Alexander Shabalov

For the Russian football player, see Aleksandr Shabalov.

Alexander Shabalov
File:Shabalov0201 057.jpg Alexander Shabalov at the 2002 U.S. Chess Championships
Country	Soviet Union Latvia United States
Born	(1967-09-12) September 12, 1967 Riga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2528 (July 2024)
Peak rating	2645 (July 1998)

Alexander Shabalov (Russian: Александр Анатольевич Шабалов, Aleksandr Anatolyevich Shabalov; Latvian: Aleksandrs Šabalovs; born September 12, 1967) is an American chess grandmaster. He is a four-time winner of the United States Chess Championship, with his most recent title coming in 2007.

In 2009 Shabalov shared first place with Fidel Corrales Jimenez in the American Continental Chess Championship.

He was born in Riga, Latvia, and like his fellow Latvians Alexei Shirov and Mikhail Tal he is known for courting complications even at the cost of objective soundness. As of the January 2013 rating supplement Shabalov had a United States Chess Federation rating of 2657, ranking him 18th best among American chess players.

Shabalov regularly lectured chess players of all ages at the House of Chess, a store that he ran at the Ross Park Mall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, until it closed in mid-2007.

Notable games

• Alexey Shirov vs Alexander Shabalov, Rapidplay 2001, Spanish Game: Schliemann Defense, Dyckhoff Variation (C63), 0-1
• Alexander Shabalov vs Varuzhan Akobian, US Championships 2003 2003, French Defense: Advance, Lputian Variation (C02), 1-0
• Alexander Shabalov vs John Fedorowicz, US Championships 2003 2003, Benko Gambit: Accepted, Pawn Return Variation (A57), 1-0

External links

• Alexander Shabalov rating card at FIDE
• Alexander Shabalov player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• Alexander Shabalov chess games at 365Chess.com
• Alexander Shabalov USCF profile
• Interview with Alexander Shabalov

Achievements
Preceded by Patrick Wolff	United States Chess Champion 1993 (with Alex Yermolinsky)	Succeeded by Boris Gulko
Preceded by Boris Gulko	United States Chess Champion 2000-2001 (with Joel Benjamin and Yasser Seirawan)	Succeeded by Larry Christiansen
Preceded by Larry Christiansen	United States Chess Champion 2003–2004	Succeeded by Hikaru Nakamura
Preceded by Alexander Onischuk	United States Chess Champion 2007	Succeeded by Yuri Shulman