Topalov, former world chess champion: "Sometimes, luck is key to success"

The sporting adventure of the Bulgarian Veselin Topalov, one of the most legendary chess players of recent decades, is filled with triumphs. In 1989, he won the under-14 world championship title in Puerto Rico. Years later, in 2005, in the Argentine locality of Potrero de los Funes, he fulfilled his dream of becoming world champion. Yesterday, Topalov participated in the chess cycles at La Térmica, where he spoke with journalist Manuel Azuaga and recalled some of the most transcendental moments of his life, both on and off the board.

The format of the world championship that Topalov won in Argentina brought together eight of the best chess players on the planet. Veselin's first game was against Hungarian Peter Leko. "I was losing, but in the end, in the time scramble, Leko made a mistake and I scored the point," he confessed. "Everything can change due to a detail or a circumstance. A few months earlier, Kasparov had decided to retire from chess," Topalov recalled. "We can say that luck smiled on me and everything happened in my favor," he humbly declared in front of almost a hundred fans.

Topalov, known as the D'Artagnan of chess for his combative and attacking style, acknowledged that over the years, he has tempered this character. "I realized that the important thing was to win the game, not to go crazy on the board." And he added: "When I was young, I always looked for beauty. Later I became a more positional and calm player."

After a quick question and answer session in which Topalov confessed (amid laughter) that, had he not been a chess player, he could have been a butcher, the Bulgarian played more than twenty games against the attendees at the event. He won all but one. Juan Carrillo, a 9-year-old boy from the Platero Green School in Malaga, a member of the Victoria Chess Club, achieved a thrilling draw, as quick as the fastest of the musketeers.