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 world champion garry kasparov. shirov won the match with two wins, no losses and seven draws. 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.