Sasikiran to play Michael Adams in the opening game of Mtel Master

Sofia, May 9 (UNI) Indian Grandmaster Krishnan Sasikiran will meet grandmaster Michael Adams of England in the opening game of the M-Tel Masters 2007 beginning here today.

Sasikiran who is starting as the lowest ranked player in the category-20 field, will be under little pressure and he can only look forward to an improved performance from his last event at Zafra in Spain.

Speaking to UNI he said, ''It is going to be a tough game but I will try my best.'' However, Adams seemed cautious about his first game against the Chennai lad, saying, ''Time control and the no Draw rule by the players will help playing a good game, which is required in such a high category tournament.'' According to the rules there will be 10 rounds with 7-hour control. This way each participant will play two games against each of the rest in exchanged colors. In case of a draw in the end, a tie-break will be played to determine the winner.

The tournament, however, does not allow the players to settle for a draw from their own.

Former World Champion and twice winner of the event, Veselin Topalov will be out there to defend his title in front of his home crowd. He yet again starts as the favourite to lift the trophy but is expected to face tough challenge from Azerbaijan's Shazkhriyar Mamedyarov.

Other participants in this 6-players double round-robin tournament are former World Vice-Champions Gata Kamsky of United States and former European Champion Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu of Romania.

The Super Grandmasters chess tournament, which is one of the strongest chess FIDE category 20 Competition was earlier inaugurated by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Georgi Parvanov.

Participants: Veselin Topalov (2783, Bul), Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (2689, Rom), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2754, Aze), Gata Kamsky (2705, USA), Michael Adams (2735, Eng), Krishnan Sasikiran (2690, Ind).

UNI