Chessdom live coverage

Mtel Masters 2008, day 1

1:48
Welcome everybody to the live coverage of Mtel Masters 2008 on Chessdom.com!

1:49
Today is the first day of the event and it will be opened with a game between Jason Juett and Veselin Topalov. Jason Juett is the last years winner of “Play like Topalov”. He is a 23-year-old mathematician from Iowa and guessed correctly a total of 250 moves of Topalov from Mtel Masters 2007.

1:51
Jason Juett learned to move the chess pieces on the board at the age of 5, but his first participation in a tournament came when he was 17. Afterwards he became one of the best in his age. He presently follows chess events closely and is among the top 15 players in his state. He graduated Mathematics in university and is getting prepared for a PhD in Mathematics. (more info here)

1:58
Aronian, Radjabov, Cheparinov, Topalov, Ivanchuk, and Bu Xingzhi participate in this years eddition of Mtel Masters. Today is the blindfold game Juett – Topalov, tomorrow is the official opening (more info coming in this live coverage later), and you can find the complete schedule at http://tournaments.chessdom.com/mtel-masters-2008/schedule

2:04
So let’s get it on with today’s game – Juett – Topalov. It will start at 19:00 local time (18:00 CET / this live blog’s time). Veselin Topalov will play with a blindfold, while his opponent will be able to look into the board.

2:05
The game will be in the new venue of Mtel Masters, the Military Club in Sofia. It is only a minute walk from Grand Hotel Sofia (the old venue) and on the same street as tha Parliament, the Presidents Hall, the National Art Gallery, and the Sofia City University.

2:07
As a coincidence, the Military Club has a holiday today. It is St. George’s day in Bulgaria, the holiday of the army. All day long in front of the Mtel Masters venue are passing heavy tanks and soldiers are marching on the street.

2:13
President Georgi Parvanov, who will be the official guest speaker of tomorrow’s opening ceremony, was the commander of the military parade. Tomorrow, May 7, he will make his traditional speech at the Mtel Masters venue at 17:00 CET

2:20
And here comes the first Chessdoms exclusive news for our readers from this afternoon in Sofia. We have just checked it and it is real – Mtel Masters will be played under a 10 tone sound proof glass. The people in the hall call it the “aquarium” 🙂 It is an impressive construction that resembles the one during the Champions League in Spain. Is the quality better? We will make sure to ask the players themselves.

2:25
Now it is time for a quick break. We will be back after 30 minutes with more news from the Mtel Masters. Expect later today the photos from the playing hall and the center of Sofia. They will appear in the Chessdom photo gallery See you in 30 minutes!