Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov ) is a Bulgarian grand chess master and was born in Ruse, Bulgaria on March 15, 1975. Veselin was taught to play chess at the age of eight years old by his father. In 1989 Topalov won the World Under 14 Championship in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, and in 1990 won the silver medal at the World Under-16 Championship in Singapore. Veselin Topalov became a Grandmaster in 1992. His current trainer and manager is International Master Silvio Danailov.
Topalov has been leader of the Bulgarian national team since 1994. At the Chess Olympiad in 1994 in Moscow Topalov led the Bulgarians to a fourth-place finish. Topalov won the M-Tel Masters 2005 tournament, held 11 May to 22 May in Sofia, Bulgaria. The victory was achieved by a last round win over Vladimir Kramnik in an unusual game featuring multiple blunders by both sides. Viswanathan Anand finished second, back by one point, in a field of six including Ruslan Ponomariov, Michael Adams, and Judit Polgar. The average rating of the participants was 2744, making this super-GM, double Round-robin tournament the strongest in 2005.
Topalov has been leader of the Bulgarian national team since 1994. At the Chess Olympiad in 1994 in Moscow Topalov led the Bulgarians to a fourth-place finish. Topalov won the M-Tel Masters 2005 tournament, held 11 May to 22 May in Sofia, Bulgaria. The victory was achieved by a last round win over Vladimir Kramnik in an unusual game featuring multiple blunders by both sides. Viswanathan Anand finished second, back by one point, in a field of six including Ruslan Ponomariov, Michael Adams, and Judit Polgar. The average rating of the participants was 2744, making this super-GM, double Round-robin tournament the strongest in 2005.
In 2005 Veselin Topalov became the FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE World Chess Championship. However, his title is disputed; some regard Vladimir Kramnik as the World Chess Champion because of his victory over Garry Kasparov in 2000. Furthermore, an allegation of computer assisted cheating during the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 was made, although no evidence has yet been produced to support the claim that Topalov cheated.
In the January 2006 FIDE rating list, Topalov was number two in the world (after the retired Kasparov) with an Elo rating of 2801, becoming the third player to have ever achieved an over 2800 ELO rating, behind historical ratings leaders Garry Kasparov (2851) and Vladimir Kramnik (2811).
In the January 2006 FIDE rating list, Topalov was number two in the world (after the retired Kasparov) with an Elo rating of 2801, becoming the third player to have ever achieved an over 2800 ELO rating, behind historical ratings leaders Garry Kasparov (2851) and Vladimir Kramnik (2811).
