Chess: How does White win?

WE'RE down to the final two fighting it out in the candidates' matches in Kazan.Alexander Grischuk, of Russia, plays Boris Gelfand of Israel, in a six-game match with the winner going forward to challenge reigning champion Vishwanathan Anand for the world crown.

In an upset for the form books, all the pre-tournament favourites went out and Grischuk and Gelfand get a once-in-a-lifetime chance of playing in a world championship match. Grischuk, 27, is the more dynamic of the two, and splits his time between chess and poker (he has won big-time on the European Poker Tour). Veteran Gelfand, 42, is known as a solid player and this is likely his last chance at getting a shot at the world championship title.

Of the two, the only player who would have no fear taking on Anand is Grischuk – and ironically he was only allowed to compete in Kazan because Magnus Carlsen walked away from the world championship cycle last year. The Russian also showed remarkable survival skills to triumph over Levon Aronian in the quarter-finals when lesser players would have folded.

Spare a thought, though for nearly man Alexei Shirov. He's the only player ever to go down in history as the winner of a candidates' match final, but his world championship match failed to materialise – and he then saw the player he beat, Vladimir Kramnik, go on to challenge and successfully dethrone Garry Kasparov. Currently, Shirov is setting an electric pace on 3.5/4 at the Lublin Memorial in Poland.

A Shirov - E Alekseev

3rd Lublin Memorial, (4)

King's Gambit Accepted

1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Nf3 h6 4 Nc3 d6 5 d4 g5 6 g3 Bg7 7 gxf4 g4 8 Rg1 Kf8 9 Be3 Nc6 10 d5 Nb4 11 a3 gxf3 12 axb4 Qh4+ 13 Rg3 Nf6 14 Qxf3 Nh5 15 Be2 Nxg3 16 hxg3 Qd8 17 Kd2 Bd7 18 e5 dxe5 19 f5 b6 20 d6! Be8 21 f6 Bxf6 22 Rf1 Bg5 23 Bc4 Qxd6+ 24 Ke2 Bxe3 25 Qxa8 Qd2+ 26 Kf3 f5 27 Qc8 Kg7 28 Qxc7+ Kf8 29 Qxe5 Bh5+ 30 g4 Bxg4+ 31 Kg3 Qd4 32 Qb8+ Kg7 33 Qc7+ Kg6 34 Qf7+ Kg5 35 Qe7+ 1–0