Antoaneta Stefanova

At a glance

Source: Wikipedia: Antoaneta Stefanova¹

Early chess career

Born in Sofia, Stefanova began learning chess from her father, Andon Stefanov, when she was four. In 1989, she won the Girls U10 section at the World Youth Chess Festival in Puerto Rico. At 13, she played in her first Chess Olympiad, in Manila, and won the European under-14 girls’ title. She became Bulgarian women’s champion in 1995 and earned her first grandmaster norm in 1997.¹

Chess achievements

Stefanova won the European Individual Women’s Championship in Varna in 2002. That year, she was awarded the grandmaster title, becoming the ninth woman to reach the rank. In 2004, she won the 64-player knockout tournament in Elista to become Women’s World Champion, a title she held until 2006. She won the Women’s World Rapid Chess Championship in 2012 and took two women’s gold medals, in rapid and blitz, at the 2017 IMSA Elite Mind Games.¹

Public roles

In 2021, Stefanova became a member of parliament for the There Is Such A People party and was nominated as its candidate for prime minister. In November 2023, she was captain of Bulgaria’s women’s chess team when it won the European championship. At the 2005 tournament in Wijk aan Zee, she defeated grandmaster Predrag Nikolić in a Catalan Opening game; he resigned on move 24.¹

Her FIDE rating in September 2026 was 2401.¹