Sofia, 10th May 2007.On the First day of the Mtel Masters Chess Tournament  being played in Sofia the Capital City of  Bulgaria, Englands Michael Adams was held to a draw by Indian Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran .

 

On a day of upsets in which top seeds tumbled down , Sasikiran managed to salvaged a draw from an experienced opponent

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Defending Champion and Top Seed Veselin Topalov went down to Rumanian Grandmaster Ninipeanu while Gata Kamsky of USA lost to World Junior Champion Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan.

 

Sasikiran today played with black pieces and adopted caro kann defence on botnivik  lines which took the game to untroden paths. He defended Adams attack successfully and regrouped his pieces to create real threat to his opponent . Adams made exchanged sacrifice but Sasikiran returned the same . After that there was not much left in the game and chief Arbiter realizing no way out declared the game as drawn.

 

 

The Top Board game played between defending champion Veselin Topalov and Romanian Grandmaster Nisipeanu was the most watched game of the Mtel Masters

 

Topalov playing with White opened with e4 to which his opponent replied with d5 and after the normal moves the game tilted towards  Scandinavian pattern.

 

Right from the word go Nisipeanu tried  to surprise Topalov . The Defending Champion playing in his home town was under a lot of pressure to give a better result. However it was not to be as the former world champion could not withstand  the tactical play of the Rumanian  newcomer to  the super Grandmasters Tournament and  accepted defeat.

 

Later  Veselin Topalov conceded that it is always not good to lose on home soil. Nisipeanu , who won the 16th category tournament in Pune India in 2004, was unfazed by the elite status of his opponent and said that there was nothing sensational in his victory . He attributed his win to the rarely played Scandinavian defence which he successfully employed in his game against the former world champion.

 

The third game of the championship between Azerbaijanian Grandmaster Sakhriyar Mamedyarov and the American Gata Kamsky  was played on  Queens Gambit Declined  Slav variation. Right from the beginning Mamedyarov played a calculated  game and manipulated his pieces to his advantage. Gata Kamsky on the other hand miscalculated a piece sacrifice on F6. Later in the game he  got  a chance  to draw the game somehow missed the opportunity and lost  on the 45th move.

 

In the 2nd Round Sasikiran will play against  Mamedyarov, Topalov faces  Michael Adams while Nisipenau will be playing against Gata Kamsky.