A full English translation of Alexei Shirov’s answers to reader questions at Crestbook has just been published. The Latvian firebrand is asked about chess tactics and openings but also, for instance, about “the most important thing in a woman”.
Alexei Shirov and his daughter at the Bilbao Masters Final 2010 | © Fred Lucas, from Chessbase report
The KC-Conference with Alexei Shirov was translated by my Crestbook co-translator Dana Mackenzie, who introduces it, with a good explanation of the format of the “people’s” interview, at his chess blog.
Just as a very quick taster of what you can expect, here’s Shirov on the top 5:
kif: Alexei, how would you describe in one or two words (whatever comes to mind first) each of the top 5?
1. Veselin Topalov. Veselin’s play displays an extraordinary amount of commitment, a constant striving to realize his abilities to the maximum extent.
2. Viswanathan Anand. An extremely deep sense of dynamics, and the most rapid and precise calculation.
3. Levon Aronian. The most successful player with an ultra-aggressive style. He achieves this result thanks to his rare intuition in the sharpest positions.
4. Magnus Carlsen. A very multifaceted player with an outstanding sense of the endgame. You never know what key he is going to play in.
5. Vladimir Kramnik. An extremely strong analyst.
Be sure to read the interview in full at Crestbook: