Alexei Shirov

Finalist of the FIDE World Championship Knockout 2000

Highest FIDE Elo Rating: 2755

Ranking: highest world number two

Tournament career: winner of seven super-tournaments:

Biel Chess Festival 1991, Leon 1995,  Madrid 1997

and a few others…

1998 Candidates Match: Shirov vs Kramnik 5.5:3.5, but the match for the title with Kasparov never took place.

Chess Olympiads: without success

Why he deserved it:

Shirov is a player whose chess peak precisely coincided with the period of the chess schism from 1993-2006, during which we had two world champions. His career probably suffered somewhat from the constantly changing formats of various world championships, and it was simply a mess.

Shirov was selected based on his rating as the opponent of Vladimir Kramnik in the candidates match to determine who would challenge Garry Kasparov for the classical title. Shirov won this match, but the title match with Kasparov never took place. Kasparov’s rival chess association failed to find sponsors. It took another two years before another match took place, and ironically it was Kramnik, whom Shirov had defeated, who faced Kasparov. And the rest is history, Kramnik defeated Kasparov and became the world champion.

When it didn’t work out for Shirov there, he tried his luck with the competition and reached the final of the FIDE World Championship Knockout in 2000, defeating Gelfand, Bareev, and Grischuk. However, in the final, Vishy Anand was too strong for him.

Why he’s not higher:

His seven victories in super-tournaments are impressive, but at the same time, they do not stand out from the usual numbers of the top players of his time. His highest ranking at second in the world is misleading because it came at a time when Garry Kasparov, who had a higher rating, was excluded from the FIDE rankings.

Best game:

Veselin Topalov vs Alexei Shirov

Linares 1998