Alexei Shirov (Aleksejs Širovs, Алексей Широв) (born July 4, 1972 in Riga, Latvia), is one of the top chess grandmasters in the world today. In the April 2007 FIDE rating list he was ranked number twenty in the world with an ELO rating of 2699.
Alexei Shirov | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Full name | Alexei Shirov |
| Country |  Spain |
| Title | Grandmaster |
| FIDE rating | 2699 (No. 20 on the April 2007 FIDE ratings list) |
| Peak rating | 2751 (January 2000) |
Career
Shirov became the World Champion (under 16) in 1988, the World Vice-Champion (under 20) in 1990, and achieved the title of International Grandmaster in 1992. Shirov is the winner of numerous international tournaments: Biel 1991, Madrid 1997 (shared first place with Veselin Topalov), Ter Apel 1997, Monte Carlo 1998, Mérida 2000, two time winner of the Paul Keres Memorial International Chess Tournament in Tallinn, Estonia, with victories in 2004 and 2005 just to name a few.
In 1998 Shirov's ranking rose to number four in the world. On the basis of his rating, he was invited to play a ten game match against Vladimir Kramnik to select a challenger for World Champion Garry Kasparov. Shirov won the match with 2 wins, 0 losses and 7 draws.[1] However the plans for the Kasparov match fell through when sufficient financial backing could not be found. When Kasparov instead played Kramnik for the world title in 2000, Shirov maintained that the match was invalid and he was the rightful challenger.[2]
In 2000, Shirov reached the final of the FIDE World Chess Championship, losing to Viswanathan Anand.
Personal life
In 1994 Shirov married an Argentine Verónica Alvarez, moved to Tarragona, and became a citizen of Spain. Although he still plays for Spain, he currently resides in Latvia, married to Lithuanian IM/WGM Viktorija Čmilytė.
Playing Style
Shirov is noted for his attack style and for seeking complications, a tendency which has led to comparisons with fellow Latvian and former world champion, Mikhail Tal.
Sample game
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| 8 |        | 8 | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
During the 1998 Linares chess tournament Shirov played black against future FIDE world champion Veselin Topalov and won with a piece sacrifice in a bishop and pawn ending. The moves are given in algebraic notation.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bb5+ c6 8.Ba4 O-O 9.Ne2 Nd7 10.O-O e5 11.f3 Qe7 12.Be3 Rd8 13.Qc2 Nb6 14.Bb3 Be6 15.Rad1 Nc4 16.Bc1 b5 17.f4 exd4 18.Nxd4 Bg4 19.Rde1 Qc5 20.Kh1 a5 21.h3 Bd7 22.a4 bxa4 23.Ba2 Be8 24.e5 Nb6 25.f5 Nd5 26.Bd2 Nb4 27.Qxa4 Nxa2 28.Qxa2 Bxe5 29.fxg6 hxg6 30.Bg5 Rd5 31.Re3 Qd6 32.Qe2 Bd7 33.c4 Bxd4 34.cxd5 Bxe3 35.Qxe3 Re8 36.Qc3 Qxd5 37.Bh6 Re5 38.Rf3 Qc5 39.Qa1 Bf5 40.Re3 f6 41.Rxe5 Qxe5 42.Qa2+ Qd5 43.Qxd5+ cxd5 44.Bd2 a4 45.Bc3 Kf7 46.h4 Ke6 47.Kg1 Bh3! (See diagram) 48.gxh3 Kf5 49.Kf2 Ke4 50.Bxf6 d4 51.Be7 Kd3 52.Bc5 Kc4 53.Be7 Kb3 0-1
Chess Books
Shirov has written two books of his best games:
- Shirov, Alexei (1995). Fire on Board: Shirov's Best Games. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-150-8.
- Shirov, Alexei (2005). Fire on Board, Part 2 : 1997-2004. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1-85744-382-9.
References
- ^ 1998-99 World Chess Council, Mark Week's Chess pages
- ^ Interview by Hartmut Metz, May 2000, translation by Harald Fietz
External links
- Alexei Shirov rating card at FIDE
- Alexei Shirov download 976 of his games in pgn format.
- Alexei Shirov player profile and games at Chessgames.com