Sofia 2007: India's Sasikiran in the lead

Third M-Tel Masters in Sofia, Bulgaria

There are six participants in this double round robin tournament that goes from May 10 to 20. Time control: 2 hours for 40 moves + 1 hour for 20 moves + 30 minutes to the end the game. The players are not allowed to offer draws, they must consult the arbiter, who will decide (usually against) allowing the offer to be made.

Round seven: India's Krishnan Sasikiran in the lead

The sensation in round seven was the black-piece victory by India's Krishnan Sasikiran over the dominant Azeri GM Shakriyar Mamedyarov, number six in the world rankings. With this victory "Sasi" took the sole lead in the Sofia Super-GM.

In the critical game, an English Opening, Mamedyarov was doing fine with an extra pawn until move 30. After an inaccuracy he continued to play for a win, spurning Sasikiran's offer to repeat moves. In the end he went down in a tactical milee.

Mamedyarov,S (2757) - Sasikiran,K (2690) [A20]
MTel Sofia BUL (7), 17.05.2007
1.c4 e5 2.g3 d6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.d3 f5 6.e4 Nf6 7.Nge2 a5 8.exf5 gxf5 9.d4 0-0 10.Bg5 Qe8 11.0-0 h6 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.c5 Nc6 14.Nb5 Qe7 15.Nec3 Qg7 16.cxd6 cxd6 17.d5 Nd4 18.Nxd4 exd4 19.Nb5 f4 20.Nxd6 Bg4 21.Qd3 Be7 22.Nb5 f3 23.Bh1 Bc5 24.d6 Kh8 25.Rad1 Rad8 26.a3 Bb6 27.Rfe1 Bf5 28.Qd2 Qf6 29.Re7 Bd7 30.Rde1 Qg5 31.Qd3 Qf5 32.Qd2 Qg5 33.Qc2 Qf5 34.Qxf5 Rxf5 35.Nc7 d3 36.Rd1 Rc5 37.Bxf3 Rc2 38.Rf1 Bh3

39.Ne6 Bxf2+ 40.Kh1 Bxf1 41.d7? Rg8 0-1.

The Sicilian Taimanov between Gata Kamsky and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu saw the American player working hard for a victory, which disappeared in a rook and pawn ending. Kamsky's notebook problem is still not solved and we assume he has taken to working with "books" (very thin slices of tree, stained with ink).

Kamsky,G (2705) - Nisipeanu,LD (2693) [B47]
MTel Sofia BUL (7), 17.05.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be2 Nf6 7.0-0 a6 8.Be3 Bb4 9.Na4 Be7 10.c4 Nxe4 11.c5 0-0 12.Rc1 Rb8 13.g3 Nf6 14.Bf3 g6 15.Nb6 e5 16.Nb3 d6 17.cxd6 Bxd6 18.Bxc6 bxc6 19.Qf3 Bf5 20.Qxc6 Qxc6 21.Rxc6 Be7 22.Bc5 Bxc5 23.Nxc5 Kg7 24.Re1 Rbd8 25.Nc4 Rc8 26.Rxc8 Rxc8 27.b4 Ne4 28.Nxe4 Rxc4 29.Nd6 Rxb4 30.Nxf5+ gxf5 31.Rxe5 Ra4 32.Rxf5 h6 33.Kg2 Rxa2 34.Rc5 a5 35.g4 a4 36.Ra5 Ra3 37.Ra6 Kh7 38.f3 Ra1 39.f4 Ra2+ 40.Kg3 Ra3+ 41.Kh4 Ra2 42.h3 Ra3 43.g5 hxg5+ 44.fxg5 Ra1 45.Kg3 Rg1+ 46.Kf2 Rxg5 47.Rxa4 draw.

Michael Adams vs Veselin Topalov was a Closed Sicilian in which the top seed managed to gain a promising position a pawn up in the endgame. However the advantage was not sufficient and Adams continued to simplify until just one black h-pawn was left and Topalov had to accept the draw.

Adams,Mi (2734) - Topalov,V (2772) [B23]
MTel Sofia BUL (7), 17.05.2007
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.Nge2 Nc6 6.d3 e5 7.a3 Nge7 8.Rb1 Be6 9.b4 Qd7 10.Nd5 Nd4 11.0-0 b6 12.bxc5 bxc5 13.Nxe7 Qxe7 14.Nxd4 cxd4 15.f4 f6 16.f5 Bf7 17.c3 dxc3 18.Qa4+ Qd7 19.Qxd7+ Kxd7 20.Rb7+ Ke8 21.Rc7 Rd8 22.Bh3 d5 23.exd5 Rxd5 24.Rxc3 gxf5 25.Be3 Be6 26.Bg2 Rd6 27.Rc7 Bd7 28.Rb1 Kf7 29.Rbb7 Rd8 30.d4 Kg6 31.Rxa7 Bh6 32.Bxh6 Kxh6 33.dxe5 fxe5 34.Bf1 f4 35.gxf4 exf4 36.Ra6 Rxa6 37.Bxa6 Bg4 38.Rc2 Rd1+ 39.Kf2 Ra1 40.Be2 Bxe2 41.Rxe2 Rxa3 42.Re8 Kg5 43.Rg8+ Kh4 44.Rf8 Kg4 45.Rg8+ Kh3 46.Rh8 Ra7 47.Rf8 h5 48.Rxf4 Ra2+ 49.Kg1 Ra1+ 50.Rf1 Rxf1+ 51.Kxf1 Kxh2 52.Kf2 draw.

• Click to replay and download games from this round
• Click to download all games so far (in PGN)

Current standings

Links

• Official web site
• M-Tel Masters 2006
• M-Tel Masters 2005