Women's World Chess Championship

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Current Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun from China Ju Wenjun in 2024 (cropped).jpg
Current Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun from China

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.

Contents

There have been three main eras in the history of the Women's World Championship: the Menchik era (1927–1944), the Soviet-dominated era (1950–1991), and the China-dominated era (1991–present). Vera Menchik won every Women's World Championship from 1927 to 1944. The Soviet Union won every Women's World Championship from 1950 to 1991, particularly Georgian champions Nona Gaprindashvili and Maia Chiburdanidze, who combined for ten titles in a row, five each in succession. From 1991 onwards, China has 15 of the last 20 titles, spread across six different champions, including three four-time champions Xie Jun, Hou Yifan, and the reigning champion Ju Wenjun.

The championship has not always used a match format, instead originating as a round-robin tournament. A lone championship match was played in 1937, and the championship switched to a match format as the predominant format in the 1950s. This continued until 2000, when a new knockout format was established. The match format returned in 2011 on an alternating basis with the knockout format before replacing the knockout format altogether in 2020.

History

Era of Menchik

The Women's World Chess Championship was established by FIDE in 1927. FIDE wanted to gain control of the absolute World Championship and thought establishing a Women's World Championship they had already controlled would help them achieve that. They hosted a women's round-robin tournament as a side event at the Chess Olympiad and weeks after the tournament ended, decided to retroactively declare the winner of the tournament, Vera Menchik, to be the inaugural Women's World Chess Champion.

Menchik remained champion until her death, defending the title seven additional times. Throughout Menchik's reign, the world championship was primarily contested in tournaments, in contrast to the absolute World Chess Championship that used a match format and a challenge system. The lone exception was a privately-organized 1937 match between Menchik and Sonja Graf, which was formally recognized by FIDE. The Women's World Championship continued to be held in conjunction with the Chess Olympiad. As a result, it was held on a more regular basis than the absolute World Championship that was only held sporadically whenever there was a challenger.

Dominance of the Soviet Union players (1950–1991)

1981 Women's World Championship, Maia Chiburdanidze vs. Nana Alexandria WomensWorldChamp1981.jpg
1981 Women's World Championship, Maia Chiburdanidze vs. Nana Alexandria

Menchik died, still champion, in 1944 when her house in Clapham was bombed by a V-1 flying bomb. 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 overall 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 next Candidates tournament was won by Olga Rubtsova. Instead of directly playing Bykova, however, FIDE decided that the 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 overall championship: 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 soundly defeated 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 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 Marić in a tie-breaker match. Thus, Soviet domination in the women's section ended after 41 years.

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 open 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.

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 overall 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 overall championship, 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)

Women's World Chess Championship, Tirana 2011 Women's World Chess Championship Tirana 2011.jpg
Women's World Chess Championship, Tirana 2011

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. [1] 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. [2]

In 2011 Hou Yifan successfully defended her women's world 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.

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. [3] FIDE held a second world championship in 2018 in order to get back on schedule.

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. [4] 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.

Ju retained her title in the 2023 championship against Lei Tingjie. [5]

Women's World Chess Champions

#NameCountryYears
1 Vera Menchik Flag of Russia.svg  Russia (in exile)
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czechoslovakia
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom
19271944
noneN/A (World War II)19441950
2 Lyudmila Rudenko Flag of the Soviet Union.svg  Soviet Union 19501953
3 Elisaveta Bykova 19531956
4 Olga Rubtsova 19561958
(3) Elisaveta Bykova 19581962
5 Nona Gaprindashvili 19621978
6 Maia Chiburdanidze 19781991
7 Xie Jun Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 19911996
8 Susan Polgar Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary 19961999
(7) Xie Jun Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 19992001
9 Zhu Chen 20012004
10 Antoaneta Stefanova Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria 20042006
11 Xu Yuhua Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 20062008
12 Alexandra Kosteniuk Flag of Russia.svg  Russia 20082010
13 Hou Yifan Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 20102012
14 Anna Ushenina Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 20122013
(13) Hou Yifan Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 20132015
15 Mariya Muzychuk Flag of Ukraine.svg  Ukraine 20152016
(13) Hou Yifan Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China 20162017
16 Tan Zhongyi 20172018
17 Ju Wenjun 2018present

List of Women's World Chess Championships

YearHost countryHost cityWorld championRunner-upWLDFormat
Tournament formats (1927–1944)
1927 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom London Flag of Russia.svg Vera Menchik Flag of Sweden.svg Katarina Beskow 1001RR (12 players)
1930 Flag of Germany (3-2 aspect ratio).svg  Germany Hamburg Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Vera Menchik Flag of Austria.svg Paula Wolf-Kalmar 611Double RR (5 players)
1931 Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czechoslovakia Prague Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Vera Menchik Flag of Austria.svg Paula Wolf-Kalmar 800
1933 Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom Folkestone Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Vera Menchik Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Edith Charlotte Price 1400Double RR (8 players)
1935 Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg Poland Warsaw Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Vera Menchik Flag of Poland (1928-1980).svg Regina Gerlecka 900RR (10 players)
1937 Jul Flag of Austria.svg Austria Semmering Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Vera Menchik Flag of Germany (1935-1945).svg Sonja Graf 92516-game match
1937 Aug Flag of Sweden.svg Sweden Stockholm Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Vera Menchik Flag of Italy (1861-1946).svg Clarice Benini 1400 Swiss (26 players)
1939 Flag of Argentina.svg Argentina Buenos Aires Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Vera Menchik FIDE flag icon.png Sonja Graf 1702RR (20 players)
Menchik died in 1944 as reigning world champion.
Interregnum (1944–1950)
Match format (1950–1999)
1950 Flag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg  Soviet Union Moscow Flag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg Lyudmila Rudenko Flag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg Olga Rubtsova 951RR (16 players)
1953 Flag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg Soviet Union Moscow Flag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg Elisaveta Bykova Flag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg Lyudmila Rudenko 75214-game match
1956 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Moscow Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Olga Rubtsova Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Elisaveta Bykova 763Octuple RR (3 players)
1958 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Moscow Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Elisaveta Bykova Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Olga Rubtsova 74316-game match
1959 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Moscow Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Elisaveta Bykova Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Kira Zvorykina 625
1962 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Moscow Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Nona Gaprindashvili Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Elisaveta Bykova 704
1965 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Riga Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Nona Gaprindashvili Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Alla Kushnir 733
1969 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Tbilisi
Moscow
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Nona Gaprindashvili Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Alla Kushnir 625
1972 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Riga Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Nona Gaprindashvili Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Alla Kushnir 547
1975 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Pitsunda
Tbilisi
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Nona Gaprindashvili Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Nana Alexandria 831
1978 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Tbilisi Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Maia Chiburdanidze Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Nona Gaprindashvili 429
1981 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Borjomi
Tbilisi
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Maia Chiburdanidze Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Nana Alexandria 448
1984 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Volgograd Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Maia Chiburdanidze Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Irina Levitina 527
1986 Flag of Bulgaria (1971-1990).svg  Bulgaria Sofia Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Maia Chiburdanidze Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Elena Akhmilovskaya 419
1988 Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Telavi Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Maia Chiburdanidze Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Nana Ioseliani 3211
1991 Flag of the Philippines (navy blue).svg Philippines Manila Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xie Jun Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Maia Chiburdanidze 429
1993 Flag of Monaco.svg Monaco Monaco Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xie Jun Flag of Georgia (1990-2004).svg Nana Ioseliani 713
1996 Flag of Spain.svg Spain Jaén Flag of Hungary.svg Susan Polgar Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xie Jun 625
Polgar forfeited title in 1999.
1999 Flag of Russia.svg Russia
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China
Kazan
Shenyang
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xie Jun Flag of Russia.svg Alisa Galliamova 537
Knockout format (2000–2010)
2000 Flag of India.svg India New Delhi Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xie Jun Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Qin Kanying 103KO (64 players)
2001 Flag of Russia.svg Russia Moscow Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Zhu Chen Flag of Russia.svg Alexandra Kosteniuk 2+32+10
2004 Flag of Russia.svg Russia Elista Flag of Bulgaria.svg Antoaneta Stefanova Flag of Russia.svg Ekaterina Kovalevskaya 201
2006 Flag of Russia.svg Russia Yekaterinburg Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xu Yuhua Flag of Russia.svg Alisa Galliamova 201
2008 Flag of Russia.svg Russia Nalchik Flag of Russia.svg Alexandra Kosteniuk Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Hou Yifan 103
2010 Flag of Turkey.svg Turkey Hatay Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Hou Yifan Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Ruan Lufei 1+212+2
Alternating formats (2011–2018)
2011 Flag of Albania.svg Albania Tirana Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Hou Yifan Flag of India.svg Koneru Humpy 30510-game match
2012 Flag of Russia.svg Russia Khanty-Mansiysk Flag of Ukraine.svg Anna Ushenina Flag of Bulgaria.svg Antoaneta Stefanova 1+112+1KO (64 players)
2013 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China Taizhou Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Hou Yifan Flag of Ukraine.svg Anna Ushenina 40310-game match
2015 Flag of Russia.svg Russia Sochi Flag of Ukraine.svg Mariya Muzychuk Flag of Russia.svg Natalia Pogonina 103KO (64 players)
2016 Flag of Ukraine.svg Ukraine Lviv Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Hou Yifan Flag of Ukraine.svg Mariya Muzychuk 30610-game match
2017 Flag of Iran.svg Iran Tehran Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Tan Zhongyi Flag of Ukraine.svg Anna Muzychuk 1+112+1KO (64 players)
2018 May Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China Shanghai
Chongqing
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Ju Wenjun Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Tan Zhongyi 32510-game match
2018 Nov Flag of Russia.svg Russia Khanty-Mansiysk Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Ju Wenjun Flag of Russia.svg Kateryna Lagno 1+212+2KO (64 players)
Match format (2019–present)
2020 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China
Flag of Russia.svg Russia
Shanghai
Vladivostok
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Ju Wenjun Flag of Russia.svg Aleksandra Goryachkina 3+136+312-game match
2023 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg China Shanghai
Chongqing
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Ju Wenjun Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Lei Tingjie 219
2025 Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Ju Wenjun vs. Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Tan Zhongyi

Key: RR = round-robin tournament, KO = knockout tournament

Women's World Champions by number of title match victories

The table below organises the women's world champions in order of championship wins. A successful defense counts as a win for the purposes of this table, even if the match is drawn. If number of championship wins is identical, the number of years as champion is used as tie-breaker. If both numbers are the same, the players are listed by year of first victory at world championships (in chronological order).

ChampionNumber of winsYears as champion
Flag of Russia.svg Flag of the Czech Republic.svg Flag of the United Kingdom.svg Vera Menchik 817
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Nona Gaprindashvili 516
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Maia Chiburdanidze 513
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xie Jun 47
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Ju Wenjun 46
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Hou Yifan 45
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Elisaveta Bykova 37
Flag of the USSR (1936-1955).svg Lyudmila Rudenko 13
Flag of Hungary.svg Susan Polgar 13
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Zhu Chen 13
Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Olga Rubtsova 12
Flag of Bulgaria.svg Antoaneta Stefanova 12
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Xu Yuhua 12
Flag of Russia.svg Alexandra Kosteniuk 12
Flag of Ukraine.svg Anna Ushenina 11
Flag of Ukraine.svg Mariya Muzychuk 11
Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg Tan Zhongyi 11

See also

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References

  1. Regulations for the Women’s World Chess Championship Cycle. FIDE.
  2. "Regulations and Bidding Procedure for the Women's Grand-Prix 2009-2010". FIDE. 30 July 2008. Retrieved 10 October 2019
  3. FIDE General Assembly Agenda (5.20.8)
  4. "A. Dvorkovich: Format of the Women's World Championship Cycle will be changed – Women's World Championship 2018". ugra2018.fide.com. 2018-10-13. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
  5. "FIDE World Championship Cycle". International Chess Federation (FIDE). Retrieved 2024-02-02.