MONTE CARLO TO HOST THE FIRST LEG OF FIDE WOMEN’S GRAND PRIX

Women's Grand Prix poster

The first leg of FIDE Women’s Grand Prix will be held from 2nd to 16th October 2015, in Monte Carlo, Monaco.

FIDE announced the Women’s Grand Prix 2015-2016 which will give qualification to the Women’s World Championship match in 2017.

Another European city will be the host of the third leg of Women’s Grand Prix – Tbilisi/Georgia, in May 2016.

Second leg will take place in Kish/Iran in February 2016, while the last stage will be held in Chengdu/China in July 2016.

16 players will participate, 10 qualifiers as per regulations (listed below) + 4 nominees from the organizers of each tournament (to be announced), + 2 nominees of the FIDE President (to be announced).

The 10 original qualifiers who have to confirm their participation by 20 August 2015 are:

  1. Muzychuk, Mariya (World Champion, Sochi 2015)
  2. Pogonina, Natalija (finalist World Championship, Sochi 2015)
  3. Cramling, Pia (semi-finalist World Championship, Sochi 2015)
  4. Harika, Dronavalli (semi-finalist World Championship, Sochi 2015)
  5. Hou, Yifan (by rating)
  6. Koneru, Humpy (by rating)
  7. Dzagnidze, Nana (by rating)
  8. Ju, Wenjun (by rating)
  9. Muzychuk, Anna (by rating)
  10. Gunina, Valentina (by rating)

The first reserve for any replacement needed is Alexandra Kosteniuk (by rating).

More information here.

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