Alexei Shirov

Alexei Shirov was born on July 4, 1972 in Riga, Latvia. He is noted for his attack style and for seeking complications, a tendency which has led to comparisons with fellow Latvian and once-world champion, Mikhail Tal. He became the World Champion (under 16) in 1988 and the World Vice-Champion (under 20) in 1990. By 1992, he had achieved the title of International Grandmaster.

In 1994, Shirov married an Argentine named Veronica Alvarev. He moved to Tarragona and became a citizen of Spain. Although he still plays for Spain, he currently resides in Latvia. He is now married to Lithuanian IM/WGM Victoria Cmilyte.

Shirov won numerous international tournaments. Some of them are: Biel 1991, Madrid 1997 (shared first place with Veselin Topalov), Ter Apel 1997, Monte Carlo 1998, and Mrida 2000. He also won the Paul Keres Memorial International Chess Tournament in Tallinn, Estonia in 2004 and 2005. In 1998, he beat Vladimir Kramnik in a 10 game match. This match was intended to select a challenger for the World Champion Garry Kasparov. Unfortunately, the plans for the Kasparov match were dismissed when sufficient financial backing could not be found. On the January 2006 FIDE rating list, he is ranked number 16 in the world with an ELO rating of 2709.

Download 976 chess games by Alexei Shirov

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