The Women’s World Chess Championship will start this week, which means it’s time to guess who will soon become the owner of the chess crown! Will the current champion, Ju Wenjun from China keep this title or will it go to someone else? Which of the participants will be able to reach the semi-finals and be qualified for the Candidates Tournament? Which of our commentators will be the most far-sighted and give the most accurate prediction for the upcoming tournament?

The organizing committee of the Women’s World Chess Championship starts the prediction contest. Test your intuition and knowledge of women’s chess!

The winner will get a unique prize – a chessboard signed by the participants of the Women’s World Chess Championship. Consolation prizes are also prepared for the top-3 prognosticators. It is worth noting that famous chess players, commentators of the tournament, press team and FIDE representatives will also take part in the contest. Let’s see whose prediction will be the most accurate!

Send your prediction

The Women’s World Championship is not only one of the most important events in the chess calendar, but also a very long tournament. That’s why there will be five well-known grandmasters commenting on the games of the championship for our spectators.

We are glad to announce that a former European champion Pavel Tregubov and a two-time Russian champion, three-time winner of World Chess Olympiads Alexander Morozevich will be following the games in the English language at different days.

One of the leading commentators of the world, coach and analyst Sergey Shipov, a former European champion, coach of the Russian national women’s team Evgeniy Najer, and a two-time Ukrainian champion, well-known coach and commentator Evgenij Miroshnichenko will be working for the Russian-speaking audience by turns.

The FIDE Women’s World Championship will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk on November 2-23, 2018. 64 chess players from 28 countries will determine the strongest one according to the knock-out system.

The top seed is the incumbent world champion Ju Wenjun (2561, China). Former world champions Alexandra Kosteniuk (2551, Russia), Mariya Muzychuk (2533, Ukraine), Tan Zhongyi (2527, China), Antoaneta Stefanova (2490, Bulgaria), and Anna Ushenina (2451, Ukraine) are taking part in the event as well. The tournament will also see such chess stars as Humpy Koneru (2557, India), Kateryna Lagno (2556, Russia), Anna Muzychuk (2555, Ukraine), Aleksandra Goryachkina (2536, Russia), Valentina Gunina (2525, Russia) and many others.

There shall be five rounds of matches, comprising two games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round. The 6th (final) round shall be played over four games. If the score is equal after regular games of each match, tie-break games shall be played.

The winner of the final match will be declared Women’s World Champion.

The FIDE Presidential Board members have unanimously supported the proposal of the FIDE President A. Dvorkovich which has been approved by the FIDE Commission on World Championships and Olympiads.

Following the change in the system of the Women’s World Championship, the amendment to the regulations of the Women’s World Championship 2018 has been made: all semi-finalists except for the eventual winner will qualify to the forthcoming Women’s Candidate Tournament of the 2019-2020 cycle.

The venue of FIDE Women’s World Championship is a famous Ugra Chess Academy, a modern building located in the city centre. The Opening Ceremony will take place in the Concert and theatre centre “Ugra-Classic”. Governor of Ugra Natalia Komarova and FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich are expected to attend the ceremony.

Schedule: November 2 – Players Meeting / Opening Ceremony, November 3-5 – Round 1, November 6-8 – Round 2, November 9-11 – Round 3, November 12-14 – Round 4 (Quarterfinals), November 15-17 – Round 5 (Semi-final), November 18 – Free day, November 19-23 – Round 6 (Final), November 23 – Closing Ceremony.

Prize fund is USD 450,000.

Chief Arbiter is IA Igor Bolotinsky (Russia).

Pairings tree

Regulations

The Opening Ceremony of the FIDE Women’s World Championship will be held in the concert and theater complex “Ugra-Classic” on November’02.

An unforgettable show will be performed by the best singers and musicians of Khanty-Mansiysk. Guests will be greeted by fairy-tale organ melodies performed by Elena Kozemirenko. The program of the Opening Ceremony will include both classical and modern performances that will tell the guests of the city about the traditions, history and culture of Khanty-Mansiysk.

The ceremony will be attended by the governor of Khanty-Mansiysk autonomous region Natalia Komarova and FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich.

On stage the audience will see musicians playing accordion, domra and balalaika, chamber orchestra “Sibir-brass” will play a potpourri of famous melodies of the past while the ensemble “The singers of Ugra” will sing opera.

Khanty-Mansiysk is well-known in the world chess community by its spectacular and bright shows made in the beginning and at the end of every tournament. The organizers of the FIDE Women’s World Championship hope that this tradition will be carried on and guests of the ceremony will be impressed by the show.

Today, on October’17, Assistant to the FIDE President Berik Balgabaev had a working visit to Khanty-Mansiysk. The aim of the visit was to check the readiness of Ugra capital to host the FIDE Women’s World Championship, that will start in Khanty-Mansiysk on November’02’2018.

To host such a big international chess tournament the organizers need to foresee a lot of nuances and peculiarities of this intellectual sport: protocol issues, transportation, catering, accommodation, live broadcast of the games and anti-cheating measures.

Thus, providing catering to the participants of the event the organizers need to keep in mind the religious and cultural peculiarities of different countries. Menu in the hotels shall contain food for vegetarians and dishes without some specific types of meat.

To conduct an event like this 32 electronic boards are needed. Some of them will be taken on lease and delivered to the capital of Ugra from Athens.

It is expected that the opening ceremony of the FIDE Women’s World Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk will be attended by the FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich.

It is to be reminded that the FIDE Women’s World Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk will be held on November’02-23. 64 strongest female chess players from all continents will be participating in it.
There are 28 countries in the list: China, Russia, Ukraine, India, Kazakhstan, Spain, Bulgaria, Armenia, Germany, Turkey, Poland, Israel, Great Britain, Hungary, Peru, Cuba, USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Iran, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Australia, Egypt, Algeria, South Africa.

The host country will be represented by Anastasia Bodnaruk, Aleksandra Goryachkina, Alisa Galliamova, Kateryna Lagno, Marina Guseva (Nechaeva), Natalija Pogonina, Alina Kashlinskaya, Valentina Gunina, Alexandra Kosteniuk and a player from Ugra Olga Girya.

The opening ceremony will be held on November’02 in the concert and theater center “Ugra-Classic”. Games of the first round will start on November’03. The tournament will take place in Ugra Chess Academy. Closing ceremony of the World Championship is planned on November’23. Then the name of the next Queen of Chess will be announced.