ALEXANDER SHABALOV (born Sep-12-1967, 57 years old) Latvia (federation/nationality United States of America) [what is this?] GM Alexander Anatolyevich Shabalov was born in Riga, Latvia in 1967. He studied under former world champion and fellow Rigan Mikhail Tal. He won his IM title in 1989 and his GM title in 1991. About 1992, Shabalov emigrated to the United States with his family and eventually settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is known for courting complications and for an uncompromising, attacking style. Shabalov played for Latvia in the 1986 Soviet Team Championship and for the Riga Chess & Draughts Club in the 2nd Soviet Chess Club Cup held in Podolsk in 1990. He also played in the 1992 Olympiad for Latvia, and in 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000 and Calvia Olympiad (2004) for USA on board 2 or 3 in every case, helping his team to a silver medal in 1998. He has been the United States Champion four times: in 1993 (with Alex Yermolinsky) (1); 2000-2001 (with Joel Benjamin and Yasser Seirawan) (2); in 2003-2004 (3); and most recently in 2007. He was =1st at the American Continental Championship 2009 played in Sao Paulo 2009 alongside Fidel Corrales Jimenez. He played in the FIDE World Championship Tournament (2001/02) and defeated Gregory Kaidanov in the first round before losing to Alexander Khalifman in the 2nd round. He also played in the World Cup (2007) and the World Cup (2009), in the latter event beating Vladimir Baklan in the first round before bowing out in the 2nd round to David Navara. He also qualified for the World Cup (2013) through his strong result in the American Continental Championship 2012; there he played and lost to eventual semi-finalist Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the first round. He was =1st, 3rd on tiebreak, with 8.5/11 behind Julio Ernesto Granda Zuniga and Sam Shankland at the 9th American Continental Championship in October 2014, qualifying for the World Cup in 2015. This will be his fourth participation in the World Cup. In July 2019, Shabalov won the US Senior (50+) Championship, a round-robin tournament of 10 GMs played at the St Louis Chess Club, with +3 =6 -0. In July 2022, he scored +3 =5 -1, tying for first with four other GMs, and won the title after a playoff. Shabalov had managed and had regularly lectured about chess in the House of Chess, a store in the Ross Park Mall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, until it closed in mid-2007. (5) (1); http://graeme.50webs.com/chesschamp...; (2) http://graeme.50webs.com/chesschamp...; (3) http://graeme.50webs.com/chesschamp...; (4) http://graeme.50webs.com/chesschamp...(5); Wikipedia article: Alexander Shabalov; Last updated: 2022-07-18 22:08:46

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page 1 of 76; games 1-25 of 1,888  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. I Jekabsons vs Shabalov 1-0 22 1977 Latvian Junior Championship B29 Sicilian, Nimzovich-Rubinstein 2. Shabalov vs S Terentiev   1-0 28 1977 Latvian Junior Championship B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 3. Shabalov vs A Kazimir   1-0 21 1978 Ch Estonia (juniors) B84 Sicilian, Scheveningen 4. Shabalov vs D Berkovich   0-1 34 1980 USSR Junior Championship B77 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack 5. T Khasanov vs Shabalov   1-0 34 1980 USSR Junior Championship A73 Benoni, Classical, 9.O-O 6. J Vilerts Sr vs Shabalov   0-1 28 1982 LAT Team-ch22 A66 Benoni 7. Dreev vs Shabalov   0-1 41 1982 Sochi U16 selection B27 Sicilian 8. Bareev vs Shabalov   1-0 37 1982 Sochi U16 selection A65 Benoni, 6.e4 9. Shabalov vs Minasian   ½-½ 40 1982 Sochi U16 selection B33 Sicilian 10. Salov vs Shabalov   1-0 62 1983 Leningrad U20-ch D44 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 11. Shabalov vs Efremov   1-0 33 1983 Soviet Army Team Championship E09 Catalan, Closed 12. Shabalov vs V Ronin   1-0 40 1983 Kiev A05 Reti Opening 13. Ivanchuk vs Shabalov   0-1 43 1983 Soviet Army Team Championship E04 Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3 14. Gladysh vs Shabalov   0-1 28 1984 USSR Junior Championship A62 Benoni, Fianchetto Variation 15. Shabalov vs Khalifman   0-1 31 1984 USSR Junior Championship A49 King's Indian, Fianchetto without c4 16. Shabalov vs Smirin   0-1 55 1984 USSR Junior Championship A49 King's Indian, Fianchetto without c4 17. V Ronin vs Shabalov 0-1 46 1985 Kharkov B78 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack, 10.castle long 18. Shabalov vs K Supatashvili   0-1 25 1985 Soviet Army Team Championship C13 French 19. P Martynov vs Shabalov   0-1 42 1985 URS-chT (Juniors) A04 Reti Opening 20. Shabalov vs N Poleshchuk   1-0 40 1985 Soviet Army Team Championship A05 Reti Opening 21. Shabalov vs Minasian   1-0 27 1985 USSR Junior Championship A65 Benoni, 6.e4 22. Shabalov vs M Kapengut   1-0 26 1985 USSR Junior Championship C55 Two Knights Defense 23. V Prokofiev vs Shabalov   0-1 28 1985 USSR Junior Championship B76 Sicilian, Dragon, Yugoslav Attack 24. Shabalov vs M Ulybin   0-1 38 1985 USSR Junior Championship B56 Sicilian 25. A Nosenko vs Shabalov   1-0 45 1985 USSR Junior Championship D11 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav  page 1 of 76; games 1-25 of 1,888

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 4 ·  Later Kibitzing> Nov-28-06    Stellar King: <plang> he was doing a tournament in miami and he's coming back Dec-05-06    RonB52734: <stellar king> and <plang>: GM Shabalov is indeed living in Pittsburgh and is active in the chess community here. He will be giving periodic lectures and simuls at his store/club, the House of Chess. We also hope he will give something like 3 lectures and simuls in 2007 at the Pittsburgh Chess Club. Plus, he has historically given 1 simul per year for the University of Pittsburgh Chess Club. If you want any more specific information, leave a note in my chessforum and I'll get you the answers. Apr-18-07    cn1ght: I've been going to house of chess a few times, he does an good job of going over games, listening to comments, and a few of us come up with better moves then he saw actually... I'd highly recomend it and even more because it's free to watch and listen! Apr-26-07    refutor: <spassky69> that's not the US Championship, it's the US Open, so it would be the same as an American winning the Aeroflot Open or something <chessgames.com> in the bio it says he emigrated to the States as a child. I don't believe this is true. I believe he was a Latvian citizen until 1992, when he came to America May-18-07    RonB52734: <refutor> I think you're right. I'm the one who wrote that bio and now I don't remember why I thought this. He may have said to me that he "came here" as a child with his family and I interpreted that to mean "permanently." I'll track it down, although not, obviously, in the next few days. May-20-07    WannaBe: If he wins the US Championship, we can have 'Road to Shabalov' as pun!! Heck, even if he doesn't win, it's a good pun. May-23-07    Wild Bill: Congratulations to Alex Shabalov, the new US Champ. May-23-07    malthrope: I remember your chess games when you first came to the USA as a young man... I thought to myself, "This guy is really good!" Well, you're still (insert the *asterisk* word here) good and Congrats on winning the US Chess Championship in 2007! ;-) Best Always, - Mal May-23-07    RonB52734: To the bio elves: The bio will have to be updated! May-23-07    iron maiden: It's updated now. Congratulations to the U.S. Champion! May-24-07    Kleve: Congratulations to the new champ! As an Ohio native, a visit to his House of Chess is definitely in order. Power to the fearless attacking players! May-24-07    IMDONE4: Congratz Shaba on your fourth victory in the American CHampionship! I enjoy your reckless, innovative attacking style. The world should take Shabalov on next after Shulman, which would be bound to be an interesting game. May-24-07    RonB52734: <IMDONE4> Capital idea! Jun-10-07    PhilFeeley: The U.S. Championship must have tired him out. Irina Krush just beat him today in Las Vegas in 25 moves! Jun-10-07    Knight13: <PhilFeeley: The U.S. Championship must have tired him out. Irina Krush just beat him today in Las Vegas in 25 moves!> Irina must be very happy. Jun-12-07    RonB52734: Pittsburgh City Council today made today, June 12, 2007 "Alexander Shabalov Day" in the City of Pittsburgh. A fitting honor in the City of Champions. Jun-12-07    PhilFeeley: <Knight13: Irina must be very happy.> Yes. Here is the game. I'm not sure what the threat is at the end. Perhaps someone else can suggest? [Event "Las Vegas International"] [Site "Las Vegas"] [Date "2007.06.10"] [Round "5"] [White "Krush, Irina"] [Black "Shabalov, Alexander"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteELO "2488"] [WhiteTitle "IM"] [BlackELO "2671"] [BlackTitle "GM"] [Source "MonRoi"] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 hxg5 10.Bxg5 Nbd7 11.g3 Qa5 12.exf6 b4 13.Ne4 Ba6 14.Qf3 Rd8 15.Be2 Nb6 16.Nc5 Rd5 17.Nxa6 Qxa6 18.Be3 b3 19.O-O bxa2 20.b3 Kd7 21.bxc4 Rf5 22.Qe4 Qa4 23.Rfc1 Ra5 24.Bd1 Qa3 25.Bf3 1-0 Jun-12-07    nescio: <PhilFeeley> Good game by Krush. In the final position she threatens 26.Qxc6+. E.g. 25...Qa4 26.Rxa2 Qxa2 27.Qxc6+ Kd8 28.Bf4 and the black king won't survive. Jun-14-07    Open Defence: i thought he was a young dude... hehehe the fantasy is ruined... Aug-13-07    laskersteinitz: This guy just won the Continental Open, and is playing this week at the New England Masters. I think he's on his way up now. Aug-13-07    chancho: I doubt he'll ever become an elite player. (he'll be 40 next month) Aug-16-07    RonB52734: <chancho: I doubt he'll ever become an elite player. (he'll be 40 next month)> He is establishing himself as a player to be reckoned with in the US, and as the National Champion he'll play in some part or other of the WCC program. I know the competition at that level is incredible, and you have to go back a ways to find a US player who can hold his own in that kind of competition. I don't know if it will be Alex who will take US chess to the next level or maybe somebody younger, but we sure have reason to be excited here, and especially in Pittsburgh (Alex's town) about chess. And from where I sit, that's what it's all about. One interesting point is whether Alex's recent venture into giving chess lessons and lectures has improved his play? Given the coincidence of his starting to lecture and his recent string of tournament successes, one could at least make the argument, no? Sep-27-07    iron maiden: Shabalov, Nakamura, Izoria, Sadvakasov, Charbonneau and a few other GM's currently taking part in the Miami Open that lasts until the end of this weekend. http://www.themiamichessopen.com/in... Feb-15-08    cn1ght: Shabalov made a comment after one of his tournaments that he felt that his giving lessons at house of chess has increased his playing skill RonB52734, of course that was last year and I have not gotten around to going to house of chess since last year so I'm not sure if his opinion has changed, although I rather doubt it. Also chancho is probably correct in saying he'll not be great, although he's a gm for crying out loud, but I cannot see him achieving greatness. In fact he himself had made a comment once that he shied away from that path because at a tournament he was sharing a room with another person, the other guy woke up and sat in front of his computer, shabalov went out for the day and did other stuff, came back 8 hours later and the guy was still looking at almost the same position and shabalov realized that he does not want that situation for himself, I can't blame him. Jun-01-08    Peligroso Patzer: I suggest that CG.com add to their database the following game (presumably played at the World Open), which appears in Starting Out: Slav and Semi-Slav by Glenn Flear (Everyman 2005) at pages 128-129: V. Mikhalevsky vs. A. Shabalov (Philadelphia 2003) 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 dxc4 6.e4 b5 7.e5 h6 8.Bh4 g5 9.Nxg5 hxg5 10.Bxg5 Nbd7 11.exf6 Bb7 12.g3 Qc7 13.Bg2 c5 14.0–0 Bxg2 15.Kxg2 Qb7+ 16.f3 0–0–0 17.a4 Nb6 18.axb5 cxd4 19.Ne4 Bh6 20.Bxh6 Rxh6 21.Qd2 Rh5 22.Qb4 Kb8 23.Nc5 Qd5 24.Qa5 Qxc5 25.Qxa7+ Kc8 26.Ra6 Qe5 27.Qxb6 Qe2+ 28.Rf2 Rxh2+ 29.Kxh2 Qxf2+ 30.Kh3 Rh8+ 31.Kg4 Rg8+ 0–1 Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 4) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 4 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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