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Nikolov, Momchil

Nikolov, Momchil

GM🇧🇬

FIDEFIDE 2905710· Male· Bulgaria· Born in 1985

Follow Momchil NikolovTrack his monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.

Momchil Nikolov, a 41-year-old Bulgarian Grandmaster, is rated 2424 and ranked 12th among Bulgarian players, and in the top 1% worldwide. He has held steady between 2400 and 2450 for 22 months. 191 rated games in the past year (≈95/year long-term). Recent standard appearances include 4th International Open Chess Tournament Pafos Cyprus Group A, International tournament Mikis Theodorakis 2026 A, and Team 2026 - Nationale 1 r8-9. Also played 6 rapid (including JERUSALEM OPEN 2025) and 4 blitz events (including DOP Men Blitz 2025) recently. His peak of 2589 was reached at age 26 (Jul 2011, World #262 at the time); he spent 66 months in Bulgarian top 5, with a longest streak of 3 consecutive years.

Competes for Bulgaria since Oct 2018. Awarded GM in 2010 (age 25) and IM in 2007 (age 22). At junior level, he reached World #78 in U20, World #93 in U16 and #2 nationally in U18.

Current rating

2424

Standard

Rpd2499·Blz2413

All-time high

2589

−165 pts below
Jul 2011 · age 26

Activity

149

games / yr avg. · ≈12/mo

191 past 12 mo · ≈16/mo
classical only
Very active

Signature stat

#12

#12 · Bulgarian players · of 701
66 months in National top 5 (2015–2021)

Career timeline

23 entries
2026
3rd Bulgarian 40-45 player
at age 41 · rated 2424
Jan 2026
2023
Re-crossed 2500
at age 38
May 2023
2021
66 months in national top 5
longest streak 41 months · since Dec 2015
Aug 2021
2018
Switched federation: FID → BUL
at age 33
Oct 2018
2017
Switched federation: BUL → FID
at age 32
Oct 2017
2015
Peak Bulgarian rank: #5
at age 30 · rated 2548
Dec 2015

Standard rating history

Activity & highlights

Top opponent
vs Vitaliy BernadskiyGM 2,554
GM MIX Bijeljina 2026 · Jan 2026 · +1.9 Elo
Evolution
-12
2436 → 2424
Tournaments
22
167 games
Score
104/ 16762.3%
57W94D16L
Top 3 wins
1.[W]vsXinyang NieIM2,433·RUDAR XXIV - GM ROUND ROBIN·R5·+5.2
2.[W]vsAtaberk ErenIM2,415·Chess Festival tournament GM1·R5·+4.9
3.[W]vsOlivier RenetGM2,408·Team 2026 - Nationale 1 r4-5·R2·+4.8

Last 12 months — tournaments

15 events
EventDateScoreRankPerfΔ Elo
4th International Open Chess Tournament Pafos Cyprus Group A
Open Swiss
Apr 20266/9#62436+4.9
International tournament Mikis Theodorakis 2026 A
Open Swiss
Apr 20266.5/9#42422+7.2
Team 2026 - Nationale 1 r8-9
Team
Mar 20261.5/2#672514+2.7
RUDAR XXX - GM ROUND ROBIN
Round-Robin
Feb 20264/9#72374-5.6
RUDAR XXIX - GM ROUND ROBIN
Round-Robin
Jan 20264.5/9#62391-4.1
RUDAR XXVIII - GM ROUND ROBIN
Round-Robin
Jan 20264/9#72357-8.5
Team 2026 - Nationale 1 r6-7
Team
Jan 20261.5/2#532488+1.8
GM MIX Bijeljina 2026
Swiss
Jan 20264.5/8#302437+2.0
Chess Festival tournament IM3
Round-Robin
Dec 20255.5/9#22315-10.0
Chess Festival tournament GM2
Round-Robin
Dec 20255.5/9#22471+6.4
Hot streak: 3 tournaments without losing Elo.

Most-Played Opponents

vsRadoslav DimitrovGM
🇧🇬BUL·2474
+4 −5 =53
62 games·last met Feb 2026
View head-to-head →
vsIvajlo EnchevGM
🇧🇬BUL·2400
+3 −0 =47
50 games·last met Sep 2025
View head-to-head →
vsVasil SpasovGM
🇧🇬BUL·2355
+2 −0 =31
33 games·last met Oct 2025
View head-to-head →
vsSasho NikolovIM
🇧🇬BUL·2220
+12 −4 =6
22 games·last met Oct 2025
View head-to-head →
vsMarian PetrovGM
🇧🇬BUL·2428
+4 −1 =12
17 games·last met Sep 2025
View head-to-head →

Rankings

/
Bulgaria
#12
out of 1,171 players
Europe
#810
in continent
World
#1,309
out of 400,000+

National ranking

Europe & World

Europe
World
Bulgaria
1
🇧🇬Topalov, VeselinFollow Veselin TopalovTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,695
2
🇧🇬Cheparinov, IvanFollow Ivan CheparinovTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,627
3
🇧🇬Naiditsch, ArkadijFollow Arkadij NaiditschTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,574
4
🇧🇬Petrov, MartinFollow Martin PetrovTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,542
5
🇧🇬Georgiev, KirilFollow Kiril GeorgievTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,525
6
🇧🇬Petkov, MomchilFollow Momchil PetkovTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,523
7
🇧🇬Grigorov, GrigorFollow Grigor GrigorovTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,496
8
🇧🇬Dimitrov, RadoslavFollow Radoslav DimitrovTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,474
9
🇧🇬Rusev, KrasimirFollow Krasimir RusevTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,457
10
🇧🇬Stoyanov, TsvetanFollow Tsvetan StoyanovTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,445
...
12🇧🇬Nikolov, Momchil2,424
Europe
1
🇳🇴Carlsen, MagnusFollow Magnus CarlsenTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,840
2
🇳🇱Giri, AnishFollow Anish GiriTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,767
3
🇩🇪Keymer, VincentFollow Vincent KeymerTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,759
3
🇫🇷Firouzja, AlirezaFollow Alireza FirouzjaTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,759
5
🇵🇱Duda, Jan-KrzysztofFollow Jan-Krzysztof DudaTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,739
6
🇳🇱Van Foreest, JordenFollow Jorden Van ForeestTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,735
7
🇭🇺Rapport, RichardFollow Richard RapportTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,729
8
🇫🇷Vachier-Lagrave, MaximeFollow Maxime Vachier-LagraveTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,717
8
🇦🇿Mamedyarov, ShakhriyarFollow Shakhriyar MamedyarovTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,717
10
🇹🇷Erdogmus, Yagiz KaanFollow Yagiz Kaan ErdogmusTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,708
...
810🇧🇬Nikolov, Momchil2,424
World
1
🇳🇴Carlsen, MagnusFollow Magnus CarlsenTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,840
2
🇺🇸Nakamura, HikaruFollow Hikaru NakamuraTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,792
3
🇺🇸Caruana, FabianoFollow Fabiano CaruanaTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,788
4
🇺🇿Abdusattorov, NodirbekFollow Nodirbek AbdusattorovTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,780
5
🇺🇿Sindarov, JavokhirFollow Javokhir SindarovTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,776
6
🇳🇱Giri, AnishFollow Anish GiriTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,767
7
🇩🇪Keymer, VincentFollow Vincent KeymerTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,759
7
🇫🇷Firouzja, AlirezaFollow Alireza FirouzjaTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,759
9
🇺🇸So, WesleyFollow Wesley SoTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,754
10
🇨🇳Wei, YiFollow Yi WeiTrack their monthly FIDE ratings, games, tournaments and more.
2,753
...
1309🇧🇬Nikolov, Momchil2,424