“My holiday on the chess Olympus”

This is the title I’ve chosen for Alex Brunetti’s report from Sofia. You don’t remember who Alex is? Are you kidding? Read my post “An Italian in Sofia” (May 8) or go to TWIC or Chessdom.com: his game against Topalov is already part of chess history :-). Well, his report (thanks for it, Alex!) is really interesting and if I had some more spare time :-) I would translate into English the whole of it. But the truth is I don’t know English (or Italian?) well enough :-). So I will quote just a little part of what he wrote.
“(Before our game) Veselin was really humble and “human”: I practically felt as if he was a member of my chess club. He appeared not to be much confident in his chances (Topalov played blind) and said that he and other GMs who play the Amber tourney sometimes forget the exact squares where pawns and rooks are”.
“They all care about my comfort and, as Topalov didn’t seat in front of me, I didn’t feel nervous at all: it was just like a “common” game for me. Unfortunately, watching some videos after the duel, I found out I’ve been indecently chewing a bubble-gum during the whole game, converting it into a… chewing-game!”.
“After the game I’ve been overwhelmed by interviewers and someone even asked for my autograph!”
“I stayed in Sofia two more days after the game, in the wonderful Grand Hotel, as a guest of Silvio Danailov, a honest and exquisite person, painted as a cheat only by backbiters (a completely unselfish declaration: he has already paid for my bill!)”.
Well, that’s enough. If you want to read the whole report visit the following page: http://www.messaggeroscacchi.it/articoli/brunettisofia.html. I hope you understand Italian; if not, just learn it :-). I’m joking! You can try to use Google’s language tools, even if translation will be even worse than mine :-).
About Sofia, today the sixth round was played. Kamsky, Sasikiran and Topalov beat Mamedyarov, Adams and Nisipeanu respectively, so everything can happen now: “Shak” and Krishnan lead on 3.5/6, Veselin and Michael have 3 points, Gata and Nisi 2.5. Who would you bet on? I’m a bit confused now, so I say… Topalov! Official site: http://www.mtelmasters.com. Updated news in Italian, games and on-line viewer on my Italian site www.messaggeroscacchi.it (direct link to the Mtel section: http://www.messaggeroscacchi.it/mondo/mtel07.html).
The 2007 Mitropa Cup finally came to an end in Szeged, Hungary (official site www.sakkversenyek.hu, updated news on my Italian site by clicking here). France won against Slovakia in the last round and secured first place with 22.5 points out of 36; Italy drew with Slovenia and placed second on 20.5; Germany was third on 20. Caruana couldn’t score his last GM norm, but he will play the Porto Mannu open (Sardinia – Italy, May 19 to 26) and organiser Yuri Garrett is sure he will obtain the GM title there :-). GMs Rowson, Marin, Matamoros, Godena, Naumkin, Djuric, Efimov and Ortega are among the participants. I hope there will be a good coverage of the tourney on the official site http://asd.caissa.it/.
And now here is the convincing win by Kamsky against Mamedyarov in Sofia (sorry, I couldn’t find the time to comment it :-( ).

Kamsky, G (2705) – Mamedyarov, S (2757) [B08], Sofia 16.5.2007
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. h3 O-O 6. Be3 c6 7. Qd2 b5 8. Bd3 Nbd7 9. O-O Qc7 10. Ne2 c5 11. c3 e5 12. Ng3 c4 13. Bc2 Re8 14. a4 bxa4 15. Bxa4 exd4 16. Nxd4 a6 17. Bh6 Bh8 18. Ndf5 Re6 19. Rfd1 Nc5 20. Nxd6 Bb7 21. Nxb7 Qxb7 22. f3 Nd3 23. b3 Bg7 24. Bxg7 Kxg7 25. bxc4 Nb2 26. Rdb1 Qa7+ 27. Kh1 Nxc4 28. Qg5 Rc8 29. Nf5+ Kh8 30. Nd4 Rb6 31. Rxb6 Qxb6 32. Bb3 Rc5 33. Qh6 Kg8 34. Re1 Rh5 35. Qf4 Rc5 36. e5 Nh5 37. Qh4 Nxe5 38. f4 Rxc3 39. fxe5 Rxb3 40. e6 fxe6 41. Nxb3 Qxb3 42. Qd8+ Kg7 43. Qe7+ Kh6 44. Qf8+ 1-0