Veselin Topalov

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Veselin Topalov

Veselin Topalov, Warsaw 2013
Full name Veselin Topalov
( )
Country Bulgaria
Born 15 March 1975 (age 39)
Rousse, Bulgaria
Title Grandmaster
World Champion 200506 (FIDE)
FIDE rating 2800 (November 2014)
(No. 3 in the October 2014 FIDE World Rankings)
Peak rating 2813 (October 2006, July 2009)
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced [vslin toplof]; Bulgarian:
; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian chessgrandmaster.
Topalov became the FIDE World Chess Champion by winning the FIDE World Chess Championship
2005. He lost his title in the World Chess Championship 2006 match against Vladimir Kramnik. He
won the 2005 Chess Oscar.
[1]

According to FIDE, which began ranking chess players in 1971, he has been number one a total of
27 months, which when compared to all others who have been so ranked, places Topalov in fifth
place after Kasparov, Karpov, Fischer and Carlsen. He was ranked number one in the world from
April 2006 to January 2007, during which his peak Elo rating was 2813, a peak which had been
surpassed only by Garry Kasparov, and subsequently by Magnus Carlsen, Viswanathan
Anand, Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana. He regained the world No. 1 ranking again in October
2008, and officially remained No. 1 until January 2010, when he fell to No. 2 behind Carlsen.
[2]
In
December 2012 he was ranked number 8.
[2]

In the World Chess Championship 2010, he was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan
Anand, losing the match 65.
Contents
[hide]
1 Early life
2 Early career (19892005)
3 FIDE World Chess Champion 2005
4 KramnikTopalov match controversy
5 Career after the 2006 match
6 200810 World Championship cycle
7 2010
8 2013
9 2014
10 Notable tournament victories
11 World championship matches and qualifiers
12 Sample games
13 References
14 External links
Early life[edit]
Topalov was born in Rousse, Bulgaria. His father taught him to play chess at the age of eight.
Topalov had a difficult childhood, but he quickly established himself as a chess prodigy. At age 12,
Topalov began working with Silvio Danailov, in a training/mentoring relationship that continues
today. Danailov himself was a master who nurtured Topalov's ambitions as a player. Once he saw
Topalov, however, he sacrificed his own career.
[3]
Canadian Grandmaster Kevin Spraggett wrote:
"Danailov took Topalov to his apartment and told him 'From now on, you live here and this will
become your new home. I am not just your trainer, but I am also your mother and your father. I am
your cook. I am the one who will wash your clothes. I am the one who will pay your bills and
expenses to tournaments. All I want from you is to think only about chess!'"
[4]

Early career (19892005)[edit]
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.
Topalov has been the leader of the Bulgarian national team since 1994. At the 1994 Chess
Olympiad in Moscow he led the Bulgarians to a fourth-place finish.
Over the next ten years Topalov won a number of tournaments, and ascended the world chess
rankings. He played in Linares 1994 (6/13), Linares 1995 (8/13), Amsterdam 1995. In 1996, he
won Amsterdam (1st equal with Kasparov), Vienna (1st equal with Gelfand and Karpov), Novgorod
and Dos Hermanas (1st2nd with Kramnik, ahead of Anand, Kasparov, Illescas, Kamsky, Gelfand,
Ivanchuk, Shirov and J. Polgar). As early as 1996, he was being invited to "supergrandmaster"
events for the world's lite such as Las Palmas (5/10), the first category 21 tournament, played in
December 1996, with Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik and Karpov participating.
Topalov's loss to reigning Classical World Champion Garry Kasparov at the 1999 Corus chess
tournament is generally hailed as one of the greatest games ever played. Kasparov later said,
"[During the game] He looked up. Perhaps there was a sign from above that Topalov would play a
great game today. It takes two, you know, to do that."
[5]

In the knockout tournaments for the FIDE World Chess Championship, he reached the last 16 in
1999, the quarter-finals in 2000, the final 16 in 2001, and the semifinals in the 2004 tournament. In
2002, he lost the final of the Dortmund Candidates Tournament (for the right to challenge for the rival
Classical World Chess Championship) to Pter Lk.
Topalov scored his first "super-tournament" success at Linares 2005, tying for first place with Garry
Kasparov (though losing on tiebreak rules), and defeating Kasparov in the last round, in what was to
be Kasparov's last tournament game before his retirement.
[6]
He followed this up with a one point
victory (+4 =5 1) at the M-Tel Masters 2005 tournament, ahead of Viswanathan Anand, Vladimir
Kramnik, Ruslan Ponomariov, Michael Adams, and Judit Polgr. The average rating of the
participants was 2744, making this super-GM, double round-robin tournament the strongest in 2005.
FIDE World Chess Champion 2005[edit]
Based on his rating, Topalov was invited to the eight-player, double round-robin FIDE World Chess
Championship in San Luis, Argentina, in SeptemberOctober 2005. Scoring 6/7 in the first cycle,
Topalov had virtually clinched the tournament at the halfway mark, before drawing every game in the
second cycle to win by 1 points to become FIDE World Chess Champion. The average rating of
the field in the championship was 2739, and Topalov's performance rating was 2890.
[7]

The unification of the FIDE World Title (held by Topalov) and the Classical Chess World Title (held
by Vladimir Kramnik) was fervently encouraged by the chess community. On 16 April
2006, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov announced that areunification match between Kramnik
and Topalov would be held in SeptemberOctober 2006. Kramnik defeated Topalov to become the
first undisputed champion in thirteen years.
KramnikTopalov match controversy[edit]
Main article: FIDE World Chess Championship 2006
On 28 September 2006, Topalov's manager Silvio Danailov published a press release, casting
suspicion on Kramnik's behaviour during the games. The Bulgarian team made a public statement
that Kramnik visited his private bathroom (the only place without any audio or video surveillance)
unreasonably often, about fifty times per game (a number that FIDE officials later claimed to be
exaggerated
[8]
) and made the most significant decisions in the game in the bathroom.
They also demanded that the organizers of the tournament allow journalists access to the
surveillance video from Kramnik's room for games 1 through 4. The organizers made parts of the
video available, explaining that other parts of it were missing due to technical issues. Danailov
demanded to stop the use of private restrooms and bathrooms, and threatened to reconsider
Topalov's participation in the match.
[9]
The Appeals Committee that governed the match agreed, and
ruled that the players' private restrooms should be closed and replaced with a shared one.
Kramnik refused to play game 5 and was forfeited. On 1 October, the restroom issue was resolved in
Kramnik's favour and the Appeals Committee resigned and were replaced. The FIDE
president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov decided that the current score of 32 should be preserved. He also
indicated that this was not a compromise decision but his own.
[10]
The match resumed on 2 October
2006.
On 1 October, the Association of Chess Professionals released a statement denouncing Danailov for
publicly accusing his opponent without evidence, and calling for him to be investigated by the FIDE
Ethics Committee. Topalov has also been similarly denounced by numerous top players, including
former World Champions Anatoly Karpov, Boris Spassky, andViswanathan Anand,
grandmaster Viktor Korchnoi,
[11]
former US Champions Lev Alburt and Yasser Seirawan, and
others.
[12][13]

On 3 October, Topalov said in a press conference, "I believe that his (Kramnik's) play is fair, and my
decision to continue the match proves it".
[14]
However the next day the crisis escalated, with
Topalov's manager strongly implying that Kramnik was receiving computer assistance.
[15]

On 14 December 2006, Topalov directly accused Kramnik of using computer assistance in their
World Championship match.
[16]
On 14 February 2007, Topalov's manager released pictures,
purporting to show cables in the ceiling of a toilet used by Kramnik during the World Championship
match in Elista. They were supposedly reported to the authorities, who Danailov claims suppressed
the information. The Topalov team claims they were pressured by officials to keep their allegations
quiet.
[17]
On 29 July 2007, following a complaint by Kramnik's manager Carsten Hensel, the FIDE
Ethics Commission sanctioned Topalov with "a severe reprimand" because of the accusations made
in the interview of 14 December. According to the Ethics Commission, "these statements were
clearly defamatory and damaged the honour of Mr. Vladimir Kramnik, harming his personal and
professional reputation".
[18]

Career after the 2006 match[edit]
Soon after losing the world title, Topalov participated in the Essent Chess Tournament. He finished
third of four players with only 2 points out of six games and a 2645 performance rating. He lost
both games against Judit Polgr and one againstShakhriyar Mamedyarov.
[19]

In May 2006, Topalov defended his M-Tel Masters title, coming first with 6/10, a half point ahead
of Gata Kamsky (whom he beat 20). Topalov started the tournament somewhat hesitantly to later
record four consecutive wins and decisively claim the title.
In January 2007, Topalov finished in joint first place (ahead of Kramnik, who finished fourth) at the
Category 19 Corus Chess Tournament along with Levon Aronian and Teimour Radjabov.
[20]

In May 2007, Topalov won the M-Tel Masters tournament for a third consecutive time with 5/10.
Topalov clinched the title by just a half point, defeating the then-current leader Sasikiran in the final
round.
[21]

Topalov won the 14th Ciudad Dos Hermanas rapid, 1721 April 2008, defeating GM Francisco
Vallejo Pons (Spain) 21 in the final match by winning the first game and drawing the rest. The
first round matches of the four-player knockout tournament were won by Topalov over GM Judit
Polgr (Hungary) 21 and Vallejo over GM Alexei Shirov (Spain) 31.
[22]

In September 2008, Topalov won the Bilbao 2008 tournament. He advanced to first in the world in
the unofficial live ratingsand in the official October 2008 ratings list.
200810 World Championship cycle[edit]
Topalov lost his chance to compete in the 2007 world championship tournament when he lost the
2006 reunification match. Danailov expressed a desire for a rematch between Topalov and Kramnik,
proposing a match in March 2007,
[23]
though no such match took place.
The issue was settled in June 2007 when Topalov and Kramnik were granted special privileges in
the 200809 championship cycle.
[24]
Topalov was given direct entry to a "Challenger Match" against
the winner of the Chess World Cup 2007.
The 2007 Chess World Cup was won by Gata Kamsky. The Challenger Match between Topalov and
Kamsky took place in February 2009 in Hall 6 of NDK Sofia. Topalov won that match 42 and
qualified to play against the current world champion Viswanathan Anand for the World Chess
Champion title. The World Chess Championship 2010 match was held in Sofia, Bulgaria, which
Topalov lost by 65 margin.
[25]

2010[edit]
Topalov won the 2010 Linares chess tournament held from February 13 to 24 in Andalusia, Spain,
defeating 2009 Chess World Cup champion Boris Gelfand in his final game.
[26][27][28]

As the runner-up in the World Chess Championship 2010, Topalov automatically qualified for
the Candidates Tournamentfor the World Chess Championship 2012, where he was the top seed.
However, he lost to newly crowned U.S. champion Gata Kamsky in the quarterfinals.
[29]

2013[edit]
Topalov won the 2013 Renova Grand Prix in Zug, 1.5 points ahead of second-place Hikaru
Nakamura. This marked his comeback as one of the top five players in the world, as this victory
propelled him to the fourth place on the FIDE rating list, one place ahead of World Champion Anand.
At the conclusion of his participation in the Grand Prix series, Topalov guaranteed himself a first
place finish with one tournament to spare, thus qualifying for the 2014 Candidates Tournament.
[30]

2014[edit]
In 2014, at the 41st Chess Olympiad in Troms, Topalov won the gold medal on board one, with the
second best overall tournament performance of 2872.
[31]