Veselin Topalov facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Veselin Topalov
Veselin Topalov, Warsaw 2013
Full name	Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov
Country	Bulgaria
Born	(1975-03-15) 15 March 1975 (age 50) Ruse, Bulgaria
Title	Grandmaster (1992)
World Champion	2005–06 (FIDE)
FIDE rating	2735 (August 2025)
Peak rating	2816 (July 2015)
Ranking	No. 24 (August 2024)
Peak ranking	No. 1 (April 2006)

Veselin Topalov (born March 15, 1975) is a famous Bulgarian chess grandmaster. A grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can achieve. He was also a FIDE World Chess Champion.

Topalov became the FIDE World Chess Champion in 2005. He won a big tournament in Argentina to earn this title. He later lost his championship in 2006 to Vladimir Kramnik. In 2010, he played for the world title again against Viswanathan Anand but lost a very close match. He also won the Chess Oscar award in 2005, which is like an award for the best chess player of the year.

He was ranked the number one chess player in the world for a long time, from April 2006 to January 2007, and again from October 2008 to January 2010. His highest rating was 2816 in July 2015, which is one of the highest ratings ever recorded in chess history.

Topalov has played in many important chess events called Chess Olympiads. He won a gold medal for his individual performance in 2014. He has also won many major tournaments around the world, including events in Linares, Corus, Dortmund, Stavanger, and Pearl Spring.

Veselin Topalov is married and has two daughters.

Chess Journey

Starting Out in Chess

Veselin Topalov was born in Ruse, Bulgaria. He learned to play chess from his father when he was eight years old. He quickly showed amazing talent and became known as a chess prodigy, meaning he was incredibly good at chess at a young age. When he was 12, he started working with his manager and coach, Silvio Danailov, and they still work together today.

In 1989, Topalov won the World Under-14 Championship in Puerto Rico. The next year, he won a silver medal at the World Under-16 Championship in Singapore. He became a Grandmaster in 1992. In 1994, he played for Bulgaria in the Chess Olympiad for the first time. He even beat the famous Garry Kasparov in one of his games!

Over the next ten years, Topalov became one of the top chess players in the world. He played in many strong tournaments. In 1996, he had a great year, finishing high in several events and winning tournaments in Novgorod and Dos Hermanas. By 1996, he was already playing against the very best players in the world.

Veselin Topalov playing against Baadur Jobava.

One of his most famous games was a loss to the reigning World Champion Garry Kasparov at the 1999 Corus chess tournament. This game is often called one of the greatest chess games ever played.

In 2001, he won the Dortmund tournament. He also did very well in the FIDE World Chess Championship knockout tournaments, reaching the semifinals in 2004. In 2002, he reached the final of the Candidates Tournament in Dortmund, but lost to Peter Leko.

Topalov had a big success at the Linares tournament in 2005. He tied for first place with Garry Kasparov and even beat Kasparov in the final round. This was Kasparov's last tournament game before he retired from professional chess. Topalov then won the Mtel Masters tournament by a clear point. In 2006, he tied for first place at the Corus tournament with Anand.

Becoming World Champion (2005–2006)

Because of his high rating, Topalov was invited to the FIDE World Chess Championship in San Luis, Argentina, in 2005. This tournament had eight of the best players in the world. Topalov played incredibly well, scoring 6½ out of 7 points in the first half of the tournament. He then drew all his games in the second half, winning the championship by 1½ points. This made him the FIDE World Chess Champion.

In 2006, FIDE decided to hold a special match to unite the two different world chess titles. Topalov, as the FIDE World Champion, played against Vladimir Kramnik, who held the "Classical" World Champion title. The match was very intense.

During the match, there were some disagreements between the teams. Topalov's team raised concerns about Kramnik's use of a private restroom. The organizers decided to close the private restrooms and use a shared one instead. Kramnik refused to play game 5 because of this change, and he lost that game by forfeit. Later, the issue was resolved, and the match continued. Kramnik eventually won the match, becoming the first undisputed World Chess Champion in 13 years.

After the Championship (2006–2010)

After losing the world championship match, Topalov continued to play in many top tournaments. In May 2006, he successfully defended his M-Tel Masters title. In January 2007, he tied for first place at the Corus tournament. He also won the M-Tel Masters tournament for the third time in a row in May 2007.

In September 2008, Topalov won the Bilbao tournament. This victory helped him become the world number one player again on the official ratings list in October 2008. He also won the Pearl Spring event in Nanjing.

Topalov earned a special spot in the 2008–09 championship cycle. He got to play a "Challenger Match" against the winner of the 2007 Chess World Cup, who was Gata Kamsky. Topalov won this match in February 2009, which meant he would challenge for the World Championship again.

In February 2010, Topalov won the Linares chess tournament.

2010 World Championship Match

Topalov played against Viswanathan Anand for the World Chess Championship in 2010. The match was held in Sofia, Bulgaria. Before the match, Anand faced travel difficulties because of a volcano ash cloud that stopped flights. He had to travel a long distance by road to reach Sofia, which delayed the start of the match by one day.

The match had 12 games. Topalov won the first game quickly. Anand responded by winning game 2 and game 4. The score was tied at 5½–5½ after 11 games. In the final game, Anand won with the black pieces, which meant he kept his World Championship title. Topalov tried to win the game to avoid a tie-break, but Anand played very well and created a strong attack.

World Chess Championship Match 2010

	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
Viswanathan Anand (India)	2787	0	1	½	1	½	½	½	0	½	½	½	1	6½
Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria)	2805	1	0	½	0	½	½	½	1	½	½	½	0	5½

As the runner-up, Topalov qualified for the Candidates Matches for the 2012 World Chess Championship. However, he lost in the quarterfinals to Gata Kamsky. Later that year, he won the King's Tournament in Romania.

Recent Years (2013-2018)

In 2013, Topalov played in the FIDE Grand Prix series. He won the London Grand Prix event in 2012 and then the Renova Grand Prix in Zug in 2013. These wins helped him return to the top five players in the world. By doing well in the Grand Prix, he qualified for the 2014 Candidates Tournament. He also played in the Norway Chess Tournament. In September 2013, Topalov won a 6-game match against Viktor Láznička.

In 2014, Topalov competed in the Candidates Tournament in Russia, but he finished in last place. He also played in the Norway Chess Tournament again. At the 41st Chess Olympiad in Tromsø, he won a gold medal for his performance on the first board. He also came in third place at the Sinquefield Cup 2014, a very strong tournament.

In 2015, Topalov finished third at the Gibraltar Masters. He also competed in the Grand Chess Tour, which includes several major tournaments. He won the Norway Chess 2015 tournament, earning many points for the tour. He also played in the Chess World Cup 2015 but was eliminated in the fourth round.

In 2016, Topalov participated in the Candidates Tournament in Moscow but finished in last place. He also played in the Paris Grand Prix and the Leuven leg of the Grand Chess Tour. In April 2018, he played in the Shamkir Chess tournament.

Team Achievements

Veselin Topalov has represented Bulgaria in nine Chess Olympiads, playing on the top board. He won an individual gold medal in 2014 and had the best overall performance in 1994.

Famous Chess Games

Topalov vs. Ponomariov, Sofia 2005

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

After 17 moves, Topalov starts a series of strong moves by sacrificing a knight and a rook.

In 2005, when Topalov won the M-Tel Masters tournament, he played a brilliant game against former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov. In this game, Topalov made some amazing sacrifices to win.

Topalov vs. Ponomariov, Sofia 2005
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Nc3 0-0 8.Rc1 c6 9.e4 d5 10.e5 (N) Ne4 11.Bd3 Nxc3 12.Rxc3 c5 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.h4 h6 15.Bb1 f5? 16.exf6 Bxf6 17.Qc2! d4 (diagram) 18.Ng5!! hxg5 19.hxg5 dxc3 20.Bf4 Kf7 21.Qg6+ Ke7 22.gxf6+ Rxf6 23.Qxg7+ Rf7 24.Bg5+ Kd6 25.Qxf7 Qxg5 26.Rh7 Qe5+ 27.Kf1 Kc6 28.Qe8+ Kb6 29.Qd8+ Kc6 30.Be4+! 1–0

See also

In Spanish: Veselin Topalov para niños