M-Tel Masters Canceled

Early last week, Silvio Danailov, the manager of Veselin Topalov of Bulgaria, said in an interview that the M-Tel Masters would not be played this year because the main sponsor, after which the tournament is named, had pulled out. (The interview, which was with Trud, a Bulgarian newspaper, was reported by the Web site Chessdom, which has a translation.) Instead, the company decided that it would get more for its money by sponsoring Topalov in his upcoming world championship match against Viswanathan Anand of India, the titleholder.

Hard Times for Chess