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Women's World Chess Championship

The Women's World Chess Championship (WWCC) is
played to determine the women's world champion in chess. Like
the World Chess Championship, it is administered by FIDE.

Unlike with most sports recognized by the International Olympic

Committee, where competition is either "mixed" (containing
everyone) or split into men and women,[1] in chess women are
both allowed to compete in the "open" division (including the
World Chess Championship) yet also have a separate Women's
Championship (only open to females).[2]

Contents
History
Era of Menchik
Dominance of the Soviet Union players (1950–1991)
Post-Soviet era (1991–2010)
Yearly tournaments (2010–2018)
Return to match-only format Current Women's World Chess
Champion Ju Wenjun from China
Women's World Chess Champions
List of Women's World Chess Championships
See also
References
External links

History

Era of Menchik

The Women's World Championship was established by FIDE in 1927 as a single tournament held
alongside the Chess Olympiad. The winner of that tournament, Vera Menchik, did not have any special
rights as the men's champion did—instead she had to defend her title by playing as many games as all
the challengers. She did this successfully in every other championship in her lifetime (1930, 1931, 1933,
1935, 1937 and 1939).

Dominance of the Soviet Union players (1950–1991)

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Menchik died, still champion, in 1944 in a German air raid on Kent.

The next championship was another round-robin tournament in
1949–50 and was won by Lyudmila Rudenko. Thereafter a system
similar to that of the men's championship was established, with a
cycle of Candidates events (and later Interzonals) to pick a
challenger to face the reigning champion.

The first such Candidates tournament was held in Moscow, 1952.

Elisaveta Bykova won and proceeded to defeat Rudenko with seven
wins, five losses, and two draws to become the third champion. The 1981 Women's World
next Candidates tournament was won by Olga Rubtsova. Instead of Championship, Maia Chiburdanidze
directly playing Bykova, however, FIDE decided that the vs. Nana Alexandria
championship should be held between the three top players in the
world. Rubtsova won at Moscow in 1956, one-half point ahead of
Bykova, who finished five points ahead of Rudenko. Bykova regained the title in 1958 and defended it
against Kira Zvorykina, winner of a Candidates tournament, in 1959.

The fourth Candidates tournament was held in 1961 in Vrnjacka Banja, and was utterly dominated by
Nona Gaprindashvili of Georgia, who won with ten wins, zero losses, and six draws. She then decisively
defeated Bykova with seven wins, no losses, and four draws in Moscow, 1962 to become champion.
Gaprindashvili defended her title against Alla Kushnir of Russia at Riga 1965 and Tbilisi/Moscow 1969.
In 1972, FIDE introduced the same system for the women's championship as with the men's: a series of
Interzonal tournaments, followed by the Candidates matches. Kushnir won again, only to be defeated by
Gaprindashvili at Riga 1972. Gaprindashvili defended the title one last time against Nana Alexandria of
Georgia at Pitsunda/Tbilisi 1975.

In 1976–1978 Candidates cycle, 17-year-old Maya Chiburdanidze of Georgia ended up the surprise star,
defeating Nana Alexandria, Elena Akhmilovskaya, and Alla Kushnir to face Gaprindashvili in the 1978
finals at Tbilisi. Chiburdanidze proceeded to soundly defeat Gaprindashvili, marking the end of one
Georgian's domination and the beginning of another's. Chiburdanidze defended her title against
Alexandria at Borjomi/Tbilisi 1981 and Irina Levitina at Volgograd 1984. Following this, FIDE
reintroduced the Candidates tournament system. Akhmilovskaya, who had earlier lost to Chiburdanidze
in the Candidates matches, won the tournament was but was still defeated by Chiburdanidze at Sofia
1986. Chiburdanidze's final title defense came against Nana Ioseliani at Telavi 1988.

Post-Soviet era (1991–2010)

Chiburdanidze's domination ended in Manila 1991, where the young Chinese star Xie Jun defeated her,
after finishing second to the still-active Gaprindashvili in an Interzonal, tying with Alisa Marić in the
Candidates tournament, and then beating Maric in a tie-breaker match.

It was during this time that the three Polgar sisters Susan (also known as Zsuzsa), Sofia (Zsófia), and
Judit emerged as dominant players. However they tended to compete in men's tournaments, avoiding
the women's championship.

Susan Polgar eventually changed her policy. She won the 1992 Candidates tournament in Shanghai. The
Candidates final—an eight-game match between the top two finishers in the tournament—was a drawn
match between Polgar and Ioseliani, even after two tiebreaks. The match was decided by a lottery, which
Ioseliani won. She was then promptly crushed by Xie Jun (8½–2½) in the championship at Monaco
1993.

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The next cycle was dominated by Polgar. She tied with Chiburdanidze in the Candidates tournament,
defeated her easily in the match (5½–1½), and then decisively defeated Xie Jun (8½–4½) in Jaén 1996
for the championship.

In 1997, Russian Alisa Galliamova and Chinese Xie Jun finished first and second, but Galliamova refused
to play the final match entirely in China. FIDE eventually awarded the match to Xie Jun by default.

However, by the time all these delays were sorted out, Polgar had given birth to her first child. She
requested that the match be postponed. FIDE refused, and eventually set up the championship to be
between Galliamova and Xie Jun. The championship was held in Kazan, Tatarstan and Shenyang, China,
and Xie Jun won with five wins, three losses, and seven draws.

In 2000 a knock-out event, similar to the FIDE men's title and held alongside it, was the new format of
the women's world championship. It was won by Xie Jun. In 2001 a similar event determined the
champion, Zhu Chen. Another knock-out, this one held separately from the men's event, in Elista, the
capital of the Russian republic of Kalmykia (of which FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is president),
from May 21 to June 8, 2004, produced Bulgarian Antoaneta Stefanova as champion. As with Polgar five
years prior, Zhu Chen did not participate due to pregnancy.

In 2006 the title returned to China. The new champion Xu Yuhua was pregnant during the
championship.

In 2008, the title went to Russian grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk, who, in the final, beat Chinese
prodigy Hou Yifan 2½–1½, then aged 14 (see Women's World Chess Championship 2008).

In 2010 the title returned to China once again. Hou Yifan, the runner-up in the previous championship,
became the youngest ever women's world champion at the age of 16. She beat her compatriot WGM
Ruan Lufei 2–2 (classic) 3–1 (rapid playoffs).

Yearly tournaments (2010–2018)

Beginning from 2010, the Women's World Chess Championship

would be held annually in alternating formats. In even years a
64-player knockout system would be used, in the odd years a
classical match featuring only two players would be held.[3] The
2011 edition was between the 2010 champion Hou Yifan and the
winner of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2009–2011. Since Hou
Yifan won the Grand Prix, her challenger was the runner-up,
Koneru Humpy.[4]

In 2011 Hou Yifan successfully defended her women's world Women's World Chess Championship,
Tirana 2011
champion title in the Women's World Chess Championship 2011
in Tirana, Albania against Koneru Humpy. Hou won three
games and drew five in the ten-game match, winning the title
with two games to spare.

Hou Yifan was knocked-out in the second round in Women's World Chess Championship 2012, which
was played in Khanty Mansiysk. Anna Ushenina, seeded 30th in the tournament, won the final against
Antoaneta Stefanova 3½–2½.

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The Women's World Chess Championship 2013 was a match over 10 games between defending
champion Anna Ushenina and Hou Yifan who had won the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2011–2012. After
seven of ten games Hou Yifan won the match 5.5 to 1.5 to retake the title.

After Hou declined to defend her title at the Women's World Chess Championship 2015, the title was
won by Mariya Muzychuk, who defeated Natalia Pogonina in the final.

Hou defeated Muzychuk 6-3 to reclaim the Women's World Chess Championship 2016 title for her 4th
championship in March 2016.

The following year Tan Zhongyi defeated Anna Muzychuk for the title at the Women's World Chess
Championship 2017.

Tan lost the title defending it against Ju Wenjun (with Hou not participating at this event) at the
Women's World Chess Championship Match 2018.

Return to match-only format

Due to various hosting and timing issues, the championships had varied from their intended annual
calendar in recent years.[5] FIDE held a second world championship in 2018 in order to get back on
schedule.[6]

After the 2018 championship tournament the new FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich announced the
format would be changed back to matches only. He said the many different champions the yearly system
created discredited the championship title as a whole.[7] Aleksandra Goryachkina won the Candidates
tournament, held in June 2019, to challenge for the World Championship. Ju Wenjun retained her title
in the 2020 Championship.

Women's World Chess Champions

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Name Years Country

Vera Menchik 1927–1944 Russia (in exile) / Czechoslovakia / United Kingdom

none 1944–1950 World War II

Lyudmila Rudenko 1950–1953 Soviet Union (Ukrainian SSR)

Elisaveta Bykova 1953–1956 Soviet Union (Russian SFSR)

Olga Rubtsova 1956–1958 Soviet Union (Russian SFSR)

Elisaveta Bykova 1958–1962 Soviet Union (Russian SFSR)

Nona Gaprindashvili 1962–1978 Soviet Union (Georgian SSR)

Maia Chiburdanidze 1978–1991 Soviet Union (Georgian SSR)

Xie Jun 1991–1996 China

Susan Polgar 1996–1999 Hungary

Xie Jun 1999–2001 China

Zhu Chen 2001–2004 China

Antoaneta Stefanova 2004–2006 Bulgaria

Xu Yuhua 2006–2008 China

Alexandra Kosteniuk 2008–2010 Russia

Hou Yifan 2010–2012 China

Anna Ushenina 2012–2013 Ukraine

Hou Yifan 2013–2015 China

Mariya Muzychuk 2015–2016 Ukraine

Hou Yifan 2016–2017 China

Tan Zhongyi 2017–2018 China

Ju Wenjun 2018– China

List of Women's World Chess Championships

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World Won Lost Draw

Year Host country Host city Runner-up(s) Format
champion (+) (−) (=)
Women's World Chess Championship (1927–1944)

Vera 12-player
United
1927 London 11 players 10 0 1 round-robin
Kingdom Menchik tournament

Vera 5-player double

1930 Germany Hamburg 4 players 6 1 1 round-robin
Menchik tournament

Vera 5-player double

1931 Prague 4 players 8 0 0 round-robin
Czechoslovakia Menchik tournament

Vera 8-player double

United
1933 Folkestone 7 players 14 0 0 round-robin
Kingdom Menchik tournament
Vera Sonja
1934 Rotterdam 3 1 0 4-game match
Netherlands Menchik Graf

Vera 10-player
1935 Poland Warsaw 9 players 9 0 0 round-robin
Menchik tournament

Vera 26-player
1937 Sweden Stockholm 25 players 14 0 0 Swiss-system
Menchik tournament
Vera Sonja
1937 Austria Semmering 9 2 5 16-game match
Menchik Graf
20-player
Vera
1939 Argentina Buenos Aires 19 players 17 0 2 round-robin
Menchik
tournament
Vera Menchik died in 1944 as reigning world champion.
Women's World Chess Championship (1944–1950)
Interregnum
Women's World Chess Championship (1950–1999)
16-player
Soviet Lyudmila
1950 Moscow 15 players 11½ points out of 15 round-robin
Union Rudenko
tournament
Soviet Elisaveta Lyudmila
1953 Moscow 7 5 2 14-game match
Union Bykova Rudenko
3-player
(Rubtsova,
Soviet Olga Elisaveta Bykova,
1956 Moscow 10 points out of 16
Union Rubtsova Bykova Rudenko)
octuple round-
robin
Soviet Elisaveta Olga
1958 Moscow 7 4 3 14-game match
Union Bykova Rubtsova
Soviet Elisaveta Kira
1959 Moscow 6 2 5 13-game match
Union Bykova Zvorykina
Soviet Nona Elisaveta
1962 Moscow 7 0 4 11-game match
Union Gaprindashvili Bykova
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1965 Soviet Riga Nona Alla 7 3 3 13-game match

Union Gaprindashvili Kushnir
Soviet Tbilisi Nona Alla
1969 6 2 5 14-game match
Union Moscow Gaprindashvili Kushnir
Soviet Nona Alla
1972 Riga 5 4 7 16-game match
Union Gaprindashvili Kushnir
Soviet Pitsunda Nona Nana
1975 8 3 1 12-game match
Union Tbilisi Gaprindashvili Alexandria
Soviet Maia Nona
1978 Tbilisi 4 2 9 15-game match
Union Chiburdanidze Gaprindashvili
Soviet Borjomi Maia Nana 16-game match
1981 4 4 8
Union Tbilisi Chiburdanidze Alexandria (draw)
Soviet Maia Irina
1984 Volgograd 5 2 7 14-game match
Union Chiburdanidze Levitina
Maia Elena
1986 Bulgaria Sofia 4 1 9 14-game match
Chiburdanidze Akhmilovskaya
Soviet Maia Nana
1988 Telavi 3 2 11 16-game match
Union Chiburdanidze Ioseliani

Xie Jun Maia

1991 Philippines Manila 4 2 9 15-game match
Chiburdanidze
Nana
1993 Monaco Monaco Xie Jun 7 1 3 11-game match
Ioseliani

Spain Susan Xie Jun

1996 Jaén 6 2 5 13-game match
Polgar
Russia Kazan Alisa
1999 Xie Jun 5 3 7 15-game match
China Shenyang Galliamova
Women's World Chess Championship (2000–2018) (addition of the knockout format)
64-player
knock-out
Qin tournament (4-
2000 India New Delhi Xie Jun 1 0 3
Kanying game
championship
match)
64-player
knock-out
Zhu Alexandra tournament (4-
2001 Russia Moscow 2+3 2+1 0 game
Chen Kosteniuk championship
match, plus tie-
breaks)
64-player
knock-out
Ekaterina tournament (4-
2004 Russia Elista Antoaneta 2 0 1 game
Kovalevskaya championship
Stefanova
match, won
early)
2006 Russia Yekaterinburg Xu Yuhua Alisa 2 0 1 64-player
Galliamova knock-out
tournament (4-
game
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championship
match, won
early)
64-player
knock-out
Russia Hou Yifan tournament (4-
2008 Nalchik Alexandra 1 0 3
game
Kosteniuk championship
match)
64-player
knock-out
Ruan tournament (4-
2010 Turkey Hatay Hou Yifan 1+2 1 2+2 game
Lufei championship
match, plus tie-
breaks)

Humpy 10-game
2011 Albania Tirana Hou Yifan 3 0 5 match, won
Koneru early
64-player
knock-out
Anna Antoaneta tournament (4-
Russia Khanty-
2012 1+1 1 2+1 game
Mansiysk Ushenina Stefanova
championship
match, plus tie-
breaks)

Anna 10-game
2013 China Taizhou Hou Yifan 4 0 3 match, won
Ushenina early
64-player
knock-out
Mariya Natalia tournament (4-
2015 Russia Sochi 1 0 3
Muzychuk Pogonina game
championship
match)

Mariya 10-game
2016 Ukraine Lviv Hou Yifan 3 0 6 match, won
Muzychuk early
64-player
knock-out
Tan Anna tournament (4-
2017 Iran Tehran 1+1 1 2+1 game
Zhongyi Muzychuk championship
match, plus tie-
breaks)
May Shanghai Ju Tan
China 3 2 5 10-game match
2018 Chongqing Wenjun Zhongyi
64-player
knock-out
Ju Kateryna tournament (4-
Nov Russia Khanty-
1+2 1 2+2 game
2018 Mansiysk Wenjun Lagno championship
match, plus tie-
breaks)
Women's World Chess Championship (2020) (return to match format only)
2020 China Shanghai Ju 3+1 3 6+3 12-game match
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Russia Vladivostok Wenjun Aleksandra (plus tie-

Goryachkina breaks)

See also
Development of the Women's World Chess Championship
World Chess Championship
Women's World Team Chess Championship 2009
List of female chess players

References
1. See for instance the discussion in the Dutee Chand decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport
regarding the International Association of Athletics Federations: [1] (http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/
user_upload/award_internet.pdf)
2. Handbook - FIDE Statutes (https://www.fide.com/fide/handbook). FIDE.
3. Regulations for the Women’s World Chess Championship Cycle (http://www.fide.com/FIDE/handboo
k/regulationsWWCC.pdf). FIDE.
4. "Regulations and Bidding Procedure for the Women's Grand-Prix 2009-2010" (http://old.fide.com/co
mponent/content/article/1-fide-%7C%7Cs/3089-regulations-and-bidding-procedure-for-the-womens-g
rand-prix-2009-2010). FIDE. 30 July 2008. Retrieved 10 October 2019
5. FIDE General Assembly Agenda (https://www.fide.com/images/stories/NEWS_2016/FIDE_News/GA
_Agenda_2016/2016_General_Assembly_Agenda.pdf) (5.20.8)
6. FIDE Calendar 2018 (http://old.fide.com/index.php?option=com_fidecalendar&view=fidecalendar&ny
=2018). FIDE.
7. "A. Dvorkovich: Format of the Women's World Championship Cycle will be changed – Women's
World Championship 2018" (https://ugra2018.fide.com/2018/10/13/a-dvorkovich-format-of-the-wome
n-s-world-championship-cycle-will-be-changed/). ugra2018.fide.com. 2018-10-13. Retrieved
2019-10-10.

External links
WCC for Women (Interzonal, Candidates, World Championship) (http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/
wcc-womn.htm)
A history of women's world chess champions (http://www.mark-weeks.com/aboutcom/aa04c20.htm)
Chessbase report on 2006 championship (http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2910)

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