The international chess tournament M-Tel Masters 2008 was held from May 7 till May 18, 2008. Vassily Ivanchuk, he won all of his game in the first half of the tournament went on to win the event with 8/10 to end Topalov's reign in the M-tel in all three previous editions. Topalov made an attack in the second half of the tournament however his penultimate round loss to Bu Xiangzhi proved to be decisive.
The six well-known players played their games in the Central Military Club in the Bulgarian capital Sofia. The players were: 19th World Champion Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria, ELO 2767), Ivan Cheparinov (Bulgaria, ELO 2695), quarter-finalist at the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk 2007, Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan, ELO 2751), winner of the World Rapid Cup in Odessa 2008, Levon Aronian (Armenia, ELO 2763), winner of the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk 2005 and Olympiad Champion from Turin 2006, Vassily Ivanchuk (Ukraine, ELO 2740), World Champion in blitz chess from Moscow 2007 and Olympiad Champion from Calvia 2004, and Xiangzhi Bu (China, ELO 2691), winner of the World Cup in blind chess from Bilbao 2007. The patron for the fourth year in a row was the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Georgi Parvanov.
The Final Ranking:
| Rank |
Name |
FED |
Pts |
| 1 |
Ivanchuk Vassily |
UKR |
8,0 |
| 2 |
Topalov Veselin |
BUL |
6,5 |
| 3 |
Radjabov Teimour |
AZE |
5,5 |
| 4 |
Cheparinov Ivan |
BUL |
4,0 |
| 5 |
Bu Xiangzhi |
CHN |
3,0 |
| 6 |
Aronian Levon |
ARM |
3,0 |
For more detailed information please visit the official site of M-Tel Masters Tournament
Here are some photos from the opening ceremony:
The Bulgarian President Parvanov opened M-Tel Masters 2008
The players and the mascots after the draw
The sponsors' representatives and Silvio Danailov smiling at the mascots of the tournament King Alexander and Queen Kalina
And some photos from the press-conference:
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