in may/june 2007 he played in the candidates tournament of the fide world chess championship. he won his first round match against michael adams (+1-1=4, won in rapid playoff), but was eliminated when he lost his second round match to levon aronian (+0-1=5). in november/december 2007 shirov played in the chess world cup. he lost in the final 2.5-1.5 to gata kamsky.