Veselin Topalov

Veselin Topalov ({{lang-bg|??????? ???????}}; born Ruse, Bulgaria, March 15, 1975) is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster. In the October 2005 FIDE rating list, he was number three in the world (after Anand and the retired Kasparov) with an Elo rating of 2782. Topalov was tied with Anand at number two in the July rating list.

Related Topics:
Ruse, Bulgaria - March 15 - 1975 - Bulgaria - Chess - Grandmaster - FIDE - Anand - Kasparov - Elo rating

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He was taught to play chess when he was eight years old by his father. In 1989 he 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. He became a Grandmaster in 1992.

Related Topics:
Aguadilla - Puerto Rico - Singapore - Grandmaster

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Topalov has been leader of the Bulgarian national team since 1994. At the Chess Olympiad in 1994 in Moscow he led the Bulgarians to a fourth-place finish. He has won a number of tournaments, and at the FIDE World Chess Championship in New Delhi in 2000 reached the quarter-finals.

Related Topics:
Chess Olympiad - Moscow - FIDE - World Chess Championship - New Delhi

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Topalov won (+4 =5 -1) the M-Tel Masters 2005 tournament, held 11 May to 22 May in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Related Topics:
11 May - 22 May - Sofia

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The victory was achieved by a last round win over Vladimir Kramnik in an unusual game featuring multiple blunders by both sides.

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Viswanathan Anand finished second, back by one point, in a field of six including Ruslan Ponomariov, Michael Adams, and Judit Polgar.

Related Topics:
Viswanathan Anand - Ruslan Ponomariov - Michael Adams - Judit Polgar

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The average rating of the participants was 2744, making this super-GM, double Round-robin tournament the strongest in 2005.

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In September 2005, Topalov began playing for the World Chess Championship title, see FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. With eight of the fourteen rounds complete as of October 8, 2005, Topalov leads with a score of 7/8, two full points ahead of his nearest competitor, Peter Svidler. This translates to an ELO performance of 3073.

Related Topics:
World Chess Championship - FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 - October 8 - 2005 - Peter Svidler - ELO

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