Women's Chess World Cup 2023

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.^[1] 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.

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.^[1]

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:^[1]

• 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.

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.^[1]

The total prize fund was US$676,250, with the first prize of US$50,000.^[1]

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. ^{[2] [3]}

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^[a] (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:

•  Hou Yifan (CHN), GM, 2628 (R) →  Harika Dronavalli (IND), GM, 2510 (R)
•  Lei Tingjie (CHN), GM, 2554 (R) →  Nana Dzagnidze (GEO), GM, 2510 (R)
•  Elina Danielian (ARM), GM, 2416 (E21) →  Olga Badelka (FIDE), IM, 2397 (E21)
•  Lilit Mkrtchian (ARM), IM, 2389 (E22) →  Teodora Injac (SRB), IM, 2415 (E22)
•  Anna Sargsyan (ARM), IM, 2375 (E21) →  Sophie Milliet (FRA), IM, 2388 (E21)

• Pairings Tree