Alexei Shirov

Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov, 2010
Personal information
Born (1972-07-04) 4 July 1972
Riga, Latvia
Spouses
Verónica Álvarez
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(m. 1994, divorced)​

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(m. 2001; div. 2007)​

Olga Dolgova
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(m. 2010)​
Chess career
CountrySoviet Union (until 1991)
Latvia (1991–95, 2011–18)
Spain (1995–2011, since 2018)
TitleGrandmaster (1990)
FIDE rating2603 (September 2026)
Peak rating2755 (January 2008)
Peak rankingNo. 2 (January 1994)

Alexei Dmitrievich 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.