Veselin Topalov FIDE World Champion 2005 and former world number one
Veselin Topalov is a Bulgarian grandmaster who won the FIDE World Championship in 2005 and was world number one in 2006 and again from 2008 to 2010. Topalov is an uncompromising attacking player. He plays for a win in almost every game and is ready to give up material for the initiative.
Veselin Topalov: key facts
- Full name
- Veselin Topalov
- Born
- March 15, 1975, Ruse, Bulgaria
- Country
- Bulgaria
- Title
- Grandmaster (1992)
- FIDE rating
- 2695 (October 2026 list) · world No. 34
- Peak rating
- 2816
- Games in the archive
- 2,641 (1988–2025)
- Record in the archive
- 884 wins · 1,143 draws · 614 losses
- Win rate
- 33.5%
Veselin Topalov's career
The results that made the name
Topalov in numbers
From the 2,641 games in the Rama Chess archive
He lost the 2006 reunification match to Vladimir Kramnik and the 2010 title match to Viswanathan Anand. His best rating is 2816 (July 2015). On the October 2026 FIDE list he is rated 2695, world number 34.
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