| Location: | Toronto, Canada |
| Previous: | 2022–23 |
| Administrator: | FIDE |
| Sport: | Chess |
| Tournament Format: | Double round-robin tournament |
| Participants: | 8 from 5 nations |
| Champion: |  Tan Zhongyi |
| Start Date: | 3 April |
| End Date: | 22 April 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.[1] [2]
It was a double round-robin tournament.[3] Tan Zhongyi won the tournament and will play in the Women's World Chess Championship match in 2025 against the current Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun.
The eight players who qualified[4] are:
| Qualification method | Player | Age | Rating | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (April 2024) | |||||
| 2023 Women's World Championship runner-up | Lei Tingjie | 2550 | 4 | ||
| Kateryna Lagno | 2542 | 6 | |||
| 2553 | 3 | ||||
| The top three finishers in the Women's Chess World Cup 2023 | 2432 | 36 | |||
| 2520 | 8 | ||||
| The top two finishers in the Women's Grand Swiss 2023 | 2475 | 15 | |||
| 2521 | 7 | ||||
| Highest-rated active player for January 2024 |  Koneru Humpy | 2546 | 5 | ||
The tournament is an eight-player, double round-robin tournament, meaning there are 14 rounds with each player facing the others twice: once with the black pieces and once with the white pieces. The tournament winner will qualify to play Ju Wenjun for the Women's World Chess Championship 2025.
Players from the same federation are required to play each other in the first rounds of each half[5] to avoid collusion. The players affected in the 2024 Women's Candidates are Kateryna Lagno and Aleksandra Goryachkina representing FIDE Lei Tingjie and Tan Zhongyi representing China, and R Vaishali and Koneru Humpy representing India. They will face each other in rounds 1 and 8.
In March 2024, FIDE announced pairings for the tournament.[6]
The time control is 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 get 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 points for a loss.
Tiebreaks for the first place are addressed as follows:
Ties for places other than first will be 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 is €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.[7]
| 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 |
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 Goryachinka kept pace with Tan, but Tan stayed half a point ahead. A momentous round 8 saw Lei - who had won in rounds 6 and 7 - win a third consecutive game against Tan. This led to a three-way tie for first. However, Tan won again in round 9, while Goryachinka 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.
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.[8]
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.
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.
| Rank | Player | Rounds | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |||
| 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 | ||
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.[9]
| Round 1 (4 April 2024) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aleksandra Goryachkina | ½–½ | Kateryna Lagno | ||
| Anna Muzychuk | ½–½ | Nurgyul Salimova | ||
| Lei Tingjie | 0–1 | Tan Zhongyi | ||
| R Vaishali | ½–½ | Koneru Humpy | ||
| Round 2 (5 April 2024) | ||||
| Kateryna Lagno (½) | ½–½ | Koneru Humpy (½) | ||
| Tan Zhongyi (1) | 1–0 | R Vaishali (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) | ||
| R Vaishali (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 | R Vaishali (1½) | ||
| Anna Muzychuk (1) | ½–½ | Lei Tingjie (1) | ||
| Round 5 (9 April 2024) | ||||
| Lei Tingjie (1½) | ½–½ | Kateryna Lagno (2) | ||
| R Vaishali (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) | ||||
| R Vaishali (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 | R Vaishali (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 | R Vaishali (2½) | ||
| Round 9 (14 April 2024) | ||||
| Koneru Humpy (3½) | ½–½ | Kateryna Lagno (4½) | ||
| R Vaishali (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 | R Vaishali (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) | ||
| R Vaishali (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 | R Vaishali (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) | ||
| R Vaishali (5½) | 1–0 | Lei Tingjie (7½) | ||
| Round 14 (21 April 2024) | ||||
| Kateryna Lagno (6½) | 0–1 | R Vaishali (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) | ||