In Sofia, outsiders caught up with the leaders

Chronicle of sporting events

At the M-Tel Masters chess tournament in Sofia, with the participation of six grandmasters, all games in the sixth round ended successfully, and as a result the position in the table became very tight. Gata Kamsky (USA), who was in last place, took over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Azerbaijan), who was in sole leadership, with white pieces. The winner of the two previous tournaments and the host of the competition, Veselin Topalov, who occupied an unusual fifth place for him, forced the Romanian Liviu Dieter Nisipeanu to surrender with black. Indian Krishnan Shashikiryan defeated Briton Michael Adams.

Before the seventh day of play, the championship was shared by Mamedyarov and Shashikiryan - 3.5 points each, they were pursued by Topalov and Adams - 3 each, Kamsky and Nisipeanu had 2.5 points each. The tournament will end on Sunday.

Spurs won a strong victory on the road

Basketball. NBA. Playoffs. Conference semi-finals. "East". “Cleveland” – “New Jersey” – 72:83 (series score 3:2). "West". “Phoenix” – “San Antonio” – 85:88 (series score 2-3).

A rather unexpected turn of events occurred in the Cleveland-New Jersey series. The Cavaliers won the first two matches at home, then prevailed once on the road, and the team's fans were expecting that the fifth match of this confrontation would be the last. After all, even at the first stage of the knockout tournament, Le Bron James and his partners did not know the bitterness of failure at home, having dealt with Washington.

However, due to an extremely low field goal percentage (33.3%), Cleveland had a minus-18 deficit after the third period. Larry Hughes was especially guilty of inaccurate throws - three hits out of 17 attempts. And even New Jersey’s club anti-record performance in the final 12 minutes (six points scored) did not allow Cleveland to win. The worst performance in the last quarter of the playoff match belonged to Portland, which scored five points in a meeting with Utah on May 18, 1999. Statistics show that New Jersey has about a 4.7% chance of winning this series, as previously only eight of 170 times teams trailing 1-3 have won three in a row.

Phoenix held a convincing 40:24 lead midway through the second quarter. In a critical situation, Tim Duncan began to attack more often for the Spurs, and Argentine Manu Zhinobili started making three-point shots. In the 45th minute the guests caught up with Phoenix. With the score tied 36 seconds before the siren, Bowen scored from behind the arc, and then home leader Steve Nash and Zhinobili exchanged precise free throws. Tactical fouls did not help the Suns. The sixth match will take place on Friday at the San Antonio site. The winner of the series will meet Andrei Kirilenko's Utah in the conference finals. Ilya TRISVIATSKY

An early goal helped Buffalo

Hockey. NHL. Stanley Cup. Semi-final. “Ottawa” – “Buffalo” – 2:3 (series score 3:1).

The Buffalo hockey players were psychologically helped by a quick goal. From Chris Drury's pass, Derek Ruah scored the puck in the 9th second of the match. This is a club record for the fastest time in a Stanley Cup game. Last season, Swedish forward Henrik Tallinder scored in the 33rd second, and even then Drury was listed as an assistant, and the injured party was Ottawa, which ultimately lost that quarterfinal series. As for the fastest goal in the entire history of the Stanley Cup, its author is Los Angeles hockey player John Kozak, who opened the Boston goal at 6 seconds in 1977. Our Alexander Mogilny has an absolute achievement for the entire existence of Buffalo. In the early 1990s, in one of the regular season meetings with Toronto, the ex-army player scored the puck in the 5th second.

In the fourth match between the Blades and the Senators, the guests doubled their lead at the beginning of the second period, when Maxim Afinogenov converted the numerical majority. Soon Drury (his 15th career winning goal in the playoffs) made the score 3:0, but before the break the capital Canadian club managed to reduce the gap to a minimum. The last 20 minutes passed with a full advantage for Ottawa, which made twice as many shots on target. Guest goalkeeper Ryan Miller managed to save his team 15 times, and the Blades had a chance to save the series.

Mighty Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger was suspended for one game for a hit to the head of Swedish forward Thomas Holmstrom, who scored a double for Detroit in Game 3 over Anaheim (5-0). Directly during the match, immediately after the Scandinavian suffered as a result of a double force move, the referees sent off not Pronger for the rest of the match, but his teammate Rob Niedermayer. Watching the video at a meeting of the NHL Disciplinary Committee helped bring final clarity to this episode. Vladimir ILYIN

Maskaev may enter the ring in September

The fight for the WBC world title between belt holder Russian Oleg Maskaev and official challenger Samuel Peter could take place on September 29. This was stated by Maskaev's promoter Dennis Rappaport. It is not yet known where the fight will take place. But taking into account the fact that the tender for holding it was won by the promoter of Peter Dino Duva, most likely the boxers will meet in the USA.

Maskaev’s next title defense was scheduled for June 2. Moreover, the Russian was supposed to enter the ring against the honorary WBC world champion Vitali Klitschko. However, Peter's team achieved priority. The scandals surrounding the fight did not end there. Rappaport is dissatisfied that, according to the terms of the contract, his ward receives only 55% of the prize fund. Typically, the title holder gets 70% and the challenger gets 30%. The ratio can only be changed in exceptional cases, such as a rematch or if a super popular boxer is claiming the title. Now Rappaport is trying to appeal this decision of the World Boxing Council in court. Andrey VDOVIN

Vladimir ILYIN