Veselin Topalov Shines at 2005 World Chess Championship

The 2005 World Chess Championship took place from September 27 to October 16 in San Luis, Argentina. Organized by FIDE, it was played in a double round-robin format with eight of the world’s strongest grandmasters competing for the title. Participants included Viswanathan Anand, Peter Leko, Alexander Morozevich, Peter Svidler, Michael Adams, Etienne Bacrot, reigning champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov, and Bulgarian star Veselin Topalov. From the start, Topalov delivered a dominating performance, scoring 6½ points out of the first 7 games, which virtually secured his victory early in the event. He finished the tournament with 10 points out of 14, staying well ahead of his closest rivals. With this triumph, Topalov was crowned the FIDE World Chess Champion, praised for his creative, aggressive style. His win set the stage for the 2006 unification match against Vladimir Kramnik.