Global Chess League 2024: Antoaneta Stefanova — the World champion who was her country’s Prime Ministerial candidate

Antoaneta Stefanova was the Bulgarian Prime Ministerial candidate for her party four years ago. In 2004, she became the first – and till now the only – women’s Chess World champion from Bulgaria.

A former member of the National Assembly of Bulgaria, she continues to make her moves on the chessboard aside from politics.

She played on the top board for Bulgaria at the recent Chess Olympiad and led Bulgaria to the 10th position, two slots above the team’s seeding.

“I still love playing chess and am glad that we performed better than expectations at the Olympiad,” Stefanova, who is here as a brand ambassador of the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League, told  Sportstar.

“And it is nice that for the team championships we have some nice strong young girls like Nurgyul Salimova, who is playing here, and Beloslava Krasteva.”

ALSO READ | Fresh debates on arbiters’ role take centrestage in Friends House

Late last year Stefanova led the Bulgarian team to the country’s first-ever European team championship.

“Considering the fact Bulgaria was suspended by FIDE (for financial and administrative irregularities eight years ago), it feels good that we could do well in international team competitions,” she said. “I am now the honorary president of the Bulgarian Chess Federation.”

She says she would have loved to play in the Global Chess League. “The format is very interesting,” she says. “It is great for chess.”

Looking back at the Olympiad, she says she wasn’t surprised by India’s dominance. She is also a former coach of R. Vaishali, the gold-medal winning member of the Indian women’s team. “I am happy that she is finally fulfilling her potential now,” she says. “She is a very talented player.”

Vaishali and her brother R. Praggnanandhaa are accompanied on tours by their mother. As are some other Indian players. She believes such parental support is one the main reasons for the success of the young Indian players.

“I remember D. Harika being accompanied by her grandmother,” she says. “You won’t usually see such strong support from the parents of chess-playing children from other countries. I used to go alone for my tournaments.”