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Three weeks after the start of the Women’s World Championship in Khanty-Mansiysk, the world’s strongest woman chess player was determined. The rating favorite of the event, Ju Wenjun from China, defended the title she had won in spring, beating the Russian Kateryna Lagno in the final match.

The Closing Ceremony of the championship was attended by Natalia Komarova, Governor of Ugra, Sergey Kosilov, Deputy Minister of Sport of the Russian Federation, Arkady Dvorkovich, FIDE President, and Andrey Filatov, RCF President. However, the main roles were played by the finalists of the championship – Kateryna Lagno and Ju Wenjun.

Sergey Kosilov and Arkady Dvorkovich delivered their speeches to the audience.

“On behalf of the Ministry of Sports of Russian Federation and personally I would like to greet all these present here including participants, organizers and guests of the championship. My congratulations to the organizers of this tournament, carried out at the very high level. My congratulations to the players on their mastership and level of chess they shown us. I am sure that the spectators have enjoyed watching the world’s top players’ games. I wish everyone great spirits and I wish athletes more high achievements in chess”, addressed Mr. Kosilov.

“On behalf of FIDE, I’d like to congratulate all of you for holding the Women’s World Championship perfectly. This is the first chess championship for me as the FIDE President. I am not sure who was more anxious – myself or the participants of the tournament. But most important thing that we’ve reached the finish and I would like to congratulate all of us on this achievement. Also I’d like to thank every participant. They all have been playing at the level they had been prepared at, and everyone has invested a part of their souls into the play. In addition to being the FIDE President, I am a chess fan. And as a fan of Russia my special congratulations go to Alexandra Kosteniuk and Kateryna Lagno. But as FIDE President I’d like to congratulate Ju Wenjun for defending her title”, said Mr. Dvorkovich.

Sergey Kosilov and Arkady Dvorkovich handed over the rewards and flowers to the finalists.

The FIDE Women’s World Chess Championship took place in Khanty-Mansiysk on November 2-23. 64 players from 28 countries were determining the strongest in a knock-out format.

Among the participants there were the defending champion Ju Wenjun (China), and former World Champions Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia), Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine), Tan Zhongyi (China), Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria), and Anna Ushenina (Ukraine).

Press conference with the Women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun (China) and FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich.

– Ju Wenjun, congratulations on defending the champion’s title! Please tell us about this long marathon. Are you happy with your playing here in Khanty-Mansiysk?

– Thank you! Yes, I am. This is my fourth time in Khanty-Mansiysk. I love the city. And as for this marathon, I think I played very well. In the final, Kateryna Lagno  played very solidly, she advanced in the second game. I was very lucky to I win the last game and then play tie-breaks.

– Can we say that the final match was the toughest one for you?

– Preparation takes a lot of time and it is very tough for me. But when I am playing I just think about chess. The situation for me was tough but I enjoyed my games, and that is the important thing.

– Mr. Dvorkovich, you watched tie-breaks today. What are your impressions of it?

– We have just witnessed a unique moment in chess history when the world champion defended her title in the knock-out tournament. It’s quite rare event for the chess world. Ju Wenjun was playing amazing games even against one of the toughest opponents like Kateryna Lagno. And I was feeling the pressure that both competitors had on their shoulders and, of course, nerves played some role in this tie-break.

Let me first congratulate all the participants of the Championship. I think all the ladies played very well and we enjoyed the tournament a lot. And of course I’d like to congratulate the three players – semi-finalists – who qualified for the Women’s Candidates Tournament next year. So we are expecting a very tough competition and I am sure that Ju Wenjun will be waiting for the new contender to come out of this Candidates tournament. And, of course, the most important congratulations are for the champion! Ju Wenjun, you’re a great player and a great champion.

–  Wenjun, what do you think about the organization of this event?

– I am happy with the organization. Actually, Khanty-Mansiysk is my lucky place. In 2016, I played the Grand Prix series leg here and I became the challenger for the title. Now I have just won the World knock-out championship.

– Two years ago, when you won the FIDE Grand Prix series here, you told us that you were going to spend your prize money just for a dinner with your friends. How are you going to spend your prize now? And how are you going to celebrate your victory?

– Well, I still want to spend this for a dinner with my friends. Also I want to spend some money to keep training. But after this tournament I want to have some rest and just live for a while because it was tedious.

– Mr. Dvorkovich, you have visited some events during this Championship. I would like to ask you about your impressions of the chess life in Ugra.

– Chess life in Ugra is very active and intensive, there are fewer and fewer blank spots with no chess in Ugra. Chess is almost everywhere. Today we visited the Ugra Governor Cup where hundreds of participants play and it’s very impressive. The organization of this event as well as organization of other high level events is very good and of a high quality. That’s why FIDE has been consistently giving the right to host tournaments to Ugra and Khanty-Mansisyk. We will witness a couple of more events in the upcoming years – the World Cup and World Chess Olympiad.

– Ju Wenjun during one of the press-conference told us that she was happy that the format of the Women’s World Championship would change so please tell us some details of this changes.

–  Changes have been announced already. We are going to shift to a standard format that prevails in chess where the champion will defend the title against the winner of the Candidates Tournament that will be organized next year. And in the future we will have both the FIDE Grand Prix series and the World Cup played according the knock-out system. A number of players qualified by rating and the best ones of the GP series and the World Cup will play in the Candidates tournament. That means that all the players who have already got their rights to participate in the knock-out tournament will keep their rights. There will be no harm for anyone while there will be clear benefits for high-level players.

An interview with the director of the Department of physical culture and sports of Ugra Sergey Artamonov was held in the press-center of Women’s World Championship.

– Sergey Ivanovich, we are now at the Women’s World Championship, tell us how important it is for this region to host this kind of tournament?

– It is out of doubt that organizing high-level chess tournaments for us is not important only by itself. This is only one of the means of bringing  the inhabitants of our region into this game. Chess is now an important part  of life for Ugra people and it has really become a mass sport. The statistics backs this. Nowadays there are many people studying chess in special groups and all school children of the region are doing chess in schools. I’ll tell you a fact highlighting the degree of the development of chess in the region: Russian national teams that were recently playing at the Chess Olympiad in Batumi – both men’s and women’s – had players from Ugra – Dmitry Jakovenko and Olga Girya.

A very strong team of organizers which is able to carry out events of any kind of significance in shortest terms was formed. We are trying to be up to time with carrying out chess tournaments as well.

– You have mentioned Chess Olympiad in Batumi  and as we all know Khanty-Mansiysk will host another Chess Olympiad in 2020. Please let us know how the city and the region are getting ready for this event?

– Yes, the 44th Chess Olympiad will take place in Khanty-Mansiysk in August 2020. Basing on the previous experience, we can say that representatives of more than 180 countries will arrive here. The key year in preparation for the Chess Olympiad will be 2019 and also we will host the World Cup that year. However, we are already working on infrastructure projects that will both help us to organize the Chess Olympiad and later will be used by Ugra people to do sports.

– Are we talking about the playing venue or hotels as well?

– It is actually both.

– Khanty-Mansiysk had already organized nearly every kind of chess events with the only exception of World Championship title match. Are you planning in the foreseen future to bid for this event too?

– That’s true, in the last 20 years Khanty-Mansiysk has organized almost all kinds of chess events and having a Chess Olympiad for us is really a big deal. I am quite confident that Khanty-Mansiysk deserves to host the highest level chess competitions and if we set this goal and get this opportunity we will organize this for the highest possible level.

– In one of your interviews you said that chess and biathlon are two key sports in Ugra. Why is that?

– Let us start that this two sports are the most popular ones in Ugra. Both by a number of people doing these sports and by a number of competitions organized on the territory of the autonomous region. More than that, biathlon competitions are usually visited by big number of spectators, while chess is a sport that is watched by viewers all over the world by means of Internet broadcasting. Biathlon World Cup legs in Khanty-Mansiysk were attended by several thousands of spectators and, talking about Women’s World Championship, by this day more than 500 000 views from all over the world have watched our broadcasts. In eyes of people from other countries Ugra is strongly associated with both biathlon and chess. We have ideal conditions for these sports.

– It is difficult to argue with that. Thank you!

On November 13, a Project Committee meeting under the chairmanship of the Ugra Governor Natalia Komarova was held in Khanty-Mansiysk. It was attended by representatives of municipal units of Ugra in the video conferencing mode.

By the decision of the Committee, the launch of a priority project for the organization and holding of the World Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk in 2020 was announced.

“The goal of the project is to increase the number of people systematically engaged in physical culture and sports by 2024 to 55% of the total population living in Ugra, increasing the competitiveness of the Ugra sports in the Russian and international sports arenas, increasing the competitiveness of the region as a host of the largest world sport events, as well as popularization of physical culture and sports among various segments of population,” said the director of the Department of physical culture and sports of Ugra Sergey Artamonov.

The significance of this project was emphasized by Natalia Komarova: “Ugra, as a region where the Russian and international chess tournaments are held on regular basis, has a lot of trust from FIDE, the Russian Chess Federation, and players themselves. I hope we all understand the importance of our status”.

The head of the region also focused on the fact that a new infrastructure would be made, first of all, for the people of Ugra, and will only be used for the Olympiad for the time it will be held.

It is to be reminded that the Chess Olympiad will be held in Khanty-Mansiysk in August 2020. The capital of Ugra will become the fourth city in the entire history of the Olympiad, which will host the largest chess forum on the planet twice. The first time Khanty-Mansiysk hosted the Tournament of Nations was in 2010.

The Women’s World Championship is reaching its midpoint, but the gifts and prizes stored by the Organizers don’t seem to fade.

This time we’d love to see how creative and cunning our audience is. Post your photos, videos, drawings, poetics, texts, etc. dedicated to the Women’s World Championship on your social media using the hashtags #watchingwwcc2018 and #ugrachess.

After the tournament finishes on November 23, the most creative contest participant will get an exclusive chess board, signed by all the World Championship’s participants.

Don’t miss an opportunity to get a real rarity!

Press conference with the reigning women’s World Champion Ju Wenjun.

– Wenjun, please tell us about your first match against Kathryn Hardegen from Australia.

– This is my first time playing against Hardegen. And I feel she has a very fighting spirit, but in a time pressure she made some mistakes and I won both games.

– So the first match was tough for you, wasn’t it?

– Yes, because I think that after the opening White had some chances to get some advantage but she didn’t find it, and the endgame was like winning to me.

– It’s not your first time in Khanty-Mansiysk. Can we say that this place is a lucky one for you?

– I think if I am correct I am here for the fourth time. I won the Women’s Grand Prix leg in 2016 here so this event became a very historic tournament for me and I enjoy playing here.

– After winning Grand Prix you have qualified for the World Championship match and then you have won the World Championship Match. Does the title impose any extra pressure on you here?

– I feel some pressure during this tournament but the title is not the cause.

– What do you think about the future changes in the system of Women’s Chess World Championship?

– I think it’s good for women.

– Recently, both the open and women’s Chinese teams have won the World Chess Olympiad in Batumi. Did you get any rewards from your country?

– After we won, both men and women, we got to CCTV1 – the most important TV-channel in China and we feel very proud. But it’s been only one month since that time and now we’re here. So, so far we’ve just been preparing for the Championship but I think when we are back we will get some awards.

– You’re not playing tomorrow, so how are you going to spend your day?

– Most of the time I will be staying in the hotel. Also I want to go for a walk. It’s minus here but it’s not so cold for me.

– There are many Chinese players participating in this championship, and chess is very strong in China in general. Do you think one of the China players has to be considered the favorite of this event?

– It’s a knock-out system and I think everyone has a chance here. It’s not only about the level it’s also about your performance and a lot of other things. I don’t think about the favorites because everyone has good chances.