The Women's event at the 45th Chess Olympiad was from 11 to 22 September 2024. It was contested by a record number of 183 teams, representing 180 nations. Hungary, as host nation, fielded three teams. A total of 909 players participated in the Women's event.
India won the gold medal in the Women's event, which was their first overall win at the Chess Olympiads. Kazakhstan won the silver and the United States took the bronze medals. Dana Kochavi, playing as a reserve for Israel, had the highest performance rating of 2676 by achieving a perfect score of 8 out of 8 possible points. Individual gold medals were also won by Zhu Jiner of China with 7 out of 9 and a performance rating of 2597, Carissa Yip of the United States who had the highest individual score in the tournament of 10 out of 11 with a performance rating of 2634, Divya Deshmukh who scored 9½ out of 11 with a performance rating of 2608, and Vantika Agrawal of India with 7½ out of 9 and a performance rating of 2558.
Competition format and calendar The tournament was played in a Swiss system format. The time control for all games is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, after which an additional 30 minutes were granted and increment of 30 seconds per move was applied from the first move. Players were permitted to offer a draw at any time. A total of 11 rounds were played, and all teams were paired in every round.
In each round, four players from each team faced four players from another team; teams were permitted one reserve player who could be substituted between rounds. The four games were played simultaneously on four boards with alternating colours, scoring 1 game point for a win and ½ game point for a draw. The scores from each game were summed together to determine which team would win the round. Winning a round was worth two match points, regardless of the game point margin, while drawing a round was worth one match point. Teams were ranked in a table based on match points. Tie-breakers for the table were i) the Sonneborn–Berger system; ii) total game points scored; iii) the sum of the match points of the opponents, excluding the lowest one.
The event took place from 10 to 23 September 2024. Tournament rounds started on 11 September and ended with the final round on 22 September. All rounds began at 15:00 CEST (UTC+2:00), except for the final round which began at 11:00 CEST (UTC+2:00). There was one rest day on 17 September, after the sixth round.
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Teams and players The Women's event was contested by a total of 909 players from 183 teams. It featured only Nana Dzagnidze from the top ten players according to the FIDE rating list published in September 2024. India had the highest pre-tournament average rating of 2467, but the team was weakened due to the absence of Koneru Humpy who played in 2022. The team was led by Harika Dronavalli and also included Vaishali R, Divya Deshmukh, Vantika Agrawal and Tania Sachdev. Georgia, whose team won a silver medal at the previous Olympiad, were the second seeds with an average rating of 2462. The squad consisted of Nana Dzagnidze, Lela Javakhishvili, Nino Batsiashvili, Bella Khotenashvili and Salome Melia. Poland were the third-seeded team with an average rating of 2422. The team was led by Alina Kashlinskaya, who won the first leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2024–25 in Tbilisi, and also includes Monika Soćko, Aleksandra Maltsevskaya, who changed federation, Oliwia Kiołbasa, who scored the best individual performance at the previous Olympiad, and Alicja Śliwicka.
Ukraine as defending champions were severely weakened due to the absence of Anna and Mariya Muzychuk, who were both among the top-ten rated players in the world. In their absence, the team was led by Yuliia Osmak on board one followed by former World Women's Champion Anna Ushenina, Nataliya Buksa, Inna Gaponenko and Evgeniya Doluhanova. Despite the fact that China was missing all four top players—Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun, Tan Zhongyi and Lei Tingjie—the young team was still competitive and had the fourth highest average rating of 2416.
Rounds
Round 1
The favourites were in full command in the first round, and a total of 72 teams scored 4–0 victories. Amongst the favourites, Georgia, Poland and China whitewashed their opponents. Defending champions Ukraine and the top seeds India conceded a half point after former Women's World Champion Anna Ushenina was held to a draw by Kyrzgyzstan's Alexandra Samaganova on the top board and India's Vantika Agrawal split the point with Jamaica's Raehanna Brown in a queen endgame on board three. The highest-rated player in the tournament Nana Dzagnidze did not play in this round, but her team was one of the first to finish the day with four convincing wins. Lela Javakhishvili played a 20-move miniature in the London System that ended with a checkmate (see diagram).
Round 2
There were no major upsets in the second round and a total of 41 teams scored victories in the opening two matches. Poland, China, Spain and Armenia scored their second 4–0 victories, while India, Hungary, United States, Bulgaria and France dropped a half point against Czech Republic, Ecuador, Philippines, Egypt and Luxembourg, respectively. Georgia defeated Montenegro 3–1 thanks to wins by Nana Dzagnidze, Nino Batsiashvili and Bella Khotenashvili on the first three boards, but Nikolina Koljević scored an upset win with the Black pieces over Salome Melia on the lowest board after the Georgian misplayed the position with a space-gaining pawn push.
Ukraine were one of the top-seeded teams that struggled the most in this round, but finally they managed to edge out Lithuania with a 2½–1½ scoreline. On the top board, Yuliia Osmak lost her game as White to Olena Martynkova, and Evgeniya Doluhanova drew against Gabija Šimkūnaitė on the lowest board. Martynkova fought back from a worse position to implement tactics by sacrificing a piece that led her to a winning position (see diagram). However, the Ukrainian team snatched the match victory with wins scored by Nataliya Buksa and Inna Gaponenko on the middle boards. Another close match was Kazakhstan's minimal victory over Finland in which Finnish player Lauri Bederdin beat Alua Nurman and Anastasia Nazarova drew against Bibisara Assaubayeva on board one. The biggest surprise in this round was perhaps Singapore's 2½–1½ victory over Latvia thanks to wins scored by Kay Yan Eden Pang and Kun Fang both with the Black pieces.
Round 3
The third round saw the first upsets involving top-seeded teams. Georgia were held to a draw by Romania in a match wherein Nana Dzagnidze and Nino Batsiashvili defeated Irina Bulmaga and Carmen Voicu-Jagodzinsky on the first and third boards, respectively, to score full points for the Georgian team, but the Romanian players were victorious on the other boards. Mihaela Sandu caught Lela Javakhishvili in a mating net in the endgame, while Bella Khotenashvili blundered a mate in two against Alessia-Mihaela Ciolacu (see diagram). Poland and Greece tied with one per side. Ekaterini Pavlidou won a roller-coaster game against Aleksandra Maltsevskaya with the three queens on the board and the black king on d3, whereas the best player at the previous Olympiad Oliwia Kiołbasa beat Marina Makropoulou to score a full point for the Polish team. Nevertheless, the biggest upset in this round was perhaps Uzbekistan's victory over the host country Hungary with a 2½–1½ scoreline. Afruza Khamdamova benefited from Zsóka Gaál's blunder in a pure rook endgame to win a full point on the top board, while Umida Omonova also triumphed as Black on the third board.
Of the top-seeded teams, India, China and Ukraine did not have problems in this round. India defeated Switzerland 3–1. Alexandra Kosteniuk scored for the Swiss team against Harika Dronavalli on board one, but all other games finished in favour of the Indian players. On the second board, Vaishali Rameshbabu entered into a same-colour bishop endgame that she managed to convert due to the king's superior activity despite the material parity. Divya Deshmukh scored her third victory in the tournament by checkmating Sofiia Hryzlova with a pawn on board three.
Round 4
Seven teams—China, India, United States, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia—scored their fourth consecutive match victories in this round. China showed a dominant performance to sweep England 4–0 and move to a cumulative score of 15½ out of 16 from the individual boards after four rounds. Zhu Jiner, Guo Qi, Ni Shiqun and 14-year-old Lu Miaoyi all kept their perfect scores. The top-seeded Indian team cruised to a 3½–½ victory over France, while the United States defeated the Netherlands with the same scoreline. On board three, American player Irina Krush found the winning 36th move after her opponent committed a blunder in an equal position (see diagram).
Ukraine split the match points with Turkey. The games on the top boards ended peacefully, while both teams exchanged wins on the lower boards. Nataliya Buksa scored a full point with the White pieces against Kübra Öztürk on board three, but Evgeniya Doluhanova lost to 18-year-old Gulenay Aydin on board four. Uzbekistan edged out Bulgaria 2½–1½ in a match wherein Afruza Khamdamova scored the only win by beating former Women's World Champion Antoaneta Stefanova. Mongolia upset Spain with the same scoreline due to the victories from Batkhuyagiin Möngöntuul and Bat-Erdene Mungunzul with the White pieces. Mungunzul trapped Ana Matnadze's queen on board four, while Möngöntuul launched a crushing attack with opposite-colour bishops to beat Marta García Martín on board two. The game on the top board between Sarasadat Khademalsharieh and Törmönkhiin Mönkhzul ended in a draw, while the most entertaining game was Sabrina Vega's victory in which she repeated Nigel Short's famous king walk.
Round 5
India, Armenia and Mongolia won their fifth consecutive matches in the fifth round. Armenia surprised China with a minimal 2½–1½ victory. Anna Sargsyan scored a full point for Armenia by beating Lu Miaoyi, Elina Danielian drew her game with Ni Shiqun, and Song Yuxin won for China against Mariam Mkrtchyan. Sargsyan sacrificed two queenside pawns and launched a decisive attack with a queen and two knights while the Black pieces were uncoordinated. The decisive game was played on the top board where Lilit Mkrtchian played precisely to pull off a win over Zhu Jiner, who pushed too hard for a win and ended up in a worse position. Mongolia narrowly defeated the United States 2½–1½ thanks to Turmunkh Munkhzul's victory over Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova in a rook endgame on board one.