Alexei Shirov became the U16 World Champion in 1988 and achieved the GM title 1990.

Alexei is the winner of numerous international tournaments: Biel 1991, Madrid 1997, Ter Apel 1997, Monte Carlo 1998, Merida 2000. He won the 2005 Canadian Open Chess Championship.

In May 2009, he achieved one of the greatest triumphs of his career by winning the M-Tel Masters tournament. He went undefeated while scoring 6½/10 with seven draws and three victories, two against Vassily Ivanchuk and the other against Magnus Carlsen in the final round. After his performance Alexei was ranked #5 in the world, his highest placing ever.

In January 2011, he came first in the Remembering Paul Keres Tournament in Tallinn. In May 2011, Alexei won a strong GM round-robin in Lublin, Poland with a score of 5/7.