Alexei Shirov (born July 4, 1972) was originally from Riga, Latvia but has represented Spain for many years. A great tactician who has been compared to Mikhail Tal under whom he studied in his youth, he is also a strong endgame player.
Shirov considers himself a calculator and explained that the search for truth in sharp games with lots of tactics has always fascinated him. As a youngster he was fascinated by the games of Tal and, surprisingly, Alexander Koblentz (1916 – 1993), also from Riga, because their games were filled with tactics.
However, he always tried to be more than just a tactician and worked with the positional player Vladimir Bagirov in order develop his understanding of strategy. Working with Bagirov helped him gain an understanding of typical middlegame positions. It’s sounds strange, but Shirov himself believes that the endgame is his strongest area, perhaps as he wrote, because he is a player “with a very concrete style.”
Soviet literature has long been filled with the word “concrete”. When one thinks of concrete it’s usually the building material made from a mixture of broken stone or gravel, sand, cement and water that can be spread or poured into molds and that forms a mass resembling stone after it hardens. But, concrete also can mean existing in a material or physical form; not abstract. So, in that context when speaking of a concrete style or concrete analysis, they mean general principles and time honored maxims are thrown out the window in favor of specific threats that need to be calculated exactly and in an objective manner.
Shirov won the world under 16 championship in 1988 and finished second on tiebreaks to Ilya Gurevich in the world under 20 championship in 1990. After that he began winning many international tournaments and by the age of 22 his rating had shot up to 2750 which put him among the elite and by 1994 he was ranked number two in the world.
In 1998 he was number four in the world and was invited to play a ten-game match against Vladimir Kramnik to select a challenger for Kasparov. Shirov won, scoring +2 -0 =7, but the planned match with Kasparov never came off. You can read about the whole really messy situation in the Wikipedia article HERE.
Since that time Shirov has enjoyed a whole string of successes in international tournaments, but glory fades fast these days and his current rating of 2667 only places him number 74 in the world.
Shirov’s books on his best games are a good investment if you like tactics, opening analysis and an endgame play explained in what is more like an instructional book than a collection of computer generated variations.
The following game is from Fire On Board and was played against British GM Danny King in Gausdal, Norway in 1994. Shirov was not particularly successful, scoring 6-3 in the 45 player Swiss tournament because the two games per day schedule didn’t suit him.
He wrote that he wasn’t particularly proud of the game, but the final combination, which he saw all the way to the end, was one of the nicest of his career. Shirov said that when he showed the position after 31...Bc5 to several good players they took considerable time to find the winning move. But, when he showed it to Alexander Koblentz, he instantly saw all the correct moves. All this ought to be enough to make one want to play over the game!
Just a word about Shirov’ annotations that appeared in Fire On Board: in the introduction he admitted that he was too busy to “go deep inside every game in the book.” As a result some had deep annotations, some just brief notes. Because he wasn’t particularly proud of this game it didn’t receive a lot of attention except for the final combination. But, I think it’s a good game to play over with a board and pieces actually set up in order to train your eye for tactics...assuming you’re one of those people who are interested in actually studying chess.
[Event "Gausdal Troll Masters"]
[Site "Gausdal NOR"]
[Date "1990.1.??"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Alexey Shirov"]
[Black "Danny King"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
%Created by Caissa's Web PGN Editor
1. d4 e6 2. c4 Bb4+ 3. Nc3 c5 {At the time Shirov was playing the 4.f3 line,
but here he delays it a move. As he pointed out, when black plays ...c5 then
the f2-f3 line is even stronger than if black plays ...d5. } 4. d5 Nf6 5. f3
{Arriving at one of his favorite positions. } 5... exd5 {This gives white a
positional advantage. The critical lines are either 5...O-O or 5...b5. } 6.
cxd5 d6 7. e4 O-O 8. Nge2 a6 {In Sakaev-Vladimirov, Tomsk 2001 black tried
8...Nh5 and after 9.g4 Qh4+ and and then he sacrificed a piece with 10...f5
but didn't get enough compensation. Better would have been 10...Nf6 but white
would still be somewhat better. } 9. Ng3 b5 10. a4 bxa4 11. Qxa4 Nbd7 12. Be2
Nb6 13. Qc2 a5 14. O-O c4 {Objectively the best move is now 15.Be3 or 15.Bg5,
but here Shirov abandons his concrete style as mentioned in the introduction.
His reason...who can avoid the temptation to create a direct attack on the
enemy King? } 15. Nd1 Ba6 {Shirov did not comment on this move which protects
the c-Pawn, but after this white obtains a distinct advantage. Black might
have done better repositioning his N on f6 to c5 with 15...Nd7-c5. Note that
white couldn't take the P because after 16.Bxc4 Nxc4 17.Qxc4 Ba3 wins the
exchanges. } 16. Ne3 Nfd7 17. Nef5 g6 {Here, too, Shirov makes no comment, but
this looks to weaken black's K-side. There does not appear to be anything
wrong with 17...Nc5. White could then play his N to d5 and c6, but that does
not seem to offer him anything special. } 18. Nh6+ Kh8 {Better was 18...Kg7
because the K ends up there anyway. } 19. Be3 f6 20. f4 a4 21. Kh1 Qc7 {Shirov
mentions he was planning on meeting 21...Bc5 with 28.Bxc5 Nxc5 with 23. e5,
but that move doesn't look so great. However, after 23.f5 it looks like white
is going to get a promising attack. } 22. Rad1 Kg7 23. f5 Ne5 24. fxg6 hxg6
25. Ng4 Nxg4 26. Bxg4 c3 27. Rf3 {Sweet! Shirov makes the instructive comment
that he was just bringing his pieces into the danger area in the hopes that
there would be a mate somewhere. } 27... Nc4 28. Be6 Nxe3 29. Rxe3 Rh8 30.
Rf3 {Again, for whatever reason Shirov does not comment on this, but he missed
a humdinger of a move...30.e5!! If black captures on e4 either way then
31.Nf5+ leads to a winning attack. } 30... Qc4 31. bxc3 Bc5 {31...Qb3
doesn't work. 32.Qd2 and the threat is Rxf6+ and Qf4+ leading to mate. } 32.
e5 {Spotted by engines instantly, but missed by many strong players Shirov
showed this position to. Black's position is so bad that the best the engines
can come up with is the worthless 32...Rxh2+ } 32... dxe5 33. Nf5+ gxf5 34.
Rg3+ Kf8 35. Qxf5 Qf4 36. Qg6 Ra7 37. Rh3 Rxh3 38. Qg8+ Ke7 39. d6+ {After
this white has a mate in 3.} 1-0
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