Women's Candidates Tournament 2024

The FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament 2024 was an eight-player chess tournament held to determine the challenger for the Women's World Chess Championship 2025. It was held from 3 April to 22 April 2024 in Toronto, Canada, alongside the Candidates Tournament 2024.

It was a double round-robin tournament. Tan Zhongyi won the tournament and played in the Women's World Chess Championship 2025 against the defending Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun.

Qualification The eight players who qualified were:

Qualification method Player Age Rating Rank(April 2024) 2023 Women's World Championship runner-up Lei Tingjie25504The top two finishers in the Women's GrandPrix 2022–23 Kateryna Lagno 25426 Aleksandra Goryachkina 25533The top three finishers in the Women's Chess WorldCup 2023 Nurgyul Salimova 243236 Anna Muzychuk 25208The top two finishers in the Women's Grand Swiss2023 Vaishali Rameshbabu 247515 Tan Zhongyi 25217Highest-rated active player for January 2024 Koneru Humpy25465

Organization The tournament was an eight-player, double round-robin tournament, meaning there were 14 rounds with each player facing the others twice: once with the black pieces and once with the white pieces. The tournament winner qualified to play Ju Wenjun for the Women's World Chess Championship 2025.

Players from the same federation were required to play each other in the first rounds of each half to avoid collusion. The players affected in the 2024 Women's Candidates were Kateryna Lagno and Aleksandra Goryachkina representing FIDE, Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi representing China, and R Vaishali and Koneru Humpy representing India. They faced each other in rounds 1 and 8.

In March 2024, FIDE announced pairings for the tournament.Pairings: accessed 4 March 2024

Regulations

The time control was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment per move starting from move 1. Players received 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 points for a loss.

Tiebreaks for the first place would have been addressed as follows: Players would have played two rapid chess games at 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move. If a three- to six-way tie had occurred, a single round-robin would be played. If seven or eight players had been tied, a single round-robin would be played with a time limit of 10 minutes plus 5 seconds per move. If any players had still been tied for first after the rapid chess games, they would play two blitz chess games at 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move. In the case of more than two players being tied, a single round-robin would be played. If any players were still tied for first after these blitz chess games, the remaining players would play a knock-out blitz tournament at the same time control. In each mini-match of the proposed knock-out tournament, the first player to win a game would win the mini-match.

Ties for places other than first were broken by, in order: (1) Sonneborn–Berger score; (2) total number of wins; (3) head-to-head score among tied players; (4) drawing of lots.

The prize money was €24,000 for first place, €18,000 for second place, and €12,000 for third place (with players on the same number of points sharing prize money, irrespective of tie-breaks), plus €1,750 per half-point for every player, for a total prize pool of €250,000.

Schedule

Date Event Wednesday, 3 April Opening ceremony Thursday, 4 April Round 1 Friday, 5 April Round 2 Saturday, 6 April Round 3 Sunday, 7 April Round 4 Monday, 8 April Rest day Tuesday, 9 April Round 5 Wednesday, 10 April Round 6 Thursday, 11 April Round 7 Friday, 12 April Rest day Saturday, 13 April Round 8 Sunday, 14 April Round 9 Monday, 15 April Round 10 Tuesday, 16 April Rest day Wednesday, 17 April Round 11 Thursday, 18 April Round 12 Friday, 19 April Rest day Saturday, 20 April Round 13 Sunday, 21 April Round 14 Monday, 22 April Tie breaks (if required) Closing ceremony

Results Tan Zhongyi led from start to finish to win the tournament. She was the only player who won in the first round (against Lei Tingjie), and when she won again in the second round, she built up a lead over her rivals. In the first half of the tournament Aleksandra Goryachkina kept pace with Tan, but Tan stayed half a point ahead. A momentous round 8 saw Lei win a third consecutive game against Tan. This led to a three-way tie for first. However, Tan won again in round 9, while Goryachkina lost in round 10 to fall behind. By round 12, only Tan and Lei were still in with a realistic chance. When Lei lost to Vaishali in round 13, Tan was effectively champion. A draw in the final round gave Tan the tournament victory, with a 1.5-point margin.

For the other competitors, Muzychuk achieved several winning positions, but she did not manage to win them, and she finished the tournament as the only player who did not win a game. Salimova, the only non-grandmaster in the field (Vaishali was a GM-elect), also had a difficult tournament, finishing joint-last with Muzychuk. Humpy started the tournament poorly with losses in rounds 4 and 6, but recovered in the second half to finish on +1. Vaishali had an even more turbulent tournament, at one point losing four games in a row to be solidly last, but then winning five consecutive games at the end to tie for 2nd–4th.

Standings Tie-breakers for first place: (1) results in tie-break games for first place;

Tie breakers for non-first place: (1) results in tie-break games for first place, if any; (2) Sonneborn–Berger score (SB); (3) total number of wins; (4) head-to-head score among tied players; (5) drawing of lots.Regulations for the FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament 2024, (PDF) FIDE,

Note: Numbers in the crosstable in a white background indicate the result playing the respective opponent with the white pieces (black pieces if on a black background). This does not give information which of the two games was played in the first half of the tournament, and which in the second.

Points by round This table shows each player's cumulative difference between their number of wins and losses after each round. Green backgrounds indicate the player(s) with the highest score after each round. Red backgrounds indicate player(s) who could no longer win the tournament after each round. RankPlayerRounds1234567891011121314 1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +4 2 = = = –1 –1 –2 –2 –1 −1 −1 = = = +1 3 –1 –1 –1 –1 –1 = +1 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +2 +1 4 = –1 = = = –1 –2 –3 −4 −3 −2 –1 = +1 5 = +1 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +2 +1 = = = = 6 = = = = = +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 = = = –1 7 = = –1 = = –1 –1 –1 −1 −2 −3 –3 –3 –3 8 = –1 –1 –1 –1 –2 –2 –2 −2 −2 −2 –3 –3 –3

Pairings by round First named player is white. 1–0 indicates a white win, 0–1 indicates a black win, and ½–½ indicates a draw. Numbers in parentheses show players' scores prior to the round. Final column indicates opening played, sourced from Lichess. Round 1 (4 April 2024) Aleksandra Goryachkina ½–½ Kateryna Lagno Anna Muzychuk ½–½ Nurgyul Salimova Lei Tingjie 0–1 Tan Zhongyi Vaishali Rameshbabu ½–½ Koneru Humpy Round 2 (5 April 2024) Kateryna Lagno (½) ½–½ Koneru Humpy (½) Tan Zhongyi (1) 1–0 Vaishali Rameshbabu (½) Nurgyul Salimova (½) ½–½ Lei Tingjie (0) Aleksandra Goryachkina (½) 1–0 Anna Muzychuk (½) Round 3 (6 April 2024) Anna Muzychuk (½) ½–½ Kateryna Lagno (1) Lei Tingjie (½) ½–½ Aleksandra Goryachkina (1½) Vaishali Rameshbabu (½) 1–0 Nurgyul Salimova (1) Koneru Humpy (1) ½–½ Tan Zhongyi (2) Round 4 (7 April 2024) Kateryna Lagno (1½) ½–½ Tan Zhongyi (2½) Nurgyul Salimova (1) 1–0 Koneru Humpy (1½) Aleksandra Goryachkina (2) ½–½ Vaishali Rameshbabu (1½) Anna Muzychuk (1) ½–½ Lei Tingjie (1) Round 5 (9 April 2024) Lei Tingjie (1½) ½–½ Kateryna Lagno (2) Vaishali Rameshbabu (2) ½–½ Anna Muzychuk (1½) Koneru Humpy (1½) ½–½ Aleksandra Goryachkina (2½) Tan Zhongyi (3) ½–½ Nurgyul Salimova (2) Round 6 (10 April 2024) Vaishali Rameshbabu (2½) 0–1 Kateryna Lagno (2½) Koneru Humpy (2) 0–1 Lei Tingjie (2) Tan Zhongyi (3½) 1–0 Anna Muzychuk (2) Nurgyul Salimova (2½) 0–1 Aleksandra Goryachkina (3) Round 7 (11 April 2024) Kateryna Lagno (3½) ½–½ Nurgyul Salimova (2½) Aleksandra Goryachkina (4) ½–½ Tan Zhongyi (4½) Anna Muzychuk (2) ½–½ Koneru Humpy (2) Lei Tingjie (3) 1–0 Vaishali Rameshbabu (2½) Round 8 (13 April 2024) Kateryna Lagno (4) ½–½ Aleksandra Goryachkina (4½) Nurgyul Salimova (3) ½–½ Anna Muzychuk (2½) Tan Zhongyi (5) 0–1 Lei Tingjie (4) Koneru Humpy (2½) 1–0 Vaishali Rameshbabu (2½) Round 9 (14 April 2024) Koneru Humpy (3½) ½–½ Kateryna Lagno (4½) Vaishali Rameshbabu (2½) 0–1 Tan Zhongyi (5) Lei Tingjie (5) ½–½ Nurgyul Salimova (3½) Anna Muzychuk (3) ½–½ Aleksandra Goryachkina (5) Round 10 (15 April 2024) Kateryna Lagno (5) ½–½ Anna Muzychuk (3½) Aleksandra Goryachkina (5½) 0–1 Lei Tingjie (5½) Nurgyul Salimova (4) 0–1 Vaishali Rameshbabu (2½) Tan Zhongyi (6) ½–½ Koneru Humpy (4) Round 11 (17 April 2024) Tan Zhongyi (6½) 1–0 Kateryna Lagno (5½) Koneru Humpy (4½) 1–0 Nurgyul Salimova (4) Vaishali Rameshbabu (3½) 1–0 Aleksandra Goryachkina (5½) Lei Tingjie (6½) ½–½ Anna Muzychuk (4) Round 12 (18 April 2024) Kateryna Lagno (5½) ½–½ Lei Tingjie (7) Anna Muzychuk (4½) 0–1 Vaishali Rameshbabu (4½) Aleksandra Goryachkina (5½) ½–½ Koneru Humpy (5½) Nurgyul Salimova (4) ½–½ Tan Zhongyi (7½) Round 13 (20 April 2024) Nurgyul Salimova (4½) ½–½ Kateryna Lagno (6) Tan Zhongyi (8) ½–½ Aleksandra Goryachkina (6) Koneru Humpy (6) ½–½ Anna Muzychuk (4½) Vaishali Rameshbabu (5½) 1–0 Lei Tingjie (7½) Round 14 (21 April 2024) Kateryna Lagno (6½) 0–1 Vaishali Rameshbabu (6½) Lei Tingjie (7½) 0–1 Koneru Humpy (6½) Anna Muzychuk (5) ½–½ Tan Zhongyi (8½) Aleksandra Goryachkina (6½) ½–½ Nurgyul Salimova (5)

Notes

Women's Candidates Tournament 2024

Bron en licentie