Women's Chess World Cup 2023 Explained

FIDE Women's Chess World Cup 2023
Sport:	Chess
Location:	Baku, Azerbaijan
Start Date:	30 July 2023
End Date:	21 August 2023
Administrator:	FIDE
Tournament Format:	Single-elimination tournament
Host:	Azerbaijan Chess Federation
Participants:	103
Previous:	2021
Champion:	Aleksandra Goryachkina
Runner-Up1:	Nurgyul Salimova
3Rd Place:	Anna Muzychuk

The Women's Chess World Cup 2023 was a 103-player single-elimination chess tournament, the second edition of the Women's Chess World Cup, taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 29 July to 22 August 2023.^[1] The runner up and third place finishers, Nurgyul Salimova and Anna Muzychuk, qualified for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024.^[2] Since Aleksandra Goryachkina, the winner of the tournament, had already qualified through the Grand Prix, her replacement was Koneru Humpy, who was the highest-rated player on the January 2024 FIDE rating list who had played a minimum 30 games.

The tournament was held in parallel with the Chess World Cup 2023.

Format

The tournament was a 7-round knockout event, with the top 25 seeds given a bye directly into the second round. The losers of the two semi-finals played a match for third place.The players who finished first, second, and third qualified for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024.

Each round consisted of classical time limit games on the first two days, plus tie-breaks on the third day if required. The time limits were as follows:

• Two classical time limit games: 90 minutes, plus a 30-minute increment on move 40, plus a 30-second increment per move from move 1, per player.
• If the match is tied after the classical games, players will play two rapid chess games, with 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move, per player.
• If the match is still tied, players then will play two more rapid chess games, with 10 minutes plus a 10-second increment per move, per player.
• If the match is still tied, players then will play two blitz games, with 5 minutes plus a 3-second increment per move, per player.
• If the match is still tied, a single blitz game, with 3 minutes plus a 2-second increment per move, will be played to decide the match. A drawing of lots will determine which player plays white. If drawn, the players will switch colors and play again, until a decisive result is obtained.

Schedule

Each round lasted three days: two for classical time limit games and a third, if necessary, for tie-breaks. Rounds 1 to 3 ran from July 30 to August 7; August 8 was a rest day; Rounds 4 to 6 ran from August 9 to 17; August 18 was a rest day; and the final and third-place match ran from August 19 to 21.

Prize money

The total prize fund was US$676,250, with the first prize of US$50,000.

Prize money in US dollars!Ranking!Prizes!Total

Eliminated in Round 1	39 × 3,750	146,250
Eliminated in Round 2	32 × 5,000	160,000
Eliminated in Round 3	16 × 6,750	108,000
Eliminated in Round 4	8 × 9,500	76,000
Eliminated in Round 5	4 × 14,000	56,000
4th place	1 × 20,000	20,000
3rd place	1 × 25,000	25,000
Runner-up	1 × 35,000	35,000
Winner	1 × 50,000	50,000
Total		676,250

Participants

The current qualifiers are seeded here by their FIDE rating as of July 2023, apart from Ju Wenjun, who is seeded first as Women's World Chess Champion. ^{[3] [4]}

1. , GM, 2564 (WWCC)
2. , GM, 2557 (WWC)
3. , GM, 2553 (R)
4. , GM, 2552 (R)
5. , GM, 2532 (WWC)
6. , GM, 2523 (WWC)
7. , GM, 2511 (R)
8. , GM, 2511 (R)
9. , GM, 2509 (WWC)
10. , GM, 2500 (R)
11. , WGM, 2498 (PN)
12. , IM, 2496 (PN)
13. , IM, 2488 (PN)
14. , GM, 2475 (E21)
15. , GM, 2474 (FN)
16. , GM, 2471 (FN)
17. , IM, 2469 (AS21)
18. , GM, 2457 (Z3.5)
19. , IM, 2451 (E21)
20. , IM, 2448 (E22)
21. , GM, 2447 (Z2.1)
22. , IM, 2444 (E21)
23. , IM, 2439 (E23)
24. , GM, 2434 (E22)
25. , IM, 2431 (FN)
26. , IM, 2419 (PN)
27. , IM, 2416 (E22)
28. , IM, 2415 (E22)
29. , IM, 2409 (E22)
30. , IM, 2408 (E21)
31. , GM, 2402 (FN)
32. , GM, 2401 (E22)
33. , IM, 2401 (E22)
34. , WGM, 2400 (Z3.7)
35. , IM, 2397 (E21)
36. , IM, 2394 (E21)
37. , IM, 2388 (E21)
38. , IM, 2387 (E21)
39. , IM, 2394 (E22)
40. , IM, 2384 (E23)
41. , IM, 2377 (E23)
42. , IM, 2374 (AS23)
43. , IM, 2373 (E23)
44. , WGM, 2372 (Z3.5)
45. , IM, 2371 (E23)
46. , IM, 2369 (FN)
47. , IM, 2369 (FN)
48. , WGM, 2368 (FN)
49. , IM, 2365 (E21)
50. , IM, 2357 (E21)
51. , IM, 2356 (E23)
52. , IM, 2355 (FN)
53. , WGM, 2355 (U20)
54. , WGM, 2352 (AM23)
55. , WGM, 2351 (Z3.3)
56. , IM, 2348 (E23)
57. , WIM, 2347 (FN)
58. , IM, 2331 (E23)
59. , WGM, 2329 (FN)
60. , WGM, 2329 (AS22)
61. , WGM, 2326 (AS23)
62. , IM, 2324 (E22)
63. , IM, 2318 (AM22)
64. , IM, 2312 (FN)
65. , WGM, 2311 (FN)
66. , WGM, 2303 (Z2.1)
67. , WGM, 2293 (AS22)
68. , WGM, 2293 (FN)
69. , WIM, 2277 (Z3.5)
70. , WGM, 2273 (Z3.6)
71. , WGM, 2268 (Z2.3)
72. , WGM, 2263 (FN)
73. , FM, 2263 (E23)
74. , WFM, 2257 (FN)
75. , WIM, 2256 (FN)
76. , WIM, 2251 (FN)
77. , WGM, 2243 (FN)
78. , WIM, 2235 (FN)
79. , WGM, 2229 (FN)
80. , WGM, 2226 (AS21)
81. , WGM, 2223 (FN)
82. , WIM, 2212 (Z2.5)
83. , FM, 2208 (FN)
84. , WGM, 2204 (FN)
85. , WGM, 2201 (Z2.2)
86. , WIM, 2200 (FN)
87. , untitled, 2188 (Z3.5)
88. , WIM, 2182 (Z2.4)
89. , WIM, 2139 (FN)
90. , WGM, 2106 (FN)
91. , WGM, 2093 (AF22)
92. , WIM, 2071 (AF23)
93. , WFM, 2033 (Z3.1)
94. , WIM, 2028 (FN)
95. , WIM, 2004 (FN)
96. , WFM, 1989 (FN)
97. , WFM, 1944 (FN)
98. , WIM, 1858 (FN)
99. , WFM, 1850 (FN)
100. , WIM, 1839 (AF22)
101. , WFM, 1823 (FN)
102. , WCM, 1815 (Z3.2)
103. , WCM, 1705 (FN)

The 103 participants will be:

• The Women's World Chess Champion as of 1 June 2023 (WWCC)
• The top four players in the Women's Chess World Cup 2021 (WWC)
• The 2022 World Girls Chess Champion U20 (U20)
• 53 players qualifying from Continental and Zonal events
  • Europe (18+10): including European Women's Chess Championships 2021 (E21, 10), 2022 (E22, 9), and 2023 (E23, 9)
  • Americas (4+4): including American Continental Women's Chess Championships 2022 (AM22, 1) and 2023 (AM23, 1); Zonals 2022: 2.1 (Z2.1, 2), 2.2 (Z2.2, 1) 2.3 (Z2.3, 1), and 2.4 (Z2.4, 1); Zonals 2023: 2.5 (Z2.5, 1)
  • Asia (14): including Asian Women's Chess Championships 2021 (AS21, 2) and 2023 (AS23, 2); Zonals 2023: 3.1 (Z3.1, 1), 3.2 (Z3.2, 1), 3.3 (Z3.3, 1), 3.5 (Z3.5, 4), 3.6 (Z3.6, 1), and 3.7 (Z3.7, 1)
  • Africa (3): including African Women's Chess Championships 2022 (AF22, 2) and 2023 (AF23, 1)
• The 5 highest-rated female players from the June 2023 FIDE World Rankings (R)
• 36 federations spots selected according to the final standings of the 44th Chess Olympiad Main Competition (FN)
• 2 nominees of the FIDE President (PN)
• 1 nominees of the organizer (ON)

The participants will be seeded by their FIDE rating of July 2023, apart from Ju Wenjun, who will be seeded first as Women's World Chess Champion.

The following are the players from the list of qualifiers who declined to play, and their replacements:

• , GM, 2628 (R) →, GM, 2510 (R)
• , GM, 2554 (R) →, GM, 2510 (R)
• , GM, 2416 (E21) →, IM, 2397 (E21)
• , IM, 2389 (E22) →, IM, 2415 (E22)
• , IM, 2375 (E21) →, IM, 2388 (E21)

Pairings

Rounds 1–4

Section 8

Rounds 5–7

Third place

Seed	Name	Jul 2023 rating	1	2	Total
9	align=left	Anna Muzychuk	2509	1	½	1½
6	align=left	Tan Zhongyi	2523	0	½	½

Finals

Seed	Name	Jul 2023 rating	1	2	Tb1	Tb2	Total
29	align=left	Nurgyul Salimova	2409	½	½	½	0	1½
2	align=left	Aleksandra Goryachkina	2557	½	½	½	1	2½

External links

• Pairings Tree

Notes and References

1. Web site: Calendar . 2023-05-01 . www.fide.com . en.
2. Web site: Regulations for the FIDE Women’s World Cup 2023 .
3. Web site: 30 May 2023 . Women's World Cup Qualified Players . .
4. Web site: List of Players - FIDE Women’s World Cup 2023 .