The Women's Chess World Cup 2023 was a 103-player single-elimination chess tournament, the second edition of the Women's Chess World Cup, taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 29 July to 22 August 2023. The runner up and third place finishers, Nurgyul Salimova and

Anna Muzychuk Anna Olehivna Muzychuk ( uk, Анн́а Оле́гівна Музичу́к; sl, Ana Muzičuk; born 28 February 1990) is a Ukrainian chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster (GM). She is the fourth woman in chess history to attain a F ...

, qualified for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024. Since Aleksandra Goryachkina, the winner of the tournament, had already qualified through the

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

, her replacement was

Koneru Humpy Koneru Humpy (born 31 March 1987) is an Indian chess player best known for winning the FIDE Women's rapid chess championship in 2019. In 2002, she became the youngest woman ever to achieve the title of Grandmaster (GM) at the age of 15 years ...

, who was the highest-rated player on the January 2024

FIDE rating list The International Chess Federation (FIDE) governs international chess competition. Each month, FIDE publishes the lists "Top 100 Players", "Top 100 Women", "Top 100 Juniors" and "Top 100 Girls" and rankings of countries according to the average r ...

who had played a minimum 30 games. The tournament was held in parallel with the Chess World Cup 2023.

Format

The tournament was a 7-round knockout event, with the top 25 seeds given a bye directly into the second round. The losers of the two semi-finals played a match for third place. The players who finished first, second, and third qualified for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024. Each round consisted of classical time limit games on the first two days, plus tie-breaks on the third day if required. The time limits were as follows: * Two classical time limit games: 90 minutes, plus a 30-minute increment on move 40, plus a 30-second increment per move from move 1, per player. * If the match is tied after the classical games, players will play two rapid chess games, with 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move, per player. * If the match is still tied, players then will play two more rapid chess games, with 10 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move, per player. * If the match is still tied, players then will play two

blitz games Blitz Games Studios Limited was a British video game developer based in Leamington Spa. Founded in 1990 by the Oliver Twins, who ran the company until its closure in 2013, it is best known for producing games such as ''The Fairly OddParents'', ...

, with 5 minutes plus a 3-second increment per move, per player. * If the match is still tied, a single blitz game, with 3 minutes plus a 2-second increment per move, will be played to decide the match. A drawing of lots will determine which player plays white. If drawn, the players will switch colors and play again, until a decisive result is obtained.

Schedule

Each round lasted three days: two for classical time limit games and a third, if necessary, for tie-breaks. Rounds 1 to 3 ran from July 30 to August 7; August 8 was a rest day; Rounds 4 to 6 ran from August 9 to 17; August 18 was a rest day; and the final and third-place match ran from August 19 to 21.

Prize money

The total prize fund was US$676,250, with the first prize of US$50,000.

Participants

The current qualifiers are seeded here by their FIDE rating as of July 2023, apart from Ju Wenjun, who is seeded first as Women's World Chess Champion. # , GM, 2564 (WWCC) # , GM, 2557 (WWC) # , GM, 2553 (R) # , GM, 2552 (R) # , GM, 2532 (WWC) # , GM, 2523 (WWC) # , GM, 2511 (R) # , GM, 2511 (R) # , GM, 2509 (WWC) # , GM, 2500 (R) # , WGM, 2498 (PN) # , IM, 2496 (PN) # , IM, 2488 (PN) # , GM, 2475 (E21) # , GM, 2474 (FN) # , GM, 2471 (FN) # , IM, 2469 (AS21) # , GM, 2457 (Z3.5) # , IM, 2451 (E21) # , IM, 2448 (E22) # , GM, 2447 (Z2.1) # , IM, 2444 (E21) # , IM, 2439 (E23) # , GM, 2434 (E22) # , IM, 2431 (FN) # , IM, 2419 (PN) # , IM, 2416 (E22) # , IM, 2415 (E22) # , IM, 2409 (E22) # , IM, 2408 (E21) # , GM, 2402 (FN) # , GM, 2401 (E22) # , IM, 2401 (E22) # , WGM, 2400 (Z3.7) # , IM, 2397 (E21) # , IM, 2394 (E21) # , IM, 2388 (E21) # , IM, 2387 (E21) # , IM, 2394 (E22) # , IM, 2384 (E23) # , IM, 2377 (E23) # , IM, 2374 (AS23) # , IM, 2373 (E23) # , WGM, 2372 (Z3.5) # , IM, 2371 (E23) # , IM, 2369 (FN) # , IM, 2369 (FN) # , WGM, 2368 (FN) # , IM, 2365 (E21) # , IM, 2357 (E21) # , IM, 2356 (E23) # , IM, 2355 (FN) # , WGM, 2355 (U20) # , WGM, 2352 (AM23) # , WGM, 2351 (Z3.3) # , IM, 2348 (E23) # , WIM, 2347 (FN) # , IM, 2331 (E23) # , WGM, 2329 (FN) # , WGM, 2329 (AS22) # , WGM, 2326 (AS23) # , IM, 2324 (E22) # , IM, 2318 (AM22) # , IM, 2312 (FN) # , WGM, 2311 (FN) # , WGM, 2303 (Z2.1) # , WGM, 2293 (AS22) # , WGM, 2293 (FN) # , WIM, 2277 (Z3.5) # , WGM, 2273 (Z3.6) # , WGM, 2268 (Z2.3) # , WGM, 2263 (FN) # , FM, 2263 (E23) # , WFM, 2257 (FN) # , WIM, 2256 (FN) # , WIM, 2251 (FN) # , WGM, 2243 (FN) # , WIM, 2235 (FN) # , WGM, 2229 (FN) # , WGM, 2226 (AS21) # , WGM, 2223 (FN) # , WIM, 2212 (Z2.5) # , FM, 2208 (FN) # , WGM, 2204 (FN) # , WGM, 2201 (Z2.2) # , WIM, 2200 (FN) # , untitled, 2188 (Z3.5) # , WIM, 2182 (Z2.4) # , WIM, 2139 (FN) # , WGM, 2106 (FN) # , WGM, 2093 (AF22) # , WIM, 2071 (AF23) # , WFM, 2033 (Z3.1) # , WIM, 2028 (FN) # , WIM, 2004 (FN) # , WFM, 1989 (FN) # , WFM, 1944 (FN) # , WIM, 1858 (FN) # , WFM, 1850 (FN) # , WIM, 1839 (AF22) # , WFM, 1823 (FN) # , WCM, 1815 (Z3.2) # , WCM, 1705 (FN) The 103 participants will be: * The Women's World Chess Champion as of 1 June 2023 (WWCC) * The top four players in the

Women's Chess World Cup 2021 The Women's Chess World Cup 2021 was a 103-player single-elimination tournament, single-elimination chess tournament that took place in Sochi, Russia, from 12 July to 3 August 2021. It was the inaugural edition of a women's-only version of the Che ...

(WWC) * The 2022 World Girls Chess Champion U20 (U20) * 53 players qualifying from Continental and Zonal events ** Europe (18+10): including European Women's Chess Championships 2021 (E21, 10), 2022 (E22, 9), and 2023 (E23, 9) ** Americas (4+4): including American Continental Women's Chess Championships 2022 (AM22, 1) and 2023 (AM23, 1); Zonals 2022: 2.1 (Z2.1, 2), 2.2 (Z2.2, 1) 2.3 (Z2.3, 1), and 2.4 (Z2.4, 1); Zonals 2023: 2.5 (Z2.5, 1) ** Asia (14): including Asian Women's Chess Championships 2021 (AS21, 2) and 2023 (AS23, 2); Zonals 2023: 3.1 (Z3.1, 1), 3.2 (Z3.2, 1), 3.3 (Z3.3, 1), 3.5 (Z3.5, 4), 3.6 (Z3.6, 1), and 3.7 (Z3.7, 1) ** Africa (3): including African Women's Chess Championships 2022 (AF22, 2) and 2023 (AF23, 1) * The 5 highest-rated female players from the June 2023 FIDE World Rankings (R) * 36 federations spots selected according to the final standings of the 44th Chess Olympiad Main Competition (FN) * 2 nominees of the FIDE President (PN) * 1 nominees of the organizer (ON) The participants will be seeded by their FIDE rating of July 2023, apart from Ju Wenjun, who will be seeded first as Women's World Chess Champion. The following are the players from the list of qualifiers who declined to play, and their replacements: * , GM, 2628 (R) → , GM, 2510 (R) * , GM, 2554 (R) → , GM, 2510 (R) * , GM, 2416 (E21) → , IM, 2397 (E21) * , IM, 2389 (E22) → , IM, 2415 (E22) * , IM, 2375 (E21) → , IM, 2388 (E21)

Pairings

Rounds 1–4

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Rounds 5–7

Third place

Finals

Notes

References

External links

Pairings Tree
{{Chess World Cups Women's Chess World Cup 2023 in chess Chess in Azerbaijan 2023 in Azerbaijani sport July 2023 sports events in Azerbaijan August 2023 sports events in Azerbaijan