Bulgarian Chess Championship Explained

The Bulgarian Chess Championship is an event inaugurated in 1933 to crown the best chess player in Bulgaria. The championship has been held on a nearly annual basis since, with only a few years missed. In recent years some of the very best Bulgarian players have not participated in the championship, including former World Champions Veselin Topalov and Antoaneta Stefanova.

Open championship

	Year	City	Men's Champion	Comment
1	1933		^[1]	Geshev defeated Yury Toshev (4.5 : 3.5) in a play-off match
2	1934		^[2]
3	1935		^[3]
4	1936		^[4]
5	1937		^[5]
6	1938		^[6]
7	1940		^[7]
8	1942		^[8]
9	1943		^[9]
10	1945		^[10]	won (off contest)
11	1946		^[11]
12	1947		Yury Toshev^[12]
13	1948		Alexander Tsvetkov^[13]
14	1949		^[14]
15	1950		^[15]
16	1951		^[16]	Tsvetkov won ahead of Bobotsov and Minev in BUL-ch playoffs in January 1952
17	1952		^[17]
18	1953		^[18]
19	1954		^[19]
20	1955		^[20]
21	1957		^[21]
22	1958		^[22]
23	1959
24	1960
25	1961
26	1962
27	1963
28	1964		^[23]	Padevsky defeated Atanas Kolarov (2.5 : 1.5) in a play-off match
29	1965
30	1966
31	1968
32	1969
33	1970
34	1971
35	1972
36	1973
37	1973
38	1974
39	1975		^[24]	Match-tournament: 1. Ermenkov 2. Nikola Spiridonov 3. Nikolai Radev
40	1976
41	1977
42	1978
43	1979		^[25]	Ermenkov defeated Krum Georgiev in a play-off match
44	1980		^[26]	Radulov defeated Ventzislav Inkiov (2 : 1) in a play-off match
45	1981
46	1982		^[27]	Inkiov defeated Valentin Lukov in a play-off match
47	1983
48	1984		^[28]
49	1985
50	1986
51	1987
52	1988
53	1989
54	1990
55	1991
56	1992
57	1993
58	1994
59	1995
60	1996
61	1997
62	1998
63	1999
64	2000
65	2001
66	2002
67	2003
68	2004
69	2005
70	2006
71	2007
72	2008
73	2009
74	2010
75	2011		^[29]
76	2012
77	2013
78	2014
79	2015
80	2016
81	2017
82	2018
83	2019
84	2020
	2023		^[30]	half a point ahead of 2017 Women's champion Nurgyul Salimova

Women's championship

	Year	City	Women's Champion
1	1951
2	1952
3	1953
4	1954
5	1955
6	1956
7	1957
8	1958
9	1960
10	1961
11	1962
12	1963
13	1964
14	1965
15	1966
16	1967
17	1968
18	1969
19	1970
20	1971
21	1972
22	1973
23	1974
24	1975
25	1976
26	1977
27	1978
28	1979
29	1980
30	1981
31	1982
32	1983
33	1984
34	1985
35	1986
36	1987
37	1988
38	1989
39	1990
40	1991
41	1992
42	1993
43	1994
44	1995
45	1996
46	1997
47	1998
48	1999
49	2000
50	2001
51	2002
52	2003
53	2004
54	2005
55	2006
56	2007
57	2008
58	2009
59	2010
60	2011
61	2012
62	2013
63	2014
64	2015
65	2016
66	2017
67	2018	Chavdar
68	2019	Chavdar
69	2020

References

• (results through 1985)

Notes and References

1. Web site: 1933 Varna Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-07-29 . 2011-11-11.
2. Web site: 1934 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-07-29 . 2011-11-11.
3. Web site: 1935 Russe Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-07-29 . 2011-11-11.
4. Web site: 1936 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-07-29 . 2011-11-11.
5. Web site: 1937 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-07-29 . 2011-11-11.
6. Web site: 1938 Varna Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-07-29 . 2011-11-11.
7. Web site: 1940 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-07-29 . 2011-11-11.
8. Web site: 1942 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-07-29 . 2011-11-11.
9. Web site: 1943 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-09-23 . 2011-11-11.
10. Web site: 1945 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2011-11-11.
11. Web site: 1946 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-09-23 . 2011-11-11.
12. Web site: 1947 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2011-11-11.
13. Web site: 1948 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-07-30 . 2011-11-11.
14. Web site: 1949 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2011-11-11.
15. Web site: 1950 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-12-08 . 2011-11-11.
16. Web site: 1951 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2011-11-11.
17. Web site: 1952 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2011-11-11.
18. Web site: 1953 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2011-11-11.
19. Web site: 1954 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-12-08 . 2011-11-11.
20. Web site: 1955 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-11-08 . 2011-11-11.
21. Web site: 1957 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2007-03-20 . 2011-11-11.
22. Web site: 1958 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2007-03-20 . 2011-11-11.
23. Web site: 1964 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2011-11-11.
24. Web site: 1975 Pernik Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-02-09 . 2011-11-11.
25. Web site: 1979 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-02-09 . 2011-11-11.
26. Web site: 1980 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-02-09 . 2011-11-11.
27. Web site: 1982 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-02-09 . 2011-11-11.
28. Web site: 1984 Sofia Bulg Ch . Thechesslibrary.com . 2008-02-09 . 2011-11-11.
29. Web site: Bulgarian Individual Men Chess Championship 2011. 2011-04-21. Chess-Results.com. 9 June 2011.
30. Web site: 2023-02-05 . 19-year-old Nurgyul Salimova wins Silver at Bulgarian Championship 2023 . 2023-08-15 . Chess News . en.