Veselin Topalov
Veselin Aleksandrov Topalov (pronounced ; Bulgarian: Веселин Александров Топалов; born 15 March 1975) is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster.
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.
He has been ranked number one a total of 27 months in his career, fourth all-time since the inception of the FIDE ranking lists in 1971 behind only Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, and Bobby Fischer. He was ranked No. 1 in the world from April 2006 to January 2007, during which his Elo rating was 2813, which had been surpassed only by Garry Kasparov, and subsequently by Magnus Carlsen, Anand and Levon Aronian. 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. In October 2012 he was ranked number 13.
In the World Chess Championship 2010, he was the challenger facing world champion Viswanathan Anand, losing the match 6½–5½.
Read more about Veselin Topalov: Early Life, Early Career (1989–2005), FIDE World Chess Champion 2005, Kramnik–Topalov Match Controversy, Career After The 2006 Match, 2008–10 World Championship Cycle, 2010, Notable Tournament Victories, World Championship Matches and Qualifiers, Sample Games