The Candidates Tournament is a chess tournament organized by FIDE, chess's international governing body, since 1950, as the final contest to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship. The winner of the Candidates earns the right to a match for the World Championship against the incumbent world champion.
The Women's World Chess Championship is a chess match played to determine the Women's World Chess Champion. It has been administered by FIDE since its inception in 1927, unlike the absolute World Chess Championship, which only came under FIDE's control in 1948.
Tan Zhongyi is a Chinese chess player who holds the title of grandmaster (GM). She is a former Women's World Champion, winning the 2017 knockout edition of the world championship in Iran where she defeated Anna Muzychuk in the final. Tan is also a former Women's World Rapid Champion. She is the three-time reigning Chinese women's national champion, and is a five-time national champion overall with titles in 2015, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Ju Wenjun is a Chinese chess grandmaster and the current Women's World Champion. In March 2017, she became the fifth woman to achieve a rating of 2600. She is a four-time Women's World Chess Champion, having won the title first in May 2018. She then defended her title in November 2018, 2020, and 2023.
The FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2011–12 was a series of six chess tournaments exclusively for women, which formed part of the qualification cycle for the Women's World Chess Championship 2013. The winner of the Grand Prix, Hou Yifan, will challenge the 2012 Women's World Chess champion.
Lei Tingjie is a Chinese chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster. She was the 2021 Women's Grand Swiss champion, the 2017 Chinese women's national champion and the 2022–23 Women's Candidates winner. Lei earned the Grandmaster title in 2017 at age 19, and was the sixth woman to obtain the title as a teenager.
The 2018 Women's World Chess Championship Match was a match held between Tan Zhongyi, the 2017 Women's World Chess champion, and her challenger Ju Wenjun to determine the new women's world chess champion. Ju Wenjun qualified by winning the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2015–16.
The 2020–2021 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess double-round-robin tournament to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2021, played in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Ian Nepomniachtchi won the tournament with a round to spare and earned the right to challenge the defending world champion, Magnus Carlsen.
The 2022 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess tournament to decide the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2023. The tournament took place at the Palacio de Santoña in Madrid, Spain, from June 16 to July 5, 2022, with the World Championship finishing in April 2023. As with every Candidates tournament since 2013, it was a double round-robin tournament.
The Cairns Cup is an annual round robin chess tournament, founded in 2019, for the leading women's chess players held in St. Louis, Missouri in the United States. The tournament was named after St Louis Chess Club co-founder and World Chess Hall of Fame member Dr Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield.
The FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2021 was a chess tournament that formed part of the qualification cycle for the World Chess Championship 2022. It was an 11-round Swiss-system tournament, with 108 players competing, running from 25 October to 8 November 2021 in Riga, Latvia, in parallel with the FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Tournament 2021. The tournaments were held while Latvia was in a COVID-19 lockdown, which led to a number of players withdrawing before the tournament began.
The FIDE Grand Prix 2022 was a series of three chess tournaments played between 4 February and 4 April 2022. The top two finishers – Hikaru Nakamura (winner) and Richárd Rapport (runner-up) – qualified for the Candidates Tournament 2022, which was the final qualification stage for the World Chess Championship 2023.
The FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament 2022–23 was an eight-player chess tournament held to determine the challenger for the Women's World Chess Championship 2023. The first stage of the tournament, consisting of the quarterfinals and semifinals, was held from 24 October to 6 November 2022 in Monaco, and from 29 November to 11 December in Khiva.
The 2022–2023 edition of the FIDE Grand Prix was a series of four chess tournaments exclusively for women which determined two players to play in the Women's Candidates Tournament 2023–2024. The winner of the Candidates Tournament would play the reigning world champion in the next Women's World Chess Championship.
The 2024 Candidates Tournament was an eight-player chess tournament, held to determine the challenger for the World Chess Championship 2024. The tournament took place at The Great Hall in Toronto, Canada, from April 3–22, 2024. The event was held alongside the Women's Candidates Tournament. The event was won by Gukesh Dommaraju, which made him the youngest ever winner of a Candidates Tournament, and the youngest ever World Chess Championship challenger. Following the Event Gukesh went on to become the youngest World Champion by defeating Ding Liren in the 14th round of Classical Chess.
The 2023 FIDE Circuit was a system comprising the top chess tournaments in 2023, which serves as a qualification path for the Candidates Tournament 2024. Players receive points based on their performance and the strength of the tournament. A player's final Circuit score is the sum of their five best results of the year. The winner of the Circuit qualifies for the Candidates Tournament 2024 in Toronto, Canada, the winner of which qualifies for the World Chess Championship 2024.
The FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament 2024 was an eight-player chess tournament held to determine the challenger for the Women's World Chess Championship 2025. It was held from 3 April to 22 April 2024 in Toronto, Canada, alongside the Candidates Tournament 2024.
The FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Tournament 2023 was the second edition of the FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Tournament, a chess tournament that forms part of the qualification cycle for the Women's World Chess Championship match in 2025. It was an 11-round Swiss-system tournament with 50 players competing from 25 October to 5 November 2023 in the Isle of Man. The winner and third-place finisher of the tournament earned the right to the play in the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024, since Anna Muzychuk, the runner-up of the tournament had already qualified for the event.
Gukesh Dommaraju won the 2024 World Chess Championship, becoming the youngest undisputed world chess champion at the age of 18.
The 2024–2025 edition of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix is a series of six chess tournaments exclusively for women which determined two players to play in the Women's Candidates Tournament 2026. The winner of the Candidates Tournament would play the reigning world champion in the next Women's World Chess Championship.
Ju Wenjun 
