Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov | |
|---|---|
Alexei Shirov, 2010 | |
| Country | Soviet Union (until 1991) Latvia (1991–95, 2011–18) Spain (1995–2011, since 2018) |
| Born | 4 July 1972 Riga, Latvia |
| Title | Grandmaster (1990) |
| FIDE rating | 2620 (June 2025) |
| Peak rating | 2755 (January 2008) |
| Peak ranking | No. 2 (January 1994) |
Alexei Shirov (Russian: Алексе́й Дми́триевич Ши́ров, romanized: Alexey Dmitrievich Shirov, Latvian: Aleksejs Širovs; born 4 July 1972) is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994.
He 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.