The 2020 Women's World Chess Championship was a chess match for the

Women's World Chess Championship 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 ...

title. It was contested by

Ju Wenjun Ju Wenjun (; born 31 January 1991) is a Chinese chess grandmaster. She is the reigning five-time Women's World Champion, the reigning Women's World Blitz Chess Champion, and a two-time Women's World Rapid Chess Champion. In March 2017, she be ...

(world champion as winner of the 2018 knock-out championship) and her challenger,

Aleksandra Goryachkina Aleksandra Yuryevna Goryachkina (; born 28 September 1998) is a Russian chess player who holds the title of Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster (GM). She is the No. 4 ranked woman in the world by FIDE rating and is also the fourth-highest rated wo ...

, the winner of a newly established Candidates Tournament that was held in 2019. The match was planned in two parts, one held 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 ...

(China) and one in

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

(Russia), from 3 to 24 January 2020. It marked a return to a match-only format for the title with a qualifying Candidates Tournament, after new

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 ...

president

Arkady Dvorkovich Arkady Vladimirovich Dvorkovich (; born 26 March 1972) is a Russian politician and economist, currently serving as the president of the International Chess Federation, FIDE. He was Deputy Prime Minister in Dmitry Medvedev's Cabinet from 21 Ma ...

had expressed his dissatisfaction with the knock-out tournaments and resulting frequently changing world champions. Ju Wenjun successfully defended her title.

Candidates Tournament

The newly-established Candidates Tournament was held from 29 May to 19 June 2019 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. ...

, Russia. The format was an eight-player double round-robin tournament. Three players qualified by virtue of reaching the semi-finals of the last

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

. All remaining players came from the rating list, by taking the average of all twelve monthly ratings in 2018. Aleksandra Goryachkina replaced

Hou Yifan Hou Yifan ( ; born 27 February 1994) is a Chinese chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster, three-time Women's World Chess Champion and professor at Peking University. She is the second highest Elo rating system, rated female player of all time.

, who declined an invitation.

Qualifiers

Goryachkina won with two rounds to spare.

Crosstable

Leading player after each round in green. :

Championship match

As in 2018, the match was divided into two parts, hosted by the countries of the players. One stage was held in

, China and the other in

, Russia. In Shanghai the match was played in the InterContinental Shanghai Jing'An Hotel, in Vladivostok at the

Far Eastern Federal University Far Eastern Federal University (, ''Dalnevostochny federalny universitet'') is a public university in Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia. In 2023 the university was ranked #434 by QS World University Rankings and among the 100 best universit ...

Russky Island Russky Island () is an island in Peter the Great Gulf in the Sea of Japan, in Primorsky Krai, Russia. It is the largest island in the Eugénie Archipelago, separated from the Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula immediately to the north by the Eastern ...

. The format was increased to twelve games, the last championships having consisted of only 10 scheduled games. The classical time-control portion of the match ended with a tied score of 6-6, after 3 victories for Ju, 3 victories for Goryachkina, and 6 draws. On 24 January, 4 games of rapid chess were used as a tie-breaker; and Ju Wenjun retained the title with 1 win and 3 draws.

Schedule

The match started off in Shanghai and ended in Vladivostok.

Results

References

External links

Official websiteChampionship at Fide websiteFIDE Women's Candidates on World Chess
{{World championships in 2020 Women's World Chess Championships 2020 in chess

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 ...

Chess in China Chess in Russia Sports competitions in Shanghai Sport in Vladivostok January 2020 sports events in China International sports competitions hosted by China International sports competitions hosted by Russia 2020 in Russian sport