Final Chess Masters Bilbao 2008

Ir al menú principal
Ir al contenido

Home
Contact

Participants

VESELIN TOPALOV (ELO 2777)
Ruse (Bulgaria), 15.03.1975

An exemplary fighter on his way up

He defeated Kasparov in what was to be his last game (Linares 2005) and he is a clear symbol of the differences between the current chess elite and the times of the Ogre of Baku.Natural, modest and very friendly, a fighter and well disciplined about his everyday training, and tries to keep a good image. That’s Veselin Topalov, the 33 year-old Bulgarian from Salamanca world chess champion in 2005 and currently number four in the chess rankings, with the clear aim to take up again the crown in 2009.

“I will never forget what happened to me when I was 8 years old in Ruse, my native city. After defeating me, one of the best players of the area gave me a row, he pulled my ears and almost hit me because I had played too fast, without thinking. A year later I played with him again in the same tournament, and I won, he remembers about his childhood in Bulgaria.

Topalov admits that it is impossible to be among the world’s top ten chess players without innate talents: “If we put it into round numbers, 60% of my success is due to the effort and 40% to the talent”. The effort part started in November 1992, an adventure involving a lot of cold and tiredness. After winning the World Junior Championship U-14 in Puerto Rico in 1990, Topalov knew he must play in Spain - the most active country in organizing international tournaments- and talked about it to whom is today his manager, coach and second father, Silvio Danáilov, when he met him by chance at the Bulgarian Federation offices. Whether it was inspiration, foolishness or both, the two of them travelled 4,000 km through Hungary, Germany and France in an old Citroen, which only Danáilov could drive, to arrive in Elgoibar (Guipúzcoa). This was followed by 25,000 km of tournaments all around Spain. Topalov astonished everybody in all of them and moved from the 1,500th place to be among the 10 best players in the world. He soon fell in love with the Canary Islands, “a paradise”, but simultaneously Silvio fell in love with Mari Carmen, a teacher in Lumbrales (Salamanca), who is today the mother of his children, and so the two Bulgarian became adoptive salmantinos.

Topalov triumphed in Bilbao defeating Judit Polgar in the blind game that took place in the Guggenheim in 2006, suffered from an excess of tournaments after his overwhelming victory in the World Chess Championship in San Luis (Argentina) in 2005, and particularly after losing the crown before Russian Vladímir Krámnik in 2006. But these are things of the past: the way he is playing in 2008 brings back the best Topalov whose main challenge will be the Candidates Final against the American Gata Kamski at the end of November. The winner will dispute the World Championship in 2009. Therefore, the Bulgarian from Salamanca arrives in the Bilbao Grand Slam Final Masters at a great time.

A part from his sports achievements, Topalov is convinced of the pedagogical virtues of mental sports, more and more present in schools all over the world. “You learn to be patient, disciplined, responsible, how to loose without blaming anybody, to make logical decisions… and, of course, to think before acting, as I was taught by that guy from Ruse when I was 8 years old”.