Ivanchuk show in Sofia

Kiprian Berbatov wins Mtel Masters Junior

The park behind Grand Hotel Sofia is a famous place in the capital of Bulgaria, where chess amateurs of all ages collect to play the ancient game. Very often the number of people playing simultaneously is over 100, but when there is a “top level match” they all collect to watch the certain board. The games are always accompanied with passion, betting, and lots of sports spirit.

Vassily Ivanchuk created a real show in this garden after the end of the 3rd round of Mtel Masters. He went for a walk around the hotel and joined the chess party going on there. Ivanchuk played a game with a fan, after that with another, and soon what seemed a friendly gesture grew into large simul.

The score of the simul is still not known. However, some amateurs put up a real good fight and Ivanchuk played in the garden until after midnight.

More from Mtel Masters

Kiprian Berbatov won the Mtel Masters junior section, which is a competition for players U14. The top talent of Bulgaria, who is the third player with manager Silvio Danailov after Cheparinov and Topalov, had over 300 ELO points advantage and did not encounter problems to win the Mtel Masters junior with full 5,0/5. Second place was for Anatoli Atanasov, third for Alexander Monev. The top girl was Tsveta Galunova.