The M-tel Masters, the biggest chess tournament in Bulgaria, began on May 11 at the Grand Hotel Sofia.

Players include world champion Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Vishvanatan Anand (India), Peter Svidler (Russia), Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine), Etien Bacro (France) and Gata Kamsky (US).

Admission costs 10 leva. Tickets are on sale at a special ticket-office in the lobby of the Grand Hotel Sofia every day from 10 am to 6pm. The Sofia Hall, where all matches will be played, accommodates120 spectators.

All spectators will be given headsets on which to listen to a live commentary by Grand Master Evgeny Ermenkov. The headsets have a range of a kilometer, meaning it will be easy for visitors to continue listening to the commentary even if they leave the hall.

Russian chess player Peter Svidler, first to arrive for the tournament, said: “I am very happy to be here and to be part of this chess competition. I look forward to meeting, on the chessboard, my friend Veselin Topalov. And let the best player win,” said Svidler.