Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister received the world chess champion

(Sofia, April 25, 2006) The President of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) Kirsan Ilyumzhinov will arrive in Sofia especially for the opening of the strongest tournament of the year – the M-Tel Masters.

The second edition of the competition will be officially opened by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, Georgi Parvanov, on May 10th at the “Sofia” Hall of the capital’s Grand Hotel Sofia. The head of state is the patron of the super tournament, which will end on May 21st. Participating in it will be the current world champion Veselin Topalov, two former champions of the planet – Vishawanatan Anand and Ruslan Ponomariov, Peter Svidler, Gata Kamsky and Etienne Bacrot.

The FIDE’s boss will personally award the chess “Oscar” for 2005 during the opening ceremony. The statuette called “The Charmed Wanderer”, which is adjudged each year to the best chess player, will probably become part of the collection of the world champion Veselin Topalov. The Bulgarian grand chess master leads in the inquiry, made by the competent Russian magazine “64 - Shahmatnoe obozrenie”.

In the meantime the king of chess was received by Russia’s Vice Prime-Minister Aleksander Zhukov right after the press-conference, given by Veselin Topalov in Moscow on Monday. The two discussed for over an hour the upcoming match Topalov vs. Kramnik. Zhukov, who is also President of the Russian Chess Federation, will head the Organizations Committee for the duel in Kalmikia’s capital – Elista.