China's Xu Yuhua is only one step away from being crowned world chess queen after the fifth-seeded player reached the world championship final.

Xu had a fierce clash against Russian veteran Svetlana Matveeva in their second semi-final contest. After 66 moves, Xu has emerged as the winner to enter the final with one win and one draw in the previous day's game.

In another semi-final, Russian Alisa Galliamova has beaten Viktorija Cmilyte of Lithuania to reach the finals. The Russian managed to escape from a loss after drawing with Cmilyte in their first semi-final game.

The final between Xu Yuhua and Alisa Galliamova begins on Thursday. They will play four games to decide the winner.

(CRI English, March 22, 2006)