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Women's Candidates Tournament

The Women's Candidates Tournament is a major women's chess tournament organized by FIDE.


The Women's Candidates Tournament is a major women's chess tournament organized by FIDE.

It is a final contest to determine the challenger for the Women's World Chess Championship. The winner of the Candidates earns the right to a match for the World Championship against the incumbent world champion. The inaugural Women's Candidates tournament was held in 1952 and continued for every Women's World Championship match (except 1958) until 1997, after which the match format was abandoned and replaced by a knock-out tournament. The Women's Candidates tournament was brought back in 2019 when FIDE re-instituted the match format as the sole format for determining the Women's World Champion.

Column 1Column 2
°Won the subsequent Women's World Championship
EditionHost cityPrize fundWinnerRunner-upThird
1952Moscow, RussiaElisabeth Bykova°Fenny HeemskerkOlga Ignatieva
1955Moscow, RussiaOlga Rubtsova°Larissa VolpertEdith Keller-Herrmann
1959Plovdiv, BulgariaKira ZvorykinaVerica NedeljkovićLarissa Volpert
1961Vrnjačka Banja, YugoslaviaNona Gaprindashvili°Valentina BorisenkoKira Zvorykina
1964Sukhumi, GeorgiaAlla KushnirMilunka LazarevićTatiana Zatulovskaya
1967Subotica, YugoslaviaAlla KushnirValentina KozlovskayaTatiana Zatulovskaya
1971Kislovodsk, RussiaAlla KushnirNana AlexandriaTatiana Zatulovskaya Milunka Lazarević
1974–75Moscow, RussiaNana AlexandriaIrina LevitinaMarta Shul Valentina Kozlovskaya
1977–78Bad Kissingen, GermanyMaia Chiburdanidze°Alla KushnirElena Akhmilovskaya Elena Fatalibekova
1980–81Tbilisi, GeorgiaNana AlexandriaNana IoselianiMarta Litinskaya Nona Gaprindashvili
1983–84Sochi, RussiaIrina LevitinaLidia SemenovaNana Alexandria Nana Ioseliani
1986Malmö, SwedenElena AkhmilovskayaNana AlexandriaMarta Litinskaya-Shul
1988Tsqaltubo, GeorgiaNana IoselianiElena AkhmilovskayaIrina Levitina
1990Borzomi, GeorgiaXie Jun°Alisa MarićAlisa Galliamova
1992–93Shanghai, ChinaNana IoselianiZsuzsa PolgarMaia Chiburdanidze
1994–95Tilburg, NetherlandsZsuzsa Polgar°Maia ChiburdanidzePia Cramling
1997Groningen, NetherlandsXie Jun°Alisa GalliamovaMaia Chiburdanidze
2019Kazan, Russia€ 200,000Aleksandra GoryachkinaAnna MuzychukKateryna Lagno
2022–23Chongqing, China€ 250,000Lei TingjieTan ZhongyiAnna Muzychuk Aleksandra Goryachkina
2024Toronto, Canada€ 250,000Tan ZhongyiHumpy KoneruLei Tingjie
2026Paphos, Cyprus€ 300,000Vaishali RameshbabuBibisara AssaubayevaZhu Jiner
  • FIDE Women's Grand Swiss Tournament
  • Women's Chess World Cup
  • Candidates Tournament
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