What is Alexei Shirov?
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}} {{Infobox chess player |playername = Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov |image =Shirov Alexei.jpg |caption= |birthname = Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov |country = {{ESP}} |datebirth = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1972|7|4}} |placebirth = [[Riga]], Latvian [[SSR]] [[USSR]] |datedeath = |placedeath = |title = [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] (1990) |worldchampion = |womensworldchampion = |rating = 2722<br /><small>#24 in the January 2011 [[FIDE]] world rankings</small> |peakrating = 2749 (January 2008) }}'''Alexei Shirov'''<ref>'''Aleksejs Širovs''', '''Алексей Дмитриевич Широв'''</ref> (born 4 July 1972 in [[Riga]], Latvia) is a [[chess]] [[Grandmaster (chess)|grandmaster]]. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998. Shirov is also a well-regarded chess author. == Career == Shirov became the World Champion (under 16) in 1988, and achieved the title of grandmaster in 1990. He is the winner of numerous international tournaments. In 1998 Shirov's ranking rose to number four in the world. On the basis of his rating, he was invited to play a ten-game match against [[Vladimir Kramnik]] to select a challenger for [[List of World Chess Champions|World Champion]] [[Garry Kasparov]]. Shirov won the match with two wins, no losses and seven draws.<ref>[http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/9899gkix.htm 1998-99 World Chess Council], Mark Week's Chess pages</ref> However the plans for the Kasparov match fell through when funds could not be raised. When Kasparov played Kramnik for the world title in 2000, Shirov maintained that the match was invalid and he was the rightful challenger.<ref>[http://www.rochadekuppenheim.de/meko/shirov.html Interview by Hartmut Metz] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517060627/http://www.rochadekuppenheim.de/meko/shirov.html |date=2008-05-17 }}, May 2000, translation by Harald Fietz</ref> In 2000, Shirov reached the final of the [[List of World Chess Champions#FIDE World Champ