Echesspedia

Chess in Bulgaria has a millennium history as bone-tissue chess pieces were found during the archaeological excavations around the ancient Bulgarian capital Priska and Preslav dated to IX and X centuries A. D. During the middle ages, as result of the invasion of the Turks, chess disappeared from the life of the Bulgarian only to reappear in the middle of XVIII century. The first chess club was founded in Sofia in 1922.  The Bulgarian Chess Federation is the successor of the Bulgarian Chess Union, created in 1928, and unites in its ranks more than 120 Chess clubs from all over the country. The Federation Bulgare des Echecs joined FIDE in 1936

Bulgaria has organized the 1958 Student Olympiad near Varna, the 1962 Olympiad at  Varna and the European Team Championships at Plovdiv in 1983 and 2003. Bobotsov became the first Bulgarian Grandmaster in 1961. Bulgaria has participated in the Olympiad since 1936. It major success was the first place at the Student Olympiad of 1959 and the silver medal for the women team at the Olympiad of 1984 and both teams with bronze at Lugano 1968 for the men and at Medellin in 1974 for the women. Bulgaria has produced few World Champions like Veselin Topalov for the men in 2005 and Antoaneta Stefanova for the women in 2004 also among the youth were awarded a gold medal: Kiril Georgiev, Vasil Spasov, Veselin Topalov, Alajova and Antoaneta Stefanova.

Prime Minister Boiko Borisov with FIDE President Ilyumzhinov and Topalov

In 2011 Bulgaria was ranked 14^th among the countries (2624) with 34 IGMs, 51 IMs and a total of 123 titled players.

The national champions were:

1933 Geshev, 1934 Geshev, 1935 Geshev, 1936 Geshev, 1937 Kantardzhiev, 1938 Tsvetkov, 1940 Tsvetkov, 1942 Toshev, 1943 Neikirch, 1945 Tsvetlov, 1946 P.S. Petrov 1947 Piskov & Toshev, 1948 Neikirch, 1949 Dimitorv, 1950 Tsvetkov, 1951 Tsvetkov, 1952 Milev, 1953 Minev, 1954 Padevsky, 1955 Padevsky, 1957 Neikirch, 1958 Bobotsov, 1959 Popov, 1960 Milev, 1961 Milev, 1962 Padevsky, 1963 Tringov, 1964 Padevsky, 1965 Minev, 1966 Minev, 1967 Peev, 1969 Spiridinov, 1970 Popov, 1971 Radulov, 1971 Bokhosyan, 1973 Ermenkov, 1974 Radulov, 1975 Ermenkov, 1976 Ermenkov, 1977 Radulov, 1978 Kirov, 1979 Ermenkov, 1980 Radulov, 1981 Tringov, 1982 Inkiov, 1983 Donchev, 1984 K. Georgiev & Ermenkov, 1985 Tringov,  1986 K. Georgiev, 1987 Velikov, 1988 Donchev, 1989 K. Georgiev, 1990 Spassov , 1991 Chatalbashev, 1992 Kolev, 1993, Genov, 1994 Delchev, 1995 V. Georgiev, 1996 Spassov, 1997 Spasov, 1998 Chatalbashev, 1999 Genov, 2000, Spasov, 2001 Delchev, 2002 Petrov, 2003 Spasov, 2004 Cheparinov, 2005 Cheparinov, 2006 Iotov, 2007 Chatalbashev, 2008 Spasov, 2009 Bojkov, 2010 Chatalbashev, 2011 Radulski.

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