IM Veselin Pantev (1971-2023): 'The Greatest Person I've Ever Met'

IM Veselin Pantev, a prominent figure in the Bulgarian chess community, succumbed to cancer last month, leaving behind his grieving wife, WGM Adriana Nikolova, their 4-year-old daughter, and his other two children. On December 28, at the age of 52, Pantev concluded a year-long battle with cancer. 

"He was worried about us, what we would do without him. And he was right. It's hard! But the cancer beat us. Probably we tried our best in the last year," a devastated Nikolova told Chess.com from Plovdiv, Bulgaria's second-largest city.

"He is the greatest person I've ever met. He was a good person, a good father, a great husband, and an excellent professional at his job," she added.

Pantev was ranked 20th in Bulgaria and achieved a peak FIDE rating of 2435 in 2016. He was particularly skilled in blitz, evidenced by his Chess.com account where in almost 19,000 games he had achieved a blitz high of 2731 and defeated several strong grandmasters.

Remarkably, just one day before his passing, he played four blitz games: "He just loved chess," Nikolova said.

"After coming home from work, he never missed the opportunity to play blitz every night," she said.

Nikolova fondly recalls her late husband as a highly-skilled tactical player who significantly influenced her approach to the game. She shared, "I started playing the London System for White and the Caro-Kann for Black because of him, achieving some really great results and winning beautiful games."

She wrote a blog post on Chess.com, where she shared personal photos of the family and included some of his best games. 

Nikolova, who was featured as Chess.com's Coach of the Month in 2023, says the two met at a chess tournament in 2017. She reflected: "Somehow I was thinking that I have known this person all my life and I have to connect with him.

"I knew that he was the chosen one for me. In these seven years, he just taught me how to become a better person."

Her friend WGM Iva Videnova-Kuljasevic has created a fundraiser for the family. As of now, €5300 has been raised for the family, slightly more than half of the goal of €10,000 ($10,864).

"Vesko was a cheerful person, full of energy and enthusiasm, and a loving father. His sudden and premature passing was a shock to those who knew him, and it left a huge hole in the lives of Adriana and her two young daughters," she told Chess.com.

"We are grateful for the moral and financial support that Adriana has been receiving from the chess community, and I am sure it will help her overcome this tough period," Videnova-Kuljasevic said.

It's not the first time the chess family has come together in support. Last year, more than $140,000 was raised for GM Gawain Jones and his two children after the tragic loss of his wife, WIM Sue Maroroa-Jones. The chess community's solidarity has also proven instrumental in helping Nikolova cope with the grief. 

"I am quite surprised how many Bulgarian people and foreigners supported me and my kids in this hard period. Most of all what I see is, 'Gens una sumus,'" she said about the Latin expression that serves as FIDE's motto, meaning 'We are one family." She added: "When somebody is having a problem, people would like to support even without knowing him or her personally. That is awesome.

"And it's even more important that they think about me, so it's about attention and psychological support as well."

When asked about what her husband would think of the support from the chess community, she said: "Probably he would have liked that people are helping us and that we are not alone."

If you wish to make a donation to the family, you can go to the Gogetfunding campaign.