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Topalov wins Chess Oscar

Veselin Topalov's impressive tournament run, capped off by his win in the FIDE World Championship, earned him the 2005 Chess Oscar award from Russian chess magazine 64. The Chess Oscar is given to the best or most notable chess player of the year, and is voted on by 361 chess journalists and personalities from around the world.

Topalov was listed first on 293 ballots, and scored a total of 4376 points in voting. His closest competition came from his nearest rival on the ratings list, Viswanathan Anand, who won the award in 2004.

Here are the complete top 10 standings (number of first place votes in parenthesis):

1. Veselin Topalov 4376 (293) 2. Viswanathan Anand 3495 (31) 3. Levon Aronian 2721 (10) 4. Peter Svidler 1881 (1) 5. Peter Leko 1187 6. Alexander Morozevich 1025 (4) 7. Garry Kasparov 1001 (12) 8. Vassily Ivanchuk 968 (2) 9. Ruslan Ponomariov 821 10. Magnus Carlsen 433 (2)

The traditional Chess Oscar award is a bronze figurine known as the "Fascinated Wanderer." Topalov will claim his award on May 10th, at the beginning of the MTel Masters tournament in Sofia.