Women's World Chess Championship
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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 The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...
since its inception in 1927, unlike the absolute
World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Gukesh Dommaraju, who defeated the previous champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship 2024, 2024 World Chess Championship. ...
, which only came under FIDE's control in 1948. 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 until 1991, particularly Georgian champions
Nona Gaprindashvili Nona Gaprindashvili ( ka, ნონა გაფრინდაშვილი; born 3 May 1941) is a Georgian chess Grandmaster. Noted for her aggressive style of play, she was the women's world chess champion from 1962 to 1978, and in 1978 ...
and
Maia Chiburdanidze Maia Chiburdanidze ( ka, მაია ჩიბურდანიძე; born 17 January 1961) is a Georgian chess Grandmaster. She is the sixth Women's World Chess Champion, a title she held from 1978 to 1991, and was the youngest one until ...
, who combined for ten titles in a row, five each in succession. From 1991 onwards, China has 16 of the last 21 titles, spread across six different champions, including two four-time champions Xie Jun and Hou Yifan, and the reigning five-time World 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 The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( , ), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national chess federations and acts as the Spor ...
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 The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in FIDE Onli ...
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)

Menchik died, still champion, in 1944 when her house in
Clapham Clapham () is a district in south London, south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (including Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. History Ea ...
was bombed by a
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. The next championship was another
round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...
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 Nona Gaprindashvili ( ka, ნონა გაფრინდაშვილი; born 3 May 1941) is a Georgian chess Grandmaster. Noted for her aggressive style of play, she was the women's world chess champion from 1962 to 1978, and in 1978 ...
of
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
, 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
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1965 and
Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...
/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 Maia Chiburdanidze ( ka, მაია ჩიბურდანიძე; born 17 January 1961) is a Georgia (country), Georgian chess Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster. She is the sixth Women's World Chess Championship, Women's World Chess Champi ...
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 Borjomi ( ka, ბორჯომი ) is a resort town in south-central Georgia with a population of 11,173 (as of 2024). Located 165 km from Tbilisi, it is one of the six municipalities of the Samtskhe–Javakheti region and is situated in the ...
/Tbilisi 1981 and Irina Levitina at
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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
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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 Susan is a feminine given name, the usual English version of Susanna or Susannah. All are versions of the Hebrew name Shoshana, which is derived from the Hebrew ''shoshan'', meaning ''lotus flower'' in Egyptian, original derivation, and severa ...
(also known as Zsuzsa),
Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
(Zsófia), and
Judit Judit is a feminine given name of Hungarian and Catalan origin related to Judith. Notable people with the name include: * Judit Bar-Ilan (1958–2019), Israeli computer scientist * Judit Elek (born 1937), Hungarian film director and screenwriter * ...
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 Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
. 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 Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...
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 Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...
,
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and
Shenyang Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu language, Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the list of capitals in China#Province capitals, provincial capital of Liaonin ...
, 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 Kalmykia, officially the Republic of Kalmykia,; , ''Khalmg Tanghch'' is a republic of Russia, located in the Volga region of European Russia. The republic is part of the Southern Federal District, and borders Dagestan to the south and Stavr ...
(of which FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is president), from May 21 to June 8, 2004, produced
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
n 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 Alexandra Konstantinovna Kosteniuk (; born 23 April 1984) is a Russian and Swiss chess grandmaster who was the Women's World Chess Champion from 2008 to 2010 and Women's World Rapid Chess Champion in 2021. She was European women's champion ...
, who, in the final, beat Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan 2½–1½, then aged 14 (see
Women's World Chess Championship 2008 The Women's World Chess Championship 2008 took place from August 28, 2008 to September 18 in Nalchik, Russia. It was won by Alexandra Kosteniuk, who beat Hou Yifan in the final by 2½ to 1½. For the fifth time, the championship took the form of ...
). 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)

Beginning from 2010, the Women's World Chess Championship would be held annually in alternating formats. In even years a 64-player
knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...
system would be used, in the odd years a classical match featuring only two players would be held. 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. 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 Koneru Humpy (born 31 March 1987) is an Indian chess grandmaster. Humpy is a runner-up of the Women's World Chess Championship and the reigning two-time Women's World Rapid Chess Champion. In 2002, she became the youngest female player--and ...
. 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 Mariya Olehivna Muzychuk (; born 21 September 1992) is a Ukrainian chess grandmaster and Women's World Chess Champion from April 2015 to March 2016. She is also a twice women's champion of Ukraine (2012, 2013), World Team and European Team ch ...
, 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 Anna Olehivna Muzychuk (; ; born 28 February 1990) is a Ukrainian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster (GM). She is the fourth woman in chess history to attain a FIDE rating of at least 2600. She has been ranked as high as No. 197 in the wo ...
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.FIDE General Assembly Agenda
(5.20.8)
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. Aleksandra Goryachkina won the
Candidates tournament The Candidates Tournament (or in some periods Candidates Matches) 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 win ...
, 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 Lei Tingjie (, born 3 March 1997) 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 earne ...
and in the 2025 championship against Tan Zhongyi.


Women's World Chess Champions


Editions and winners

Key: RR =
round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...
, KO =
knockout tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...


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).


See also

* Development of the Women's World Chess Championship *
World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Gukesh Dommaraju, who defeated the previous champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship 2024, 2024 World Chess Championship. ...
* Women's World Team Chess Championship 2009 *
List of female chess players This article lists female chess players who have received FIDE (International Chess Federation) titles or have other significant achievements in chess. Grandmasters There are :Female chess grandmasters, 42 female players who have been awarded th ...


References


External links


WCC for Women (Interzonal, Candidates, World Championship)Chessbase report on 2006 championshipFIDE article about women's world chess champions
{{Main world championships Women's chess competitions
Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
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Recurring sporting events established in 1927