Unique grand prize at Mtel

Unique bronze sculpture for the winner of M-Tel Masters 2009

(Sofia, 19 May, 2009) A unique bronze sculpture named “Pieta” will be the special prize for the winner in the super chess tournament M-Tel Masters 2009. The award will be handed to him at the official closing ceremony of the tournament on 23 May. The author of the sculpture is the famous Bulgarian sculptor Hristo Hristov, an artist with many personal exhibitions and expositions in Bulgaria and all over Europe. Hristov is also the author of the prizes for the annual Sports Ikar awards, handed by Bulgarian Sport foundation.

The other five participants in the FIDE 21^st category Sofia tournament will receive author’s icons with stylized images of Jesus Christ, Archangel Mihail, Saint Georgi and Saint Mina. The icons from the cycle Contemporary Icons are painted by Plamen Kapitanski. Among his works are a portrait of Richard the Lionheart, placed in the fortress Tower of London and an icon of Virgin Mary, presented to Pope John Paul II. Kapitanski’s works are part of numerous private collections all over the world.

The awards for the participants are provided by Gallery for modern and contemporary art 1908 and are produced specially for the tournament with the expert consultation of Svilena Vrangova, who is co-owner of the gallery. The gallery is located in the center of Sofia at 1, Angel Kanchev Str.

In the previous editions of M-Tel Masters the winner of the Sofia super chess tournament received as a special prize a copy of an ancient Bulgarian icon. As a three-time winner of M-Tel Masters Veselin Topalov already has in his collection a copy of the icons “Entering Jerusalem”, “St. George the Winner” and “Four Saints – Warriors”. Last year the winner Vassily Ivanchuk took home a copy of the ancient Bulgarian icon “St. Trinity”.