The Women's Candidates Tournament is a major women's chess tournament organized by FIDE.
It is a final contest to determine the challenger for the Women's World Chess Championship. The winner of the Candidates earns the right to a match for the World Championship against the incumbent world champion. The inaugural Women's Candidates tournament was held in 1952 and continued for every Women's World Championship match (except 1958) until 1997, after which the match format was abandoned and replaced by a knock-out tournament. The Women's Candidates tournament was brought back in 2019 when FIDE re-instituted the match format as the sole format for determining the Women's World Champion.
Winners and results
+ °Won the subsequent Women's World Championship
EditionHost cityPrize fundWinnerRunner-upThird 1952 Moscow, Russia Elisabeth Bykova° Fenny Heemskerk Olga Ignatieva 1955 Moscow, Russia Olga Rubtsova° Larissa Volpert Edith Keller-Herrmann 1959 Plovdiv, Bulgaria Kira Zvorykina Verica Nedeljković Larissa Volpert 1961 Vrnjačka Banja, Yugoslavia Nona Gaprindashvili° Valentina Borisenko Kira Zvorykina 1964 Sukhumi, Georgia Alla Kushnir Milunka Lazarević Tatiana Zatulovskaya 1967 Subotica, Yugoslavia Alla Kushnir Valentina Kozlovskaya Tatiana Zatulovskaya 1971 Kislovodsk, Russia Alla Kushnir Nana Alexandria Tatiana Zatulovskaya Milunka Lazarević 1974–75 Moscow, Russia Nana Alexandria Irina Levitina Marta Shul Valentina Kozlovskaya 1977–78 Bad Kissingen, Germany Maia Chiburdanidze° Alla Kushnir Elena Akhmilovskaya Elena Fatalibekova 1980–81 Tbilisi, Georgia Nana Alexandria Nana Ioseliani Marta Litinskaya Nona Gaprindashvili 1983–84 Sochi, Russia Irina Levitina Lidia Semenova Nana Alexandria Nana Ioseliani 1986 Malmö, Sweden Elena Akhmilovskaya Nana Alexandria Marta Litinskaya-Shul 1988 Tsqaltubo, Georgia Nana Ioseliani Elena Akhmilovskaya Irina Levitina 1990 Borzomi, Georgia Xie Jun° Alisa Marić Alisa Galliamova 1992–93 Shanghai, China Nana Ioseliani Zsuzsa Polgar Maia Chiburdanidze 1994–95 Tilburg, Netherlands Zsuzsa Polgar° Maia Chiburdanidze Pia Cramling 1997 Groningen, Netherlands Xie Jun° Alisa Galliamova Maia Chiburdanidze 2019 Kazan, Russia € Aleksandra Goryachkina Anna Muzychuk Kateryna Lagno 2022–23 Chongqing, China € Lei Tingjie Tan Zhongyi Anna Muzychuk Aleksandra Goryachkina 2024 Toronto, Canada € Tan Zhongyi Humpy Koneru Lei Tingjie 2026 Pegeia, Cyprus € Vaishali Rameshbabu Bibisara Assaubayeva Zhu Jiner
See also FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Tournament Women's Chess World Cup Candidates Tournament
References