotel Sofia
Grand Hotel Sofia
Grand Hotel Sofia is a five-star hotel in the center of Sofia, Bulgaria, located on Gen. Joseph C. Street in Sredets district. It is located near the Bulgarian National Theatre and the City Art Gallery, in walking distance from Bulgaria Concert Hall, the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the Vasil...
.
M-Tel Masters 2005
The first edition of the tournament took place between 11 and 22 May 2005 as part of M-Tel's tenth anniversary celebrations and with the participation of top chess players such as Vishwanathan Anand, Veselin TopalovVeselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
, Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Kramnik
Vladimir Borisovich Kramnik is a Russian chess grandmaster. He was the Classical World Chess Champion from 2000 to 2006, and the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2006 to 2007...
, Michael Adams, Judit Polgár
Judit Polgár
Judit Polgár is a Hungarian chess grandmaster. She is by far the strongest female chess player in history. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, the youngest person ever to do so at that time.Polgár was ranked No...
and Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Ponomariov
Ruslan Olegovich Ponomariov is a Ukrainian chess player and former FIDE World Champion.-Early career:Ponomariov was born in Horlivka in Ukraine. In 1994 he placed third in the World Under-12 Championship at the age of ten. In 1996 he won the European Under-18 Championship at the age of just...
. M-Tel Masters 2005 was classified in FIDE's
Fédération Internationale des Échecs
The Fédération Internationale des Échecs or World Chess Federation is an international organization that connects the various national chess federations around the world and acts as the governing body of international chess competition. It is usually referred to as FIDE , its French acronym.FIDE...
Category 20 and was named the strongest tournament of 2005 according to the average Elo rating
Elo rating system
The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-born American physics professor....
of the participants of 2744. The winner of the tournament was the Bulgarian Veselin Topalov, with the award being conferred by President Georgi Parvanov
Georgi Parvanov
Georgi Sedefchov Parvanov is a President of Bulgaria, whose second and last mandate expires on January 22, 2012; he was elected after defeating his predecessor Petar Stoyanov in the second round of the presidential elections in November 2001 and he came into office on January 22, 2002...
.
| Position | Participant | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6½ | |
| 2 | 5½ | |
| 3 | 5 | |
| 3 | 5 | |
| 5 | 4 | |
| 5 | 4 |
M-Tel Masters 2006
The 2006 tournament took place between 10 May and 21 May and was attended by Veselin Topalov, Vishwanathan Anand, Ruslan Ponomariov, Peter SvidlerPeter Svidler
Peter Veniaminovich Svidler is a Russian chess grandmaster.He is six-time Russian champion ....
, Étienne Bacrot
Étienne Bacrot
Étienne Bacrot is a French chess grandmaster and currently ranked number one in France.He started playing at 4; by 10 young Bacrot was already winning junior competitions and in 1996, at 13 years of age, he won against Vasily Smyslov...
and Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky
Gata Kamsky is a Soviet-born American chess grandmaster, and the current World Rapid Chess Champion. He is also the current United States Chess Champion. As of September 2011, he is rated No. 1 in the United States and No...
. Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian writer Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist.-Biography:Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He attended a Jesuit school. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer. Upon telling his mother this, she responded with "My dear, your father is an engineer. He's a logical,...
played the token initial move of the 2006 tournament, which was officially opened by the President of Bulgaria, Georgi Parvanov.
Topalov won the tournament for the second time after a decisive comeback from a somewhat hesitant start. He recorded four consecutive wins in the final rounds to clinch the M-Tel Masters 2006 first place with 6½ points, also defeating his main rival Gata Kamsky in the penultimate round.
| Position | Participant | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6½ | |
| 2 | 6 | |
| 3 | 5½ | |
| 4 | 5 | |
| 5 | 3½ | |
| 5 | 3½ |
M-Tel Masters 2007
M-Tel Masters' 2007 edition was held between 9 May and 20 May and featured Veselin Topalov, Liviu-Dieter NisipeanuLiviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu is a Romanian chess grandmaster. His peak FIDE rating was 2707 in October 2005, when he was ranked fifteenth in the world, and the highest ranked Romanian player ever...
, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
Shakhriyar Hamid oglu Mammadyarov , also known for his Shah nickname, is a chess Grandmaster. On the September 2010 FIDE rating list he was ranked number nine in the world with an Elo rating of 2756....
, Gata Kamsky, Michael Adams and Krishnan Sasikiran
Krishnan Sasikiran
Krishnan Sasikiran is an Indian chess Grandmaster. Among Indians, he is second, after Viswanathan Anand, No. 6 in Asia & ranked 56th in the world in FIDE rating as on September 2011....
. Topalov won the tournament for a third consecutive time in a dramatic fashion, defeating the then-current leader Sasikiran in the final round.
| Participant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | * * | 1 1 | 0 ½ | ½ ½ | 0 1 | ½ ½ | 5½ | |
| 2 | 0 0 | * * | ½ 1 | 1 0 | ½ ½ | ½ 1 | 5 | |
| 2 | 1 ½ | ½ 0 | * * | 1 0 | ½ ½ | ½ ½ | 5 | |
| 2 | ½ ½ | 0 1 | 0 1 | * * | ½ ½ | ½ ½ | 5 | |
| 2 | 1 0 | ½ ½ | ½ ½ | ½ ½ | * * | 0 1 | 5 | |
| 6 | ½ ½ | ½ ½ | ½ 0 | ½ ½ | 1 0 | * * | 4½ |
M-Tel Masters 2008
The 2008 M-Tel Masters was held 8–18 May. Vassily Ivanchuk won by a wide margin. Ivanchuk won his first five games, lost no games, and had a positive score against every other player. Veselin TopalovVeselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. He currently has the sixth highest rating in the world, and was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010, losing the match 6½–5½....
, who had won the tournament the three previous years, was second.
| Participant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | * * | 1 ½ | 1 ½ | 1 1 | 1 ½ | 1 ½ | 8 | |
| 2 | 0 ½ | * * | ½ ½ | 1 1 | 1 0 | 1 1 | 6½ | |
| 3 | 0 ½ | ½ ½ | * * | ½ ½ | ½ 1 | ½ 1 | 5½ | |
| 4 | 0 0 | 0 0 | ½ ½ | * * | 1 1 | ½ ½ | 4 | |
| 5 | 0 ½ | 0 1 | ½ 0 | 0 0 | * * | ½ ½ | 3 | |
| 5 | 0 ½ | 0 0 | ½ 0 | ½ ½ | ½ ½ | * * | 3 |
M-Tel Masters 2009
The 2009 edition of the tournament took place from 12 to 23 May. Besides regular feature Veselin Topalov, the participating grandmasters are Magnus CarlsenMagnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
, Vassily Ivanchuk, Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...
, Wang Yue
Wang Yue
Wang Yue is a Chinese chess Grandmaster. He is China's highest-ever rated player with a peak Elo rating of 2751. In 2004, he became China's 18th Grandmaster at the age of 17....
and Leinier Domínguez.
| Participant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | * * | 1 ½ | ½ ½ | ½ ½ | ½ ½ | 1 1 | 6½ | |
| 2 | 0 ½ | * * | 1 ½ | ½ 1 | ½ 1 | ½ ½ | 6 | |
| 2 | ½ ½ | 0 ½ | * * | 1 ½ | ½ ½ | 1 1 | 6 | |
| 4 | ½ ½ | ½ 0 | 0 ½ | * * | ½ ½ | 1 ½ | 4½ | |
| 5 | ½ ½ | ½ 0 | ½ ½ | ½ ½ | * * | ½ 0 | 4 | |
| 6 | 0 0 | ½ ½ | 0 0 | 0 ½ | ½ 1 | * * | 3 |