Vassily Ivanchuk Unstoppable

4th Consecutive Win at the 2008 Mtel Masters

Mtel Masters 2008: General page / Photos from Mtel

Mtel Masters live: Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Topalov - Ivanchuk / Radjabov - Aronian

Round 4 results:

Ivanchuk Vassily 2740 UKR 1 - 0 Cheparinov Ivan 2695 BUL
Radjabov Teimour 2751 AZE ½ - ½ Topalov Veselin 2767 BUL
Bu Xiangzhi 2708 CHN ½ - ½ Aronian Levon 2763 ARM

Tomorrow (14 CET): Live game commentary by GM Vladimir Dimitrov and live blog with the Chessdom team in Sofia. GM Paco Vallejo, second of Veselin Topalov, will be a special guest. See you there!

Vassily Ivanchuk is flying off to a wonderful start with four consecutive wins at the 2008 Mtel Masters, already holding a 1.5 distance ahead of 2nd placed Veselin Topalov. Ivanchuk won with white pieces against Ivan Cheparinov in, what was pleasant surprise for many fans, already forgotten main variation of the King's Indian defence. GM Erwin l'Ami, trainer of Ivan Cheparinov, joined Chessdom team during the live blogging session, sharing opinions about the game and impressions from his stay in Bulgaria. The other two games, Bu Xiangzhi - Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov - Veselin Topalov, finished in correct draws.

The players are using chairs from the 17th century. Veselin Topalov's chair will be offered for auction after the tournament - bids starting from 750 Euro

Seattle, USA will join The Grand Slam in 2009, China to be ready for 2010

"The Grand Slam has already 3 tournaments in Europe and one in Latin America - Mexico City. From next year - 2009, USA will join the Grand Slam with a super tournament in Seattle with prize fund of USD 750 000. I think it would be perfect if the 6th tournament takes place in Asia, especially in China", said Silvio Danailov, Director of the super chess tournament M-Tel Masters.

China is not only becoming an economic power but also a chess power and the number of the fans of this sport is increasing quickly in that country. This is very noticeable as Chinese media are presently paying a lot of attention to M-Tel Masters 2008 that is currently taking place in the Bulgarian capital Sofia. The tournament’s official web site has a complete version in Chinese, which happens for the first time in the history of super chess tournaments. This way chess fans in China can read news and interviews about the competition in their own language, follow the games live and also the performance of the Chinese player Bu Xiangzhi that is participating in this year’s edition of the traditional tournament.

Sponsors might be attracted not only by the Chinese market, but also by the publicity they can get from the international coverage that a high-class tournament receives from the foreign media. Conversations with local partners have already started and are expected to continue in the near future, looking for China to become host of a Grand Slam Chess Association tournament.

Current standings:

1. Ivanchuk Vassily 2740 UKR - 4.0
2. Topalov Veselin 2767 BUL - 2.5
3-5. Radjabov Teimour 2751 AZE, Cheparinov Ivan 2695 BUL and Aronian Levon 2763 ARM - 1.5
6. Bu Xiangzhi 2708 CHN - 1.0

Round 5 pairings:

Aronian Levon 2763 ARM - Ivanchuk Vassily 2740 UKR
Cheparinov Ivan 2695 BUL - Radjabov Teimour 2751 AZE
Topalov Veselin 2767 BUL - Bu Xiangzhi 2708 CHN

Levon Aronian

Bu Xiangzhi

Ivan Cheparinov

Vassily Ivanchuk