diff --git a/python-package/lightgbm/basic.py b/python-package/lightgbm/basic.py
index c20187b22..a96a8f029 100644
--- a/python-package/lightgbm/basic.py
+++ b/python-package/lightgbm/basic.py
@@ -1179,6 +1179,7 @@ class Booster(object):
         self.__train_data_name = "training"
         self.__attr = {}
         self.best_iteration = -1
+        self.best_score = {}
         params = {} if params is None else params
         if silent:
             params["verbose"] = 0
diff --git a/python-package/lightgbm/callback.py b/python-package/lightgbm/callback.py
index 536dbceba..38372dfaa 100644
--- a/python-package/lightgbm/callback.py
+++ b/python-package/lightgbm/callback.py
@@ -15,9 +15,10 @@ class EarlyStopException(Exception):
     best_iteration : int
         The best iteration stopped.
     """
-    def __init__(self, best_iteration):
+    def __init__(self, best_iteration, best_score):
         super(EarlyStopException, self).__init__()
         self.best_iteration = best_iteration
+        self.best_score = best_score
 
 
 # Callback environment used by callbacks
@@ -162,7 +163,7 @@ def early_stopping(stopping_rounds, verbose=True):
     """
     best_score = []
     best_iter = []
-    best_msg = []
+    best_score_list = []
     cmp_op = []
 
     def init(env):
@@ -176,8 +177,7 @@ def early_stopping(stopping_rounds, verbose=True):
 
         for eval_ret in env.evaluation_result_list:
             best_iter.append(0)
-            if verbose:
-                best_msg.append(None)
+            best_score_list.append(None)
             if eval_ret[3]:
                 best_score.append(float('-inf'))
                 cmp_op.append(gt)
@@ -189,20 +189,16 @@ def early_stopping(stopping_rounds, verbose=True):
         """internal function"""
         if not cmp_op:
             init(env)
-        best_msg_buffer = None
         for i in range_(len(env.evaluation_result_list)):
             score = env.evaluation_result_list[i][2]
             if cmp_op[i](score, best_score[i]):
                 best_score[i] = score
                 best_iter[i] = env.iteration
-                if verbose:
-                    if not best_msg_buffer:
-                        best_msg_buffer = '[%d]\t%s' % (
-                            env.iteration + 1, '\t'.join([_format_eval_result(x) for x in env.evaluation_result_list]))
-                    best_msg[i] = best_msg_buffer
+                best_score_list[i] = env.evaluation_result_list
             elif env.iteration - best_iter[i] >= stopping_rounds:
                 if verbose:
-                    print('Early stopping, best iteration is:\n' + best_msg[i])
-                raise EarlyStopException(best_iter[i])
+                    print('Early stopping, best iteration is:\n[%d]\t%s' % (
+                        best_iter[i] + 1, '\t'.join([_format_eval_result(x) for x in best_score_list[i]])))
+                raise EarlyStopException(best_iter[i], best_score_list[i])
     callback.order = 30
     return callback
diff --git a/python-package/lightgbm/engine.py b/python-package/lightgbm/engine.py
index 04c706e9c..ca2aab190 100644
--- a/python-package/lightgbm/engine.py
+++ b/python-package/lightgbm/engine.py
@@ -195,7 +195,11 @@ def train(params, train_set, num_boost_round=100,
                                         evaluation_result_list=evaluation_result_list))
         except callback.EarlyStopException as earlyStopException:
             booster.best_iteration = earlyStopException.best_iteration + 1
+            evaluation_result_list = earlyStopException.best_score
             break
+    booster.best_score = collections.defaultdict(dict)
+    for dataset_name, eval_name, score, _ in evaluation_result_list:
+        booster.best_score[dataset_name][eval_name] = score
     return booster
 
 
diff --git a/python-package/lightgbm/sklearn.py b/python-package/lightgbm/sklearn.py
index 332bdb685..b820cc889 100644
--- a/python-package/lightgbm/sklearn.py
+++ b/python-package/lightgbm/sklearn.py
@@ -273,6 +273,7 @@ class LGBMModel(LGBMModelBase):
         self._Booster = None
         self.evals_result = None
         self.best_iteration = -1
+        self.best_score = {}
         if callable(self.objective):
             self.fobj = _objective_function_wrapper(self.objective)
         else:
@@ -414,6 +415,7 @@ class LGBMModel(LGBMModelBase):
 
         if early_stopping_rounds is not None:
             self.best_iteration = self._Booster.best_iteration
+        self.best_score = self._Booster.best_score
         return self
 
     def predict(self, X, raw_score=False, num_iteration=0):
diff --git a/tests/python_package_test/test_engine.py b/tests/python_package_test/test_engine.py
index b2feea2ee..f38e14d20 100644
--- a/tests/python_package_test/test_engine.py
+++ b/tests/python_package_test/test_engine.py
@@ -96,20 +96,27 @@ class TestEngine(unittest.TestCase):
         X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(*X_y, test_size=0.1, random_state=42)
         lgb_train = lgb.Dataset(X_train, y_train)
         lgb_eval = lgb.Dataset(X_test, y_test, reference=lgb_train)
+        valid_set_name = 'valid_set'
         # no early stopping
         gbm = lgb.train(params, lgb_train,
                         num_boost_round=10,
                         valid_sets=lgb_eval,
+                        valid_names=valid_set_name,
                         verbose_eval=False,
                         early_stopping_rounds=5)
         self.assertEqual(gbm.best_iteration, -1)
+        self.assertIn(valid_set_name, gbm.best_score)
+        self.assertIn('binary_logloss', gbm.best_score[valid_set_name])
         # early stopping occurs
         gbm = lgb.train(params, lgb_train,
                         num_boost_round=100,
                         valid_sets=lgb_eval,
+                        valid_names=valid_set_name,
                         verbose_eval=False,
                         early_stopping_rounds=5)
         self.assertLessEqual(gbm.best_iteration, 100)
+        self.assertIn(valid_set_name, gbm.best_score)
+        self.assertIn('binary_logloss', gbm.best_score[valid_set_name])
 
     def test_continue_train_and_other(self):
         params = {