1. Alexei Shirov is a Latvian and Spanish chess player.
15 Facts About Alexei Shirov
1. 2.
Alexei Shirov won a match against Vladimir Kramnik in 1998 to qualify to play as challenger for the classical world championship match with Garry Kasparov; it never took place due to a lack of sponsorship.
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Alexei Shirov is the winner of numerous international tournaments: Biel 1991, Madrid 1997, Ter Apel 1997, Monte Carlo 1998, Merida 2000, Paul Keres Memorial Rapid Tournament in Tallinn, Canadian Open Chess Championship 2005.
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Alexei Shirov reached second on the FIDE rating list in January and July 1994, behind Anatoly Karpov, though Garry Kasparov was excluded from those lists and was rated higher.
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In 1998, Alexei Shirov's ranking rose again, to number four in the PCA rating list.
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Alexei Shirov won the match with two wins, no losses and seven draws.
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When Kasparov instead played Kramnik for Kasparov's world title in 2000, Alexei Shirov maintained that the match was invalid and he was the rightful challenger.
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Alexei Shirov won his first-round match against Michael Adams, but was eliminated when he lost his second-round match to Levon Aronian.
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In May 2009, Alexei Shirov won the category 21 M-Tel Masters 2009 tournament, held in Sofia, Bulgaria.
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In September 2010, Alexei Shirov participated in the Grand Slam Chess Masters preliminary tournament in Shanghai, where he faced world No 4 Levon Aronian, world No 5 Vladimir Kramnik, and Wang Hao; the top two scorers qualified for the Grand Slam final supertournament from October 9 to 15 in Bilbao against world No 1 Magnus Carlsen and World Champion Viswanathan Anand.
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In February 2012, Alexei Shirov won the Aivars Gipslis Memorial in Riga with 8 points out of 9.
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Alexei Shirov won his first-round match against Hou Yifan, and was eliminated when he lost his second round match to Wei Yi.
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In July 2023, Alexei Shirov played in the 2023 Canadian Open Chess Championship.
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Shortly before the Shanghai 2010 tournament, Alexei Shirov got married for a third time to WIM Olga Dolgova.
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Alexei Shirov is noted for his attacking style, a tendency which has led to comparisons with fellow Latvian and former world champion, Mikhail Tal, under whom he studied in his youth.