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. The runner up and third place finishers, Nurgyul Salimova and Anna Muzychuk, qualified for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2024. 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.
Participants
The participants are seeded by their FIDE rating of July 2023, apart from Ju Wenjun, who is seeded first as Women's World Chess Champion.
- , GM, 2564 (WWCC)
- , GM, 2557 (WWC)
- , GM, 2553 (R)
- , GM, 2552 (R)
- , GM, 2532 (WWC)
- , GM, 2523 (WWC)
- , GM, 2511 (R)
- , GM, 2511 (R)
- , GM, 2509 (WWC)
- , GM, 2500 (R)
- , WGM, 2498 (PN)
- , IM, 2496 (PN)
- , IM, 2488 (PN)
- , GM, 2475 (E21)
- , GM, 2474 (FN)
- , GM, 2471 (FN)
- , IM, 2469 (AS21)
- , GM, 2457 (Z3.5)
- , IM, 2451 (E21)
- , IM, 2448 (E22)
- , GM, 2447 (Z2.1)
- , IM, 2444 (E21)
- , IM, 2439 (E23)
- , GM, 2434 (E22)
- , IM, 2431 (FN)
- , IM, 2419 (PN)
- , IM, 2416 (E22)
- , IM, 2415 (E22)
- , IM, 2409 (E22)
- , IM, 2408 (E21)
- , GM, 2402 (FN)
- , GM, 2401 (E22)
- , IM, 2401 (E22)
- , WGM, 2400 (Z3.7)
- , IM, 2397 (E21)
- , IM, 2394 (E21)
- , IM, 2388 (E21)
- , IM, 2387 (E21)
- , IM, 2394 (E22)
- , IM, 2384 (E23)
- , IM, 2377 (E23)
- , IM, 2374 (AS23)
- , IM, 2373 (E23)
- , WGM, 2372 (Z3.5)
- , IM, 2371 (E23)
- , IM, 2369 (FN)
- , IM, 2369 (FN)
- , WGM, 2368 (FN)
- , IM, 2365 (E21)
- , IM, 2357 (E21)
- , IM, 2356 (E23)
- , IM, 2355 (FN)
- , WGM, 2355 (U20)
- , WGM, 2352 (AM23)
- , WGM, 2351 (Z3.3)
- , IM, 2348 (E23)
- , WIM, 2347 (FN)
- , IM, 2331 (E23)
- , WGM, 2329 (FN)
- , WGM, 2329 (AS22)
- , WGM, 2326 (AS23)
- , IM, 2324 (E22)
- , IM, 2318 (AM22)
- , IM, 2312 (FN)
- , WGM, 2311 (FN)
- , WGM, 2303 (Z2.1)
- , WGM, 2293 (AS22)
- , WGM, 2293 (FN)
- , WIM, 2277 (Z3.5)
- , WGM, 2273 (Z3.6)
- , WGM, 2268 (Z2.3)
- , WGM, 2263 (FN)
- , FM, 2263 (E23)
- , WFM, 2257 (FN)
- , WIM, 2256 (FN)
- , WIM, 2251 (FN)
- , WGM, 2243 (FN)
- , WIM, 2235 (FN)
- , WGM, 2229 (FN)
- , WGM, 2226 (AS21)
- , WGM, 2223 (FN)
- , WIM, 2212 (Z2.5)
- , FM, 2208 (FN)
- , WGM, 2204 (FN)
- , WGM, 2201 (Z2.2)
- , WIM, 2200 (FN)
- , untitled, 2188 (Z3.5)
- , WIM, 2182 (Z2.4)
- , WIM, 2139 (FN)
- , WGM, 2106 (FN)
- , WGM, 2093 (AF22)
- , WIM, 2071 (AF23)
- , WFM, 2033 (Z3.1)
- , WIM, 2028 (FN)
- , WIM, 2004 (FN)
- , WFM, 1989 (FN)
- , WFM, 1944 (FN)
- , WIM, 1858 (FN)
- , WFM, 1850 (FN)
- , WIM, 1839 (AF22)
- , WFM, 1823 (FN)
- , WCM, 1815 (Z3.2)
- , WCM, 1705 (FN)
The following 103 players qualified for the Women's World Cup:
- 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 following are the players from the list of qualifiers who declined to play, and their replacements:
- , GM, 2628 (R) â , GM, 2510 (R)
- , GM, 2554 (R) â , GM, 2510 (R)
- , GM, 2416 (E21) â , IM, 2397 (E21)
- , IM, 2389 (E22) â , IM, 2415 (E22)
- , IM, 2375 (E21) â , IM, 2388 (E21)
Pairings
Rounds 1âÂÂ4
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
Section 6
Section 7
Section 8
Rounds 5âÂÂ7
Third place
Finals
Notes
References
External links