The Women's Chess World Cup 2021 was a 103-player single-elimination chess tournament, the first edition of Women's Chess World Cup, 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 FIDE World Cup. The tournament was held in parallel with the Chess World Cup 2021, an open tournament.

The tournament formed part of the qualification for the Women's World Chess Championship 2023. The top three finishers, other than Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun and players who had otherwise qualified, qualified for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2022–23.

Format

The format was a 7-round knockout event. 78 women played one another in the first round. The 39 that went through were joined in the second round by the top 25 seeds, who were given a bye for the first round. The losers of the two semi-finals played one another for third place.

Each round consisted of two classical games with shorter tiebreaks as needed. Their time controls were as follows:

Two classical time limit games: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves with 30 minutes added for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move. If tied, two games of 25 minutes with a 10 second increment per move. If tied, two games of 10 minutes with a 10 second increment per move. If tied, two games of 5 minutes with a 3 second increment per move. If the match was still tied, a single armageddon game was played. The players drew lots and the winner of the draw chose their color. White received 5 minutes, black received 4 minutes, and each player received a 2-second increment per move beginning at move 61.

Prize money The total prize fund was US$676,250, with a first prize of US$50,000. +Prize money in US dollars Round Prizes Total Round 1 39 × $3,750 $146,250 Round 2 32 × $5,000 $160,000 Round 3 16 × $6,750 $108,000 Round 4 8 × $9,500 $76,000 Round 5 4 × $14,000 $56,000 4th place 1 × $20,000 $20,000 3rd place 1 × $25,000 $25,000 Runner-up 1 × $35,000 $35,000 Winner 1 × $50,000 $50,000 Total 676,250

Participants The following was the list of participants. Players were seeded by their FIDE rating of June 2021.

, GM, 2596 (E18) , GM, 2558 (WC) , GM, 2544 (WC) , GM, 2535 (R) , GM, 2524 (E18) , GM, 2515 (R) , GM, 2511 (R) , IM, 2500 (AS19) , IM, 2494 (E19) , IM, 2494 (Z3.1) , GM, 2491 (FN) , IM, 2489 (J19) , IM, 2473 (E18) , GM, 2472 (WC) , GM, 2472 (R) , GM, 2470 (E18) , WGM, 2469 (R) , GM, 2463 (PN) , GM, 2459 (E19) , IM, 2456 (E18) , WGM, 2448 (R) , IM, 2446 (E19) , IM, 2443 (E18) , IM, 2442 (PN) , IM, 2440 (FN) , GM, 2438 (E18) , GM, 2436 (E18) , IM, 2430 (FN) , IM, 2430 (E18) , GM, 2429 (E18) , IM, 2428 (PN) , IM, 2421 (FN) , IM, 2418 (PN) , IM, 2418 (E18) , IM, 2417 (E18) , IM, 2413 (E19) , IM, 2413 (FN) , IM, 2413 (FN) , IM, 2411 (FN) , GM, 2407 (FN) , GM, 2404 (FN) , IM, 2404 (E18) , WGM, 2403 (E19) , WGM, 2399 (FN) , IM, 2395 (E19) , GM, 2393 (E19) , WGM, 2393 (FN) , IM, 2391 (Z3.7) , WGM, 2390 (J18) , IM, 2389 (FN) , WGM, 2388 (AM18) , IM, 2382 (FN) , IM, 2379 (E19) , IM, 2379 (E19) , IM, 2370 (AS18) , IM, 2369 (FN) , IM, 2363 (E18) , WGM, 2362 (FN) , IM, 2360 (Z3.3) , GM, 2358 (FN) , WGM, 2358 (Z2.1) , IM, 2357 (E19) , WGM, 2355 (FN) , IM, 2346 (FN) , WGM, 2344 (PN) , WGM, 2341 (E19) , WGM, 2339 (FN) , WGM, 2335 (FN) , WIM, 2323 (ON) , FM, 2321 (FN) , WIM, 2317 (FN) , WGM, 2316 (Z2.1) , WGM, 2309 (E19) , WGM, 2301 (E19) , WGM, 2299 (Z3.6) , WIM, 2278 (FN) , WIM, 2276 (PN) , WIM, 2273 (Z3.4) , WIM, 2262 (Z2.3) , WGM, 2257 (AM19) , WGM, 2256 (E19) , WGM, 2229 (FN) , WIM, 2201 (FN) , WIM, 2191 (FN) , WIM, 2189 (FN) , WFM, 2182 (FN) , WGM, 2182 (AF) , WGM, 2179 (FN) , WIM, 2170 (Z2.5) , WGM, 2106 (FN) , WIM, 2083 (FN) , WIM, 2076 (AF) , WIM, 2072 (FN) , WIM, 2071 (Z2.2) , WGM, 2071 (PN) , WFM, 2061 (FN) , WIM, 2046 (FN) , WFM, 2035 (FN) , WIM, 2015 (AF) , WIM, 2013 (Z2.3) , WIM, 2009 (Z3.2) , WIM, 1863 (PN) , 1835 (FN)

Qualification paths

WC: Semifinalists of the Women's World Chess Championship 2018 J18 and J19: World Junior Champions 2018 and 2019 R: Rating E18 and E19: European Individual Championships 2018 and 2019 AM18 and AM19: American Continental Chess Championship 2018 and 2019 AS18 and AS19: Asian Chess Championship 2018 and 2019

AF: African Chess Championship 2019 Z2.1, Z2.2, Z2.3, Z2.4, Z2.5, Z3.1, Z3.2, Z3.3, Z3.4, Z3.6, Z3.7: Zonal tournaments FN: Federation's nominee ON: Organiser's nominee PN: FIDE President's nominee

Replacements The following are the players from the list of qualifiers who declined to play, and their replacements: (WC) → (R) (R) → (R) (R) → (R) (Z3.5) → an extra presidential nominee (PN) (Z3.5) → an extra presidential nominee (PN) (Z3.5) → an extra presidential nominee (PN) (Z3.5) → an extra presidential nominee (PN)

In addition, three federations (China, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam) did not nominate a player.

Results Due to the size of the bracket, the results view is made up of two parts on this page. Rounds one through four are shown first, split up into different sections of the bracket. They then join again for the quarterfinals and beyond, which are shown afterwards.

Rounds 1-4 Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

Section 8

Rounds 5-7

Third place SeedName12R1R2Total 4 2527½ ½0 ½ 1½ 7 Tan Zhongyi 2511½ ½1½ 2½

Finals SeedName12Total 1 25960 ½ ½ 14 Alexandra Kosteniuk 24721 ½ 1½

See also Chess World Cup 2021 Women's World Chess Championship

References

External links FIDE World Cup 2021, official site, FIDE.