Bulgaria's Chess Grandmaster Topalov Drops Out of Top 20

Renowned Bulgarian chess player Veselin Topalov has slumped below the world's best 20 players for the first time for more than 16 years.

Global federation FIDE's fresh ranking indicates he is now positioned on the 21st spot, five spots below the previous place which he gained in April.

His coefficient as of Monday, at 2739, is just below his worst peformance in the July 2004 when it was 2737.

Topalov topped the FIDE ratings for the first time in July 2006. Since then, he has ranked No 1 for a total of 27 months - a result lower only than those of Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Magnus Carlsen (the reigning champion as of April 2016), and Bobby Fischer.