Teymur Radjabov to challenge Veselin Topalov in April 2007

Azerbaijan's Youth and Sports Minister Azad Rahimov, who was on a visit to Bulgaria on 13-14 May, could reach an agreement on holding a claiming match between Radjabov and Topalov. The top chess players will meet in Baku in April, 2007. The prize for champion is $1.5 million.

According to FIDE's new rules, any chess player with rating more than 2700 can challenge the current champion to a duel in compliance with the organization's regulations. The claimant is to pay at least $1 million to all organizational works. Azerbaijan has accepted these conditions.

Touching on the details of the agreement, Silvio Danailov, first vice-president of Bulgarian Chess Federation, trainer and manager of the world champion said: "We could reach an agreement with Teymur Radjabov's team. Azad Rahimov and his supporters achieved their aims. Radjabov is improving his skills. I remember Teymur's meeting with Kasparov. He is very talented. I forecasted that he would be a promising chess player. Now Teymur is a Grandmaster. He cannot be called an easy rival," Danailov said.