Albena Resort, Bulgaria

Тhe convenient location, along with the beautiful weather and modern facilities, have turned Albena into a favorite place for a number of sport and cvultural events. As an international resort with strong chess traditions, each year Albena draws a lot of people from all over the world. Everything starts in the early 1969 with the first official chess tournament to ever be played in Albena. Since then, there have been many local and international chess tournaments organized for all ages. For the past 15 years Albena is well known for hosting the “International Workers’ Sports Festival” where chess is one of the highlights. Over the years, most of the chess gross masters have visited and played in Albena in one or another chess event. Some of the few to mention are Mikhail Tal, Nona Gaprindashvili and the Polgar sisters. Last but not least, the symbols of the Bulgarian chess federation – Vesselin Topalov and Antoaneta Stefanova have begun their careers right here in Albena.