Alexei Shirov

Alexei Shirov was born on July 4 in Riga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union. This player is characterized by his style of playing, his audacity when making attacks, his creativity and his brilliant sacrifices which has made him one of the best tactical players and to be compared to his youth teacher, Mikhail Tal. This player has won many trophies over the years, in 1988 he had already positioned himself among the top 4 players and was invited to play with Vladimir Kramnik, the winner of this match would play for the title of World Champion. Defeating Vladimir, Shirov was unable to play through complications against Garry Kasparov for the title and the match was canceled. Alexei became a master at the age of 17 in 1989 and a Grandmaster at the age of 18 in 1990. He is also a great writer, he is the author of the "Fire on Board" books. Today Alexei is still a very strong competitor and is in the top of the best players in the world.

Last tournaments played

Tournament	Date	Elo Avg.	Country
Bundesliga 2025-26	09/27/2025	2507	Germany
V Menorca Open A 2026	04/07/2026	2341	Spain
TCh-CZE Extraliga 2025-26	11/29/2025	2424	Czech Republic
Bundesliga 2025-26	09/27/2025	2567	Germany

Most Played Openings as White

Most Played Openings as Black