Recently I wrote a short piece on Vija Rozhlapa, Shirov's first trainer, here is the part concerning Alexey. Vija Rozhlapa is a Latvian chess player and trainer. She learned to play chess at age 12, so at about this time a round anniversary could be celebrated – her 50 years in chess. Rozhlapa’s greatest contribution to the world chess scene is Alexey Shirov – she was his first trainer (and I was lucky to be present in this process, being in the same group of her pupils in 1978–83). Of course, once Shirov’s father had brought Alexey to Riga Chess School, any trainer there would have noticed his enormous tactical talent. His love of chess and obsessive desire to win every game would have brought him at least to strong master’s level in any case. Still, I dare say that Rozhlapa’s work was essentially important in Shirov’s becoming a world class player. It was a miracle to see how this unhealthily thin, very nervous and, frankly, at times quite nerdy boy gradually changed under Rozhlapa’s strict and loving guidance. It was a monumental task to teach this chess-obsessed kid that he needs to eat properly, to exercise physically, not only mentally, etc. And within chess – to make him study My System by Aaron Nimzowitsch (another player from Riga), endgames and other fundamentals which often seem boring to kids who are successful as attacking players

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