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The prize will be awarded during the 2nd M-Tel Masters

(Sofia, April 27, 2006) The world champion Veselin Topalov is the bearer of the chess “Oscar” for 2005. The Bulgarian Grandmaster is first in the survey carried out by the Russian magazine “64 Shahmatnoe obozrenie” with 4376 points. 293 of 361 journalists from 68 countries, who write about the most ancient game, have voted for him. After Topalov they place the Indian Vishwanathan Anand with 3445 points (31 first places) and the Armenian Levon Aronian with 2721 points (10 first places)

Last year Topalov won the world championship in Saint Luis, Argentina and the M-Tel Masters tournament in Sofia. In Linares he ended in a draw for the first place with Gary Kasparov, while in Wijk an Zee he finished third.

The inquiry for best chess player of the year has been carried out by the International Chess Press Association since 1968. The first winner of the “Oscar” is the Russian Grandmaster Boris Spaski. Since 1995 the query is organized by the “64 Shahmatnoe obozrenie” magazine. For now Gary Kasparov has won the most “Oscars” (11), after him comes Anatoly Karpov with 9.

The statuette, called the “Charmed stranger” will be awarded to Veselin Topalov by the FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov at a special ceremony in Grand Hotel Sofia during the opening of the second edition of the super tournament M-Tel Masters.