World's top six players see their first clash within the M-Tel Masters, the strongest tournament in the year, on Thursday under the scheme picked up upon lot a day earlier.

Bulgaria's Vesselin Topalov meets Viswanathan Anand of India in the early afternoon, followed by Kramnik and Ponomariov and later Adams and Polgar.

The tournament is a category 20 with an Elo average of 2744, brought to the Bulgarian capital by grandmasters such as Viswanathan Anand, Vesselin Topalov, Vladimir Kramnik,Michael Adams, Judit Polgar, Ruslan Ponomariov.

A special rule is in place in Sofia that draw offers are not allowed. It means that draws by mutual agreement between the players are forbidden, but the arbiter only may give technical draws.

The tournament is part of the ten-year anniversary of the Bulgarian mobile phone company Mobiltel, and is set to take place every year. This is the second big chess event sponsored by Mobiltel.

In February last year the mobile operator organized a TV exhibition match between the rapid chess World Champion Viswanathan Anand and Vesselin Topalov.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!