Draws Verboten

A new tournament is on the horizon, one that is set to challenge the supremacy of Wijk aan Zee, Linares and Dortmund. The M-Tel Masters Super Tournament is part of the ten-year anniversary of the Bulgarian mobile phone company Mobiltel, and is set to take place every year. For the inaugural event, from May 11 to 22 this year, the participants will be six top GMs, who will play a double round robin at classical time controls.

• Viswanathan Anand India 2785 2
• Veselin Topalov Bulgaria 2778 3
• Vladimir Kramnik Russia 2753 5
• Michael Adams England 2737 7
• Judit Polgar Hungary 2732 8
• Ruslan Ponomariov Ukraine 2695 20

An interesting twist, and in my opinion a very long-overdue one, is that draws by agreement are forbidden. I would really love to see this one catch on at the grandmaster level. It would do so much to revitalize our game.

• A draw by mutual agreement between the players is forbidden.
• No player is permitted to speak to his opponent or offer him a draw
• A player can claim the draw only in case of perpetual check, threefold repetition and if the position is a theoretical draw.
• The draw offer is made to the arbiter, who is the only person who can decide the outcome of the game.
• The arbiter will be advised by a strong Grandmaster.