Veselin Topalov

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Veselin Topalov (Bulgarian: Веселин Топалов; born Ruse, Bulgaria, March 15, 1975) is a Bulgarian chess player. He became the FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. However, his title is disputed; some regard Vladimir Kramnik as the World Chess Champion, because of his victory over Kasparov in 2000.

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.

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.

His current trainer and manager is Silvio Danailov, international chess master.

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.

Topalov won (+4 =5 -1) 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.

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Notable tournament victories

Madrid 1994, 1996, 1997
Dos Hermanas 1996
Amsterdam 1996
Vienna 1996
Novgorod 1996
Antwerp 1997
Monaco 2001
Dortmund 2001
World championship 2004. Tripoli, Libya, he reached the semi-finals.
Linares 2005 (joint first with Kasparov)
Sofia 2005 (a point ahead of Anand)
World championship 2005. San Luis, Argentina, world champion (a point and a half ahead of Anand and Svidler)

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Sample game

In this position after move 17 in the 2005 M-Tel Masters game between Veselin Topalov and Ruslan Ponomariov, Topalov (White) initiates a series of strong tactical blows with a sacrifice of a knight and a rook.

On the way to winning M-Tel Masters in 2005, Topalov defeated former FIDE World Champion Ruslan Ponomariov with the white pieces in a Queen's Indian defense. The moves are given in algebraic notation.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Nc3 O-O 8.Rc1 c6 9.e4 d5 10.e5 Ne4 11.Bd3 Nxc3 12.Rxc3 c5 13.dxc5 bxc5 14.h4 h6 15.Bb1 f5? Needlessly weakening the position. According to Shredder 9, 15. ... Nd7 16. Bxh6!? f5 (16...gxh6 17.Qc2 f5 18.exf6 Rxf6 19.Qh7+ Kf8 20.Ng5! wins) 17. Bf4 Qa5 may have given black good chances for equality. 16.exf6 Bxf6 17.Qc2! d4 17. ... Bxc3? leads to bloody death after 18. Qh7+ Kf7 19. Bxc3, with an overwhelming attack. But Topalov found a way to break black's defenses in Ponomariov's chosen line, too. (See 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

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