In September 2010, Shirov participated in the Grand Slam Chess Masters preliminary tournament in Shanghai from September 3 to 8, where he faced world No. 4 Levon Aronian, world No. 5 Vladimir Kramnik, and Wang Hao; the top two scorers qualified for the Grand Slam final supertournament from October 9 to 15 in Bilbao against world No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and world champion Viswanathan Anand.
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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.
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Shirov is the winner of numerous international tournaments: Biel 1991, Madrid 1997 (shared first place with Veselin Topalov), Ter Apel 1997, Monte Carlo 1998, Mérida 2000, two time winner of the Paul Keres Memorial Tournament in Tallinn, with victories in 2004 and 2005 just to name a few.
Alexei Kosygin | Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia | Alexei Sayle | Alexei Yagudin | Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia | Alexei Radzievsky | Alexei Panshin | Alexei Nemov | Alexei Lubimov | Alexei Maxim Russell | Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov | Alexei Filippenko | Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov | ''Rasputitsa (Sea of Mud)'', 1894, Alexei Savrasov | ''Losiny Ostrov in Sokolniki'' by Alexei Savrasov | Alexei Volodin | Alexei Tsvetkov | Alexei Shirov | Alexei Seliverstov | Alexei Savrasov | Alexei Ramírez | Alexei Ramirez | Alexei Popogrebski | Alexei Ponikarovsky | Alexei Petukhov | Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia | Alexei Nikolaevich Leont'ev | Alexei Mikhailovich Vasiliev | Alexei Kudrin | Alexei Komech |
So instead a match was organised between Kramnik and the next person in the ratings list, Alexei Shirov, from 24 May to 5 June 1998 in Cazorla, Spain.