Alexander Shabalov

Alexander Shabalov was born in Riga, Latvia, but has made the United States his home for three decades. Shabalov has made his mark on American chess winning every important tournament multiple times. A four-time U.S. Champion (1993, 2000, 2003 and 2007), he has also won or tied for first place seven times in the U.S. Open (1993, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2015 and 2016). Shabalov has also won the World Open five times (1997, 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2012). More recently he won the 2022 U.S. Senior Championship, and in 2024 the over-50 category of the World Senior Chess Championship. Shabalov has played in every US Senior Championship since its inception and on every U.S. entry into the World Senior Team Championship since 2019.

Shabalov is noted for his aggressive and combative style of play and loves to complicate his games. He and Alexi Shirov, another fierce attacker, were influenced by their association with fellow Latvian Mikhail Tal in their youth. The opening sequence 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.g4 is named after Shabalov and Shirov.

Alexander Shabalov was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame in 2015.