The FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2015–16 was a series of five chess tournaments exclusively for women, which determined one player to play in the Women's World Chess Championship Match 2018, a 10-game match against the knockout world champion.
The 2015–2016 edition was the fourth cycle of the tournament series. The top ranked player was Hou Yifan, who won the previous three editions of the Grand Prix, but had withdrawn participation after playing in the first tournament. The overall Grand Prix was won by Chinese player Ju Wenjun, who overtook Koneru Humpy at the last tournament. Koneru Humpy thereby finished overall runner-up for the fourth time.
Format Originally, the Grand Prix was scheduled as a 4-event tour. However, at the March 2016 FIDE Presidential Board meeting, a fifth event was then added, which replaced the Women's Knockout championship. Originally, 16 players were supposed to participate, though with the expansion the total became 20, along with extras to replace the withdrawn Hou Yifan. Each player participated in exactly 3 events. The players ranked their preference of events once the final list of host cities was announced and the dates were allocated to each host city.
Each event was a 12-player, single round-robin tournament. In each round players scored 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 for a loss. Grand Prix points were then allocated according to each player's standing in the tournament: 160 Grand Prix points for first place, 130 for second place, 110 for third place, and then 90 down to 10 points by increments of 10. In case of a tie, the Grand Prix points were shared evenly by the tied players.
The player with the most Grand Prix points was the winner. FIDE reserved the right to change locations and dates, and increase the events to 6 and players to 18, with each player participating in 4 events. Eventually, they expanded the Grand Prix, but not in the contractual manner specified, deciding to add a fifth stop at their Moscow Presidential Board meeting (March 2016). Therefore, approximately 20 players took part in the Grand Prix, each playing 3 events.
Players and qualification Players invited based on qualifying criteria were: The four semi-finalists of the Women's World Chess Championship 2015: Mariya Muzychuk Natalia Pogonina Pia Cramling Harika Dronavalli The six highest ranked players (averaged over a year): Hou Yifan Koneru Humpy Nana Dzagnidze Ju Wenjun Anna Muzychuk Valentina Gunina Two FIDE presidential nominees Antoaneta Stefanova Alexandra Kosteniuk Five organizer nominees: Almira Skripchenko Sarasadat Khademalsharieh Nino Batsiashvili Zhao Xue Olga Girya Other players appearing in tournaments: Natalia Zhukova Lela Javakhishvili Bela Khotenashvili Two players appearing only one tournament: Elina Danielian Tan Zhongyi
In May 2016, Hou Yifan announced that she was dropping out of the Women's Grand Prix because she disagreed with the process of determining the Women's World Champion. FIDE had kept every second Women's World Championship as a 64-player knockout tournament since 2010, which Hou characterized as a "lottery." The winner of the knockout was the Women's World Champion, and then played the overall winner of the Grand Prix. Hou believed that as the current World Champion, she should defend her title against a challenger (how the World Chess Championship is decided), rather than playing in qualifying tournaments and then having to play against the winner of the knockout tournament. Alternatively, under the current setup, if she won both the knockout tournament and the Grand Prix, she would have to play the player who took second place in the Grand Prix for the title. In the 2013–2014 cycle, Hou was unable to play in the knockout tournament because she had already committed to play in another venue when the knockout tournament was scheduled; therefore, she lost her title to Mariya Muzychuk temporarily and regained it in a match in 2016 (delayed from 2015). Hou also said she would not play in the knockout tournament in the 2015–2016 cycle.
Prize money and Grand Prix points The prize money for the single tournaments and the overall series stayed the same as the previous year, that is €60,000 per single Grand Prix and €90,000 for the overall Grand Prix finish. Place Single Grand Prix event Overall standings Grand Prix points 1 €10,000 €25,000 160 2 €8,250 €20,000 130 3 €6,750 €15,000 110 4 €5,750 €10,000 90 5 €5,000 €7,500 80 6 €4,500 €5,500 70 7 €4,250 €4,000 60 8 €4,000 €3,000 50 9 €3,250 – 40 10 €3,000 – 30 11 €2,750 – 20 12 €2,500 – 10
Tiebreaks With the objective of determining a clear, single winner to play in the Challenger Match, and in case the top two or more players had equal cumulative points, the following criteria (in descending order) were utilized to decide the overall winner: Number of actual game result points scored in the three tournaments. Number of first places (in case of a tie – points given accordingly). Number of second places (in case of a tie – points given accordingly). Number of wins. Drawing of lots.
Schedule Like the FIDE Grand Prix, the number of tournaments was reduced, here from six to five. No. Host city Date Winner Points (Win/draw/loss) 1 Monte Carlo, Monaco 2–16 October 2015 9/11 (+8=2-1) 2 Tehran, Iran 10–24 February 2016 7.5/11 (+4=7-0) 3 Batumi, Georgia 19 April – 3 May 2016 7.5/11 (+6=3-2) 4 Chengdu, China 1 – 15 July 2016 7/11 (+3=8-0) 7/11 (+5=4-2) 5 Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia 18 November – 2 December 2016 7.5/11 (+5=5-1)
Events crosstables
Monaco 2015 {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+ 1st stage, Monte Carlo, Monaco, 2–16 October 2015 ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12 !! Total !! Rating Change !! H2H !! Victories !! SB !! TPR !! GP |- | 1 || align=left | || 2671 | * || 1 || 0 || 1 || 1 || ½ || 1 || 1 || ½ || 1 || 1 || 1 || 9 || +11 || 0 || 8 || 45.00 || 2766 || 160 |- | 2 || align=left | || 2528 | 0 || * || 1 || ½ || ½ || ½ || 1 || 1 || ½ || 1 || ½ || ½ || 7|| +13 || 1 || 4 || 36.00 || 2619 || 120 |- | 3 || align=left | || 2578 | 1 || 0 || * || ½ || ½ || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 7 || +5 || 0 || 6 || 36.00 || 2614 || 120 |- | 4 || align=left | || 2513 | 0 || ½ || ½ || * || ½ || ½ || 1 || ½ || ½ || 0 || 1 || 1 || 6 || +17 || ½ || 3 || 29.00 || 2554 || 85 |- | 5 || align=left | || 2445 | 0 || ½ || ½ || ½ || * || ½ || 0 || 1 || 1 || ½ || ½ || 1 || 6 || 6 || ½ || 3 || 28.25 || 2560 || 85 |- | 6 || align=left | || 2525 | ½ || ½ || 0 || ½ || ½ || * || 0 || 1 || ½ || ½ || ½ || 1 || 5½ || -1 || 1 || 4 || 26.75 || 2517 || 65 |- | 7 || align=left | || 2500 | 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 1 || * || 0 || ½ || ½ || ½ || 1 || 5½ || +3 || 0 || 2 || 27.25 || 2519 || 65 |- | 8 || align=left | || 2573 | 0 || 0 || 0 || ½ || 0 || 0 || 1 || * || 1 || ½ || ½ || 1 || 5|| -14 || 0 || 4 || 21.25 || 2476 || 50 |- | 9 || align=left | || 2441 | 0 || ½ || 0 || 0 || ½ || ½ || ½ || 0 || * || 1 || ½ || 1 || 4½ || +3 || 1½ || 2 || 20.25 || 2459 || 30 |- | 10 || align=left | || 2485 | 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || * || ½ || ½ || 4½ || -5 || 1 || 1 || 22.25 || 2455 || 30 |- | 11 || align=left | || 2549 | ½ || ½ || 1 || ½ || 0 || ½ || ½ || 0 || 0 || ½ || * || ½ || 4½|| -15 || ½ || 1 || 26.50 || 2450 || 30 |- | 12 || align=left | || 2402 | 0 || ½ || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || ½ || ½ || 0 || * || 1½ || -22 || 0 || 0 || 8.00 || 2219 || 10
Tehran 2016 {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+ 2nd stage, Tehran, Iran, 10–24 February 2016 ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12 !! Total !! Rating Change !! H2H !! Victories !! SB !! TPR !! GP |- | 1 || align=left | || 2558 | * || ½ || ½ || ½ || 1 || 1 || ½ || ½ || ½ || 1 || 1 || ½ || 7½ || +11 || 0 || 4 || 39.25 || 2631|| 160 |- | 2 || align=left | || 2403 | ½ || * || 1 || ½ || ½ || ½ || 0 || 1 || ½ || ½ || 1 || 1 || 7 || +31 || 1 || 4 || 36.00 || 2614 || 120 |- | 3 || align=left | || 2506 | ½ || 0 || * || 1 || ½ || 0 || 1 || ½ || 1 || 1 || ½ || 1 || 7 || +15 || 0 || 5 || 35.00 || 2605 || 120 |- | 4 || align=left | || 2454 | ½ || ½ || 0 || * || 1 || 1 || 0 || ½ || 1 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 6½ || +18 || 1 || 5 || 34.00 || 2573 || 85 |- | 5 || align=left | || 2529 | 0 || ½ || ½ || 0 || * || ½ || 1 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 6½ || +6 || 0 || 5 || 31.50 || 2566 || 85 |- | 6 || align=left | || 2583 | 0 || ½ || 1 || 0 || ½ || * || ½ || 1 || ½ || ½ || 1 || ½ || 6 || -8 || 0 || 3 || 30.50 || 2532 || 70 |- | 7 || align=left | || 2484 | ½ || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || ½ || * || ½ || 1 || 0 || ½ || ½ || 5½ || +3 || 0 || 3 || 30.50 || 2505 || 60 |- | 8 || align=left | || 2496 | ½ || 0 || ½ || ½ || 0 || 0 || 0 || * || ½ || 1 || ½ || 1 || 4½ || -9 || ½ || 2 || 22.00 || 2504|| 45 |- | 9 || align=left | || 2511 | ½ || ½ || 0 || 0 || 0 || ½ || ½ || ½ || * || ½ || 1 || ½ || 4½ || -11 || ½ || 1 || 22.50 || 2438 || 45 |- | 10 || align=left | || 2529 | 0 || ½ || 0 || 0 || 1 || ½ || 1 || 0 || ½ || * || ½ || 0 || 4 || -18 || 0 || 2 || 22.50 || 2400 || 30 |- | 11 || align=left | || 2509 | 0 || 0 || ½ || 1 || 0 || 0 || ½ || ½ || 0 || ½ || * || ½ || 3½ || -21 || ½ || 1 || 18.75 || 2370 || 15 |- | 12 || align=left | || 2485 | ½ || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || ½ || ½ || 0 || ½ || 1 || ½ || * || 3½ || -17 || ½ || 1 || 17.50 || 2372 || 15 |} Sarasadat Khademalsharieh achieved her first GM norm in nine rounds.
Batumi 2016 {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+ 3rd stage, Batumi, Georgia, 19 April – 3 May 2016 ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12 !! Total !! Rating Change !! H2H !! Victories !! SB !! TPR !! GP |- | 1 || align=left | || 2497 | * || 1 || ½ || 1 || 1 || 0 || ½ || 1 || 1 || 0 || 1 || ½ || 7½ || +21 || 0 || 6 || 40.25 || 2634 || 160 |- | 2 || align=left | || 2557 | 0 || * || ½ || ½ || 1 || 1 || ½ || ½ || 0 || 1 || 1 || ½ || 6½ || +1 || 0 || 4 || 33.75 || 2560 || 130 |- | 3 || align=left | || 2476 | ½ || ½ || * || 1 || ½ || 0 || ½ || ½ || 1 || 1 || 0 || ½ || 6 || +9 || 1 || 3 || 33.00 || 2539 || 100 |- | 4 || align=left | || 2555 | 0 || ½ || 0 || * || 1 || ½ || 1 || ½ || 1 || ½ || ½ || ½ || 6 || -4 || 0 || 3 || 31.25 || 2532 || 100 |- | 5 || align=left | || 2504 | 0 || 0 || ½ || 0 || * || 1 || 1 || ½ || 1 || 0 || ½ || 1 || 5½ || -1 || 2 || 4 || 27.75 || 2500 || 70 |- | 6 || align=left | || 2535 | 1 || 0 || 1 || ½ || 0 || * || ½ || 0 || ½ || 1 || ½ || ½ || 5½ || -6 || ½ || 3 || 31.00 || 2497 || 70 |- | 7 || align=left | || 2453 | ½ || ½ || ½ || 0 || 0 || ½ || * || 1 || ½ || ½ || ½ || 1 || 5½ || +8 || ½ || 2 || 29.00 || 2505 || 70 |- | 8 || align=left | || 2561 | 0 || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || 1 || 0 || * || ½ || 1 || 0 || ½ || 5 || -15 || 1½ || 2 || 27.00 || 2459 || 40 |- | 9 || align=left | || 2489 | 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || ½ || ½ || ½ || * || ½ || 1 || 1 || 5 || -3 || 1 || 3 || 25.50 || 2466 || 40 |- | 10 || align=left | || 2442 | 1 || 0 || 0 || ½ || 1 || 0 || ½ || 0 || ½ || * || 1 || ½ || 5 || +5 || ½ || 3 || 27.75 || 2470 || 40 |- | 11 || align=left | || 2445 | 0 || 0 || 1 || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || 1 || 0 || 0 || * || ½ || 4½ || -1 || 0 || 2 || 24.25 || 2441 || 20 |- | 12 || align=left | || 2493 | ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || 0 || ½ || 0 || ½ || 0 || ½ || ½ || * || 4 || -14 || 0 || 0 || 23.00 || 2399 || 10
Chengdu 2016 {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |+ 4th stage, Chengdu, China, 1–15 July 2016 ! !! Player !! Rating !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 11 !! 12 !! Total !! Rating Change !! H2H !! Victories !! SB !! TPR !! GP |- | 1 || align=left | || 2526 | * || 1 || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || 1 || ½ || 1 || ½ || 7 || +13 || 1 || 3 || 37.50 || 2612 || 145 |- | 2 || align=left | || 2575 | 0 || * || ½ || 1 || 0 || ½ || 1 || 1 || ½ || 1 || 1 || ½ || 7 || +5 || 0 || 5 || 36.00 || 2607 || 145 |- | 3 || align=left | || 2578 | ½ || ½ || * || ½ || 1 || ½ || 0 || ½ || ½ || ½ || ½ || 1 || 6 || -6 || 1½ || 2 || 32.00 || 2541 || 93⅓ |-