Following the Linares tournament in March, the second major chess tournament of the year– the 2nd Mtel Masters–has finished in Sofia.

In Linares, the world champion Topalov was unable to prevail, but this time playing in his homeland, he succeeded. The margin of victory was very narrow though. The enigmatic Gata Kamsky, who ultimately placed second, held the top position until the tenth and final round of the tournament. Once the concentrated dust of chess settled, Topalov had scored 6.5 points to the 6 points of Kamsky.

But, what do we know of this Gata Kamsky? Very much and very little at the same time. He was born June 2, 1974, in Novokusnetsk, the heart of the Russian Siberia. In 1989, he and his father Rustam emigrated to the United States. The young Gata, who had already won the under‑20 Soviet championship twice, was the next potential superstar of Soviet chess and left to become a U.S. citizen. In 1990 he became grand master. The next year he netted the U.S. Championship and for five years triumphed in numerous international tournaments.

Then, in 1996, his big opportunity arrived. He played Anatoly Karpov for the world championship. Kamsky suffered defeat and gave up chess.

This unexpected decision was the colophon of a serial of scandals. Gata’s father, Rustam, was an ex‑boxer who could never make a living from the sport. He surmised it better to attach his fortunes to Gata’s talent. His little son first showed extraordinary ability as a pianist, but after some years of practicing turned to chess, and very soon began to show great promise.

Rustam put Gata under a very strict sports regimen. The prodigal son was awakened at five in the morning to commence his day of activity, and on a restricted diet as mandated by his father, young Gata of course had to practice chess eight hours per day.

As long as Gata won, the father respected him. But on several occasions after failures in games, Gata would be seen with a black eye or with other injuries visited upon him. The father was abusing him as he had abused Gata’s mother, who abandoned him shortly after Gata’s birth. Rustam’s violence was not only focused on his family. The mad father had also attacked several of Gata’s opponents when he thought they were not playing fairly with his son.

Gata’s position became more and more grimly dramatic in a foreign country, with no friends, with a crazy father and with the worst reputation among all the grand masters.

When he quit chess in ‘96, naturally it was because of his father, who thought Gata could make more  money attending university so he could become a doctor. Gata never finished his studies in medicine. He studied law instead. Now he is married and has a child. Apart from a discrete appearance in the 1999 World Championship and in the 2004 New York Masters, he did not play any other chess. He also claims that in all those years he did not even practice.

Now he is back. This year Gata Kamsky did pretty well in the U.S. Championship, almost making it to the final. He is training again and even more important, his mad father is nowhere to be found.

In Sofia, only world champion Topalov could stop him. We present their game in the 9th round, where to his tourney’s demise, Kamsky did not play brilliantly.