Mtel Masters was an annual super-GM chess tournament held between 2005 and 2009 in Sofia, Bulgaria, sponsored and organized by the Bulgarian mobile network operator, M-Tel. The tournament was held as a double round-robin at the five-star Grand Hotel Sofia.

Tournament winners

M-Tel Masters Sofia
№	Date	Category	Average FIDE Rating	Winner	Score	TPR
1	11–22 May 2005	XX	2747	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	6½ / 10	2850
2	10–21 May 2006	XX	2745	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	6½ / 10	2842
3	9–20 May 2007	XIX	2725	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	5½ / 10	2751
4	8–18 May 2008	XX	2738	Vasyl Ivanchuk (Ukraine)	8 / 10	2977
5	12–23 May 2009	XXI	2755	Alexei Shirov (Spain)	6½ / 10	2867

Editions

2005

The first edition of the tournament took place between 11 and 22 May 2005 as part of M-Tel's tenth anniversary celebrations and with the participation of top chess players such as Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Vladimir Kramnik, Michael Adams, Judit Polgár and Ruslan Ponomariov. M-Tel Masters 2005 was classified in FIDE's Category 20 and was named the strongest tournament of 2005 according to the average Elo rating of the participants of 2744. The winner of the tournament was the Bulgarian Veselin Topalov, with the award being conferred by President Georgi Parvanov.

1st M-Tel Masters, 12–22 May 2005, Sofia, Bulgaria, Category XX (2747)^[1]
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points	TPR
1	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	2778		½ 1	½ ½	0 1	½ 1	½ 1	6½	2850
2	Viswanathan Anand (India)	2785	½ 0	Does not appear	½ ½	½ ½	½ 1	½ 1	5½	2775
3	Judit Polgár (Hungary)	2732	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	½ ½	0 ½	½ 1	5	2749
4	Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine)	2695	1 0	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	0 1	½ ½	5	2757
5	Vladimir Kramnik (Russia)	2753	½ 0	½ 0	1 ½	1 0	Does not appear	0 ½	4	2673
6	Michael Adams (England)	2737	½ 0	½ 0	½ 0	½ ½	1 ½	Does not appear	4	2676

2006

The 2006 tournament took place between 10 May and 21 May and was attended by Veselin Topalov, Viswanathan Anand, Ruslan Ponomariov, Peter Svidler, Étienne Bacrot and Gata Kamsky. Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho played the token initial move of the 2006 tournament, which was officially opened by the President of Bulgaria, Georgi Parvanov.

Topalov won the tournament for the second time after a decisive comeback from a somewhat hesitant start. He recorded four consecutive wins in the final rounds to clinch the M-Tel Masters 2006 first place with 6½ points, also defeating his main rival Gata Kamsky in the penultimate round.

2nd M-Tel Masters, 11–21 May 2006, Sofia, Bulgaria, Category XX (2745)^[2]
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points	Wins	TPR
1	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	2804		1 1	0 1	½ 0	½ 1	½ 1	6½		2842
2	Gata Kamsky (United States)	2671	0 0	Does not appear	1 ½	1 ½	½ 1	1 ½	6		2831
3	Viswanathan Anand (India)	2803	1 0	0 ½	Does not appear	½ ½	1 ½	1 ½	5½		2768
4	Peter Svidler (Russia)	2743	½ 1	0 ½	½ ½	Does not appear	1 0	½ ½	5		2744
5	Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine)	2738	½ 0	½ 0	0 ½	0 1	Does not appear	½ ½	3½	1	2635
6	Étienne Bacrot (France)	2708	½ 0	0 ½	0 ½	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	3½	0	2641

2007

M-Tel Masters' 2007 edition was held between 9 May and 20 May and featured Veselin Topalov, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Gata Kamsky, Michael Adams and Krishnan Sasikiran. Topalov won the tournament for a third consecutive time in a dramatic fashion, defeating the then-current leader Sasikiran in the final round.

3rd M-Tel Masters, 10–20 May 2007, Sofia, Bulgaria, Category XIX (2725)^[3]
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points	Wins	H2H	SB	Moves	TPR
1	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	2772		1 1	0 ½	½ ½	0 1	½ ½	5½					2751
2	Krishnan Sasikiran (India)	2690	0 0	Does not appear	½ 1	1 0	½ ½	½ 1	5	3				2732
3	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan)	2757	1 ½	½ 0	Does not appear	1 0	½ ½	½ ½	5	2	2	25.25		2718
4	Gata Kamsky (United States)	2705	½ ½	0 1	0 1	Does not appear	½ ½	½ ½	5	2	2	25.00	547	2729
5	Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (Romania)	2693	1 0	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	0 1	5	2	2	25.00	419	2731
6	Michael Adams (England)	2734	½ ½	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	1 0	Does not appear	4½					2687

2008

The 2008 M-Tel Masters was held 8–18 May. Vasyl Ivanchuk won by a wide margin. Ivanchuk won his first five games, lost no games, and had a positive score against every other player. Veselin Topalov, who had won the tournament the three previous years, was second.

4th M-Tel Masters, 8–18 May 2008, Sofia, Bulgaria, Category XX (2738)^[4]
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points	TPR
1	Vasyl Ivanchuk (Ukraine)	2740		1 ½	1 ½	1 1	1 ½	1 ½	8	2977
2	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	2767	0 ½	Does not appear	½ ½	1 1	1 0	1 1	6½	2841
3	Teimour Radjabov (Azerbaijan)	2751	0 ½	½ ½	Does not appear	½ ½	½ 1	½ 1	5½	2771
4	Ivan Cheparinov (Bulgaria)	2695	0 0	0 0	½ ½	Does not appear	1 1	½ ½	4	2674
5	Bu Xiangzhi (China)	2708	0 ½	0 1	½ 0	0 0	Does not appear	½ ½	3	2594
6	Levon Aronian (Armenia)	2763	0 ½	0 0	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	3	2583

2009

The 2009 edition of the tournament took place from 12 to 23 May. Besides regular feature Veselin Topalov, the participating grandmasters were Magnus Carlsen, Vasyl Ivanchuk, Alexei Shirov, Wang Yue and Leinier Domínguez.

5th M-Tel Masters, 13–23 May 2009, Sofia, Bulgaria, Category XXI (2755)^[5]
	Player	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	Points	Wins	H2H	TPR
1	Alexei Shirov (Spain)	2745		1 ½	½ ½	½ ½	½ ½	1 1	6½			2867
2	Magnus Carlsen (Norway)	2770	0 ½	Does not appear	1 ½	½ 1	½ 1	½ ½	6	3	1½	2824
3	Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	2812	½ ½	0 ½	Does not appear	1 ½	½ ½	1 1	6	3	½	2816
4	Wang Yue (China)	2738	½ ½	½ 0	0 ½	Does not appear	½ ½	1 ½	4½			2723
5	Leinier Domínguez (Cuba)	2721	½ ½	½ 0	½ ½	½ ½	Does not appear	½ 0	4			2690
6	Vasyl Ivanchuk (Ukraine)	2746	0 0	½ ½	0 0	0 ½	½ 1	Does not appear	3			2608

2010

The tournament was cancelled because of the World Chess Championship 2010 match in Sofia.

References

^ Mark Crowther (23 May 2005). "The Week in Chess 550". The Week in Chess.
^ Mark Crowther (22 May 2006). "The Week in Chess 602". The Week in Chess.
^ Mark Crowther (21 May 2007). "The Week in Chess 654". The Week in Chess.
^ Mark Crowther (19 May 2008). "The Week in Chess 706". The Week in Chess.
^ Mark Crowther (25 May 2009). "The Week in Chess 759". The Week in Chess.

v t e Grand Slam Chess Association
Tata Steel Wijk aan Zee Linares M-Tel Masters Sofia Pearl Spring Nanjing Grand Slam Masters Final

v t e Major recurring international chess tournaments
Strong chess tournaments Mini chess tournaments Round-robin chess tournaments
Major present (average rating > 2700; round-robin system generally)	Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting (since 1973) Grand Chess Tour (since 2015) Grenke Chess Classic (since 2013) London Chess Classic (since 2009) Norway Chess (since 2013) Shamkir Chess (since 2014) Shenzhen Masters (since 2017) Sinquefield Cup (since 2013) Tata Steel Chess Tournament (since 1938)
Other present (Swiss system generally)	Aeroflot Open (since 2002) Australasian Masters (since 1987) Biel Chess Festival (since 1968) Canadian Open (since 1956) Capablanca Memorial (since 1962) Cappelle-la-Grande Open (since 1985) Carlos Torre Repetto Memorial (since 1987) Chigorin Memorial (since 1909) Doeberl Cup (since 1963) Dubai Open (since 1999) Gibraltar Chess Festival (since 2003) Hastings International Chess Congress (since 1920) Hogeschool Zeeland Tournament (since 1995) Lublin Grandmaster Tournament (since 2009) Paul Keres Memorials (Tallinn, since 1969) (Vancouver, since 1975) Prague Chess Festival (since 2019) Qatar Masters Open (2014–2015, since 2023) Reykjavik Open (since 1964) Riga Technical University Open (since 2011) Rubinstein Memorial (since 1963) South African Open (since 1962) U.S. Open (since 1900) Vidmar Memorial (since 1969) World Open (since 1973) Xtracon Chess Open (since 1979) Zurich Christmas Open (since 1977)
Recently cancelled (after 2000)	Alekhine Memorial (1956–2013, irregular) Acropolis (1968–2009) Aerosvit (2006–2008) Amber (1992–2011) Bilbao Chess Masters Final (2008–2016) Howard Staunton Memorial (2003–2009) Linares (1978–2010) Mar del Plata (1928–2001) Millionaire Chess (2014–2016) M-Tel Masters (2005–2009) North Sea Cup (1976–2008) Pearl Spring (2008–2010) Reggio Emilia (1947–2012) Tal Memorial (2006–2018) Zurich Chess Challenge (2012–2017)
Major past (19th–20th century)	American Chess Congress (1857–1923) Carl Schlechter Memorial (1923–1996) DSB Congress (1879–1932) General Government (1940–1944) IBM international (1961–1981) Konex (1977–1994) Leopold Trebitsch Memorial (1907–1938) Lone Pine International (1971–1981) Max Euwe Memorial (1987–1996) Monte Carlo (1901–1904; 1967–1969) Netanya (1961–1983) Palma de Mallorca (1965–1972) Phillips & Drew Kings (1980–1986) Piatigorsky Cup (1963–1966) San Sebastián (1911–1912) Silesian Chess Congress (1922–1939) Tilburg (1977–1998) Triberg (1914–1917)
Chess competitions National championships Supranational championships