From the second half of the 1930s until the end of the 1940s, Mikhail Kantardzhiev was one of the leading Bulgarian chess players. He was multiple times participated in Bulgarian Chess Championship finals. The best result in these tournaments was in 1937, when he became a Bulgarian chess vice champion.[1]
Mikhail Kantardzhiev played for Bulgaria in the Chess Olympiad:[2]
After World War II Mikhail Kantardzhiev has become known as a chess writer and journalist. In 1945 he published the first chess book in Bulgarian - Шахматно ръководство ("Chess Guide"). In 1947 Mikhail Kantardzhiev was one of the founders of the Bulgarian chess magazine Шахматна мисъл. In 1956 he published the book Първи шахматни уроци ("First Chess Lessons").
