Bulgaria's world chess champion Veselin Topalov was elected as the Best Bulgarian Athlete 2005 on Wednesday.

Next to him are Greco-Roman wrestlers Nikolai Gergov and Armen Nazarian, sumoist Kaloyan Mahlyanov, woman runner Ivet Lalova, swimmer Petar Stoilov, boxer Aleksei Shaidulin, tennis player Sesil Karatancheva, rowing double Rumiana Neikova and Miglena Markova and freestyle wrestler Serafim Burzakov.

Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov, chairwoman of the Bulagrian Olympic Committee Stefka Kostadinova, chief of National Bureau for the Youth and sports Vesela Lechva attended the ceremony.

After the cereminy, Topalov donated his huge prize -- a suv Land Rover Freelander in latest type -- to the charity fund of "Bulgarian Christmas", which supports Bulgarian children in poorest and weakest condition.

Topalov was born on March 15, 1975 in the northern city Russe. Enlightened by his father, Topalov started his chess career from seven and got his first international champion at 14.

He is currently ranked third in the World Chess Federation(FIDE) rankings, next to Russian chess tsar Gari Kasparov and Indian player Vishvanatan Anand.

Source: Xinhua