Bulgarian grand master Vesselin Topalov won the international tournament Champions League, held in the capital of the Basque Country autonomous region in Spain, Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Hungarian Judit Polgar, Ukrainian Ruslan Ponomariov and Russian Anatoly Karpov were among Topalov’s main rivals for the title, Focus news agency reported.

Topalov had a strong start, but later he suffered five consecutive ties and a loss.

Typically for Topalov, when everyone thought that his chances to win the title were only theoretical, he won his last games, Focus said.

It was a charity tournament in which every contestant would give to the organisers a favourite object to be sold in an auction in the Internet.

The money collected from the auction and the prize fund will be granted to a hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.