Chess - The Scotsman 27/03/13

Question: How does White win?

WORLD No 1 Magnus Carlsen has moved a step closer to finally realising his ambition to play for the world championship, as he jumped into the lead in the Candidates Tournament in London. Levon Aronian, who had been tied with Carlsen, suffered his first – and crucial – loss of the event in Monday’s Round 9 against former title challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel, leaving Carlsen ahead by half a point.

Carlsen came into the tournament with heavy expectations of becoming the official title challenger. But in a dramatic round, the Norwegian superstar was made to sweat all the way to avoid a loss that could have blown the tournament wide open, as he salvaged a draw “by a millimetre” according to his opponent, the Russian former world champion Vladimir Kramnik.