Women's Candidates Tournament 2019 Explained

Competition:	Women's Candidates Tournament 2019
Governing Body:	FIDE
Location:	Kazan, Russia
Dates:	29 May to 19 June 2019
Competitors:	8
Nations:	4
Champion:	Aleksandra Goryachkina
Next:	2022–23

The Women's Candidates Tournament 2019 was held from 29 May to 19 June 2019 in Kazan, Russia. The format was an eight-player double round-robin tournament.^[1] The winner took part in the Women's World Chess Championship 2020 match.

Summary

Three players qualified by virtue of reaching the semi-finals of the last championship.^[2] All remaining players came from the rating list, by taking the average of all twelve monthly ratings in 2018.^[3] Aleksandra Goryachkina replaced Hou Yifan, who declined an invitation.^[4]

Qualifiers

Place	Player	Points	Women's world no.	Elo (May 2019)	Women's World champion
1	Aleksandra Goryachkina	9.5	9	2522
2		8	7	2539
3		7	4	2554
4		7	10	2513	2017
5		6.5	11	2510
6		6.5	3	2563	2015
7		6	6	2546	2008
8		5.5	13	2506

Goryachkina won with two rounds to spare.^{[5] [6]}

Results

By round

Leading player after each round in green.

Place	Player	Results by round
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
1		½	1½	2½	3	4	5	5½	6½	7½	8	8½	9	9½	9½
2		½	½	½	1	1½	2½	3	3½	4½	5	5½	6½	7½	8
3		½	1	1	2	2½	3½	4	4½	5	5½	6	6	6½	7
4		½	1	2	2½	2½	2½	2½	3½	3½	4	5	5½	6	7
5		½	1½	2½	3½	3½	3½	4	4	4	4½	4½	5½	6	6½
6		½	1	1	1	1½	2½	3	3½	4½	5	5½	5½	5½	6½
7		½	1	1	1½	2½	2½	3	3	3½	4½	4½	4½	5½	6
8		½	½	1½	1½	2	2	3	3½	3½	3½	4½	5½	5½	5½

Crosstable

No.	Player	Elo (May 2019)^[7]	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		Pts	Tie-breaks	Place
																				H2H
1		2506			1		0	0		0	½		½	0		1	½		1	0		0	1		0	5½		8
2		2546	0		1			½		0	½		½	1		0	0		1	½		½	½		0	6		7
3		2522	1		1	½		1			1		½	1		½	½		0	½		½	1		½	9½		1
4		2554	½		½	½		½	0		½			½		½	1		½	½		0	1		½	7	1½	3
5		2510	1		0	0		1	0		½	½		½			1		½	1		0	½		0	6½	1½	5
6		2563	½		0	1		0	½		1	0		½	0		½			½		½	½		1	6½	½	6
7		2539	1		1	½		½	½		½	½		1	0		1	½		½			0		½	8		2
8		2513	0		1	½		1	0		½	0		½	½		1	½		0	1		½			7	½	4

Notes and References

1. Web site: Rules book . www.fide.com . 2019 . 2021-05-11.
2. Web site: Women's World Ch: Tension. November 14, 2018. Chess News.
3. Web site: Frauen-WM: Die FIDE ändert den Modus. November 29, 2018. Schach Nachrichten.
4. Web site: International Chess Federation - FIDE. www.fide.com. 2019-03-27. 2019-03-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20190327190104/https://www.fide.com/component/content/article/1-fide-news/11515-kazan-inaugurates-a-new-stage-in-womens-chess.html. dead.
5. Web site: Goryachkina is the new World Championship challenger. June 14, 2019. Chess News.
6. Web site: Goryachkina Wins Women's Candidates’ Ahead Of Anna Muzychuk. Jovanka. Houska (JovankaHouska). Chess.com.
7. Web site: Top 100 Women May 2019 – Archive . FIDE.