Bulgaria’s grand master Vesselin Topalov won the M-Tel Masters International Chess Tournament in Sofia after defeating Russia's Vladimir Kramnik in his last game on Sunday. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia News Agency)
Bulgaria's grand master Vesselin Topalov wonthe first edition of the M-Tel Masters International Chess Tournament in Sofia.
Topalov won the tile after defeating Russia's Vladimir Kramnik in his last game on Sunday and thus gathering 6,5 points.
The first-ever Category-20 M-Tel Masters chess tournament in Bulgaria attracted a lot of attention with the world's top six stars playing - barring Garry Kasparov who announced his retirement in March.
Apart from hefty prizes from the fund of EUR 300,000, the winner of the M-Tel Masters received a copy of the famous painting "Entering Jerusalem" from the Nessebar School by famous Bulgarian icon painter Katya Bazhlekova.
The icon is painted on wood with a 23-carat gold cover. The 62 x 45 centimeters painting will be presented to the winner at the closing ceremony on Sunday.
The tournament belongs to the 20th Category of FIDE. According to average ELO this is the toughest tournament in the world for the current year.