Alexei Shirov

Alexei Dmitrievich Shírov (Russian: Алексе́й Дми́триевич Ши́ров; Latvian: Aleksejs Širovs; born July 4, 1972 in Riga, Latvia), is a chess Grandmaster and writer.

He has participated, on several occasions, in the chess Olympics with the teams of Latvia and Spain, a nationality he acquired in 1996.

Main results

At the age of 14 Alexei Shirov achieved 3.er place in the Championship of Latvia Chess. In 1988 he was proclaimed the Under-20 World Champion, with 10.5 points in 13 games, in Timisoara, Romania. In 1989 he reached his first International Master norm at the Budapest Open. He gets his first successes at the Daugavpils (Dünaburg) tournaments in 1989, fourth place and in 1990 first place. In May 1990 he obtained his title of Grand Master, winning the Stockholm Tournament and was runner-up in the World Junior Championship tied on points with Iliá Gurévich.

Since 1994, Alexei Shírov was installed among the world chess elite by reaching third place in the FIDE ranking. He wins several tournaments and in 1998 he is second, only 0'5 points behind the winner, Viswanathan Anand in the Ciudad de Linares International Chess Tournament, considered the Wimbledon of Chess, in which the first seven classified from ranking FIDE and which many consider the strongest in its history. Already in 1994 and 1995 he had been third in that same tournament. In 1998 he managed to prevail, by 5.5 to 3.5 points, in the PCA Candidates Match against Vladimir Krámnik, played in Cazorla, Jaén, in May-June, gaining a place to dispute the title of Champion against Garri Kasparov. of the World of Classical Chess. However, Kasparov puts up many obstacles and prevents the title from being disputed, in a maneuver known as The Cazorla scam,^{[citation required]} to finally do it with Krámnik, who would be proclaimed World Champion in that category. His greatest success to date has been reaching the final of the FIDE World Championship, in Tehran in 2000, where he lost to Viswanathan Anand. In 2002 he was proclaimed champion of Spain in Ayamonte, beating the great master Francisco Vallejo Pons.

In 2007 he lost the final of the Chess World Cup to the American Gata Kamsky.

In 2019, in his participation in the VII Ciudad de Pontevedra International Tournament, he was victorious with 7.5 points out of 9, also receiving the award for the best attacking game in his confrontation against GM Róbert Ruck in the last and decisive game:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qf3 d6 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. g4 b5 10. Nxc6 Bxc6 11. g5 Qb7 12. Bg2 Ne7 13. Rhe1 Ng6 14. Qg3 b4 15. Nd5 exd5 16. exd5 Bd7 17. Bf4+ Kd8 18. Bxd6 Bxd6 19. Qxd6 a5 20. Qg3 Rc8 21. d6 Qb5 22. Bd5 Rc5 23. Qf3 Rf8 24. Re4 Bc6 25. Bxc6 Qxc6 26. Qe3 Rxc2+ 27. Kb1 Qc5 28. Qd3 Rxf2 29. Rc1 Qb6 30. d7 Ne7 31. Rec4 Qg6 32. Rc8+ 1-0

Candidates Tournament 2007

Semifinal, May-June, Elista, Kalmykia, 2007

Final, May-June, Elista, Kalmykia, 2007

Style of Play

Shírov stands out for his attacking style and for his search for complications, a trend that leads him to be compared to his compatriot, and 1960 World Champion, Mikhail Tal. At the same time, he is heir to the teachings of Mikhail Botvinnik, World Champion and founder of a whole chess school in the Soviet Union, based on logic and the results of analytical work.

In a meeting with Vladimir Krámnik in the 1993 Linares Tournament, he made a famous movement that caused a great controversy worldwide. He twice moved his rook to the e4 square by offering it up as a sacrifice, which was considered a mistake by many players. However, Shirov published the variants that showed that the sacrifice was correct. The following year, in that same Linares Tournament, he would beat Krámnik again, sacrificing a rook again and thus ending the controversy.

Against Veselin Topalov he made a bishop move that is considered by many to be one of the most amazing in chess history, moving the piece to the h3-square and offering it as a sacrifice in order for one of his pawns to promote queen while preventing the opposing pawns from reaching the last rank.

His favorite openings are the Spanish Opening, the Sicilian Defence, the King's Indian Defence, the Semi-Slavic Defence, and the Grünfeld Defence.

Sample Game

Position after 47. Ah3, the movement that is placed in number one in the book of John Emms The most amazing chess movements of all time. Other sources: British Chess Magazine. Tim Krabbé, The 110 Most Fantastic Moves Ever Played (The 110 most fantastic moves ever played)

During the 1998 Ciudad de Linares International Chess Tournament, Shirov played Black against future FIDE World Chess Champion Veselin Topalov, winning with a masterful sacrifice in a bishops and pawns ending.

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

Move 47.... Bh3, is considered number one in John Emms' book The Most Amazing Chess Moves of All Time.

Published Works

Alexei Shirov wrote the following books on chess:

• Fire on the board: the best games of Shírov, editorial Tutor, ISBN 84 7902 205 1 year 1998.
• Fire on board II, editorial Chessy, ISBN 978 84 609 2627 6, 2005.

In the latter he deals, among other things, with what happened in the dispute for the world title of Classical Chess.

Alexéi Shirov's prize list

Individual tournaments

Shírov's best results until 2004

Results in Individual Matches:

Team tournaments

Shírov has participated in a total of 11 chess Olympiads, four with Latvia and seven with Spain, obtaining 64.5% of the points (+50 =50 -18), although he has not obtained any medals. Below are the detailed performances of him:

1. XXX Olympiad (Manila, 1992): first board of Latvia, 9/13.
2. XXXI Olympiad (Moscow, 1994): Latvia's first board, 8/13.
3. XXXII Olympiad (Erevan, 1996): first board of Spain, 8.5/13.
4. XXXIII Olympiad (Elistá, 1998): first board of Spain, 6.5/9.
5. XXXIV Olympiad (Estambul, 2000): first board of Spain, 8.5/12.
6. XXXVI Olimpiada (Calviá, 2004): first board of Spain, 6.5/12.
7. XXXVII Olympiad (Turin, 2006): first board of Spain, 5.5/11.
8. XXXVIII Olympiad (Dresde, 2008): first board of Spain, 7/10.
9. XXXIX Olympiad (Janti-Mansisk, 2010): first board of Spain, 4.5/8.
10. XL Olympiad (Estambul, 2012): first board of Latvia, 7/10.
11. XLI Olympic (Tromsø, 2014): Latvia's first board, 7/10.

In 1993, he participated in the World Team Chess Championship with Latvia with a brilliant performance as first board (+9 =3 -5), winning the individual silver medal.

Shírov has also participated with Spain in six European Team Chess Championships, in the years 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009 and 2011, making a total of 20.5/33 points (+14 = 13 -6) and winning an individual gold medal in Batumi in 1999.

Personal life

In January 1994, he married the then Argentine chess player Verónica Álvarez, whom he divorced in 1998. In his second marriage, to the Lithuanian chess player Victoria Cmilyte, whom he also divorced. The third marriage of his was established in 2010.

In 1996, he acquired Spanish nationality and began to represent Spain in international competitions. At the end of 2011 he announced that from 2012 he would play for Latvia, but since April 2018 he has returned to represent Spain.

He currently resides in Tarragona and Riga.^{[citation required]}