Women's Chess World Cup 2021
The Women's Chess World Cup 2021 was a 103-player single-elimination chess tournament, the first edition of Women's Chess World Cup, that took place in Sochi, Russia, from 12 July to 3 August 2021. It was the inaugural edition of a women's-only version of the FIDE World Cup. The tournament was held in parallel with the Chess World Cup 2021, an open tournament.
The tournament formed part of the qualification for the Women's World Chess Championship 2023. The top three finishers, other than Women's World Chess Champion Ju Wenjun and players who had otherwise qualified, qualified for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2022–23.
Format
The format was a 7-round knockout event. 78 women played one another in the first round. The 39 that went through were joined in the second round by the top 25 seeds, who were given a bye for the first round. The losers of the two semi-finals played one another for third place.Each round consisted of two classical games with shorter tiebreaks as needed. Their time controls were as follows:
- Two classical time limit games: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves with 30 minutes added for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move.
- If tied, two games of 25 minutes with a 10 second increment per move.
- If tied, two games of 10 minutes with a 10 second increment per move.
- If tied, two games of 5 minutes with a 3 second increment per move.
- If the match was still tied, a single armageddon game was played. The players drew lots and the winner of the draw chose their color. White received 5 minutes, black received 4 minutes, and each player received a 2-second increment per move beginning at move 61.
Prize money
The total prize fund was US$676,250, with a first prize of US$50,000.| Round | Prizes | Total |
| Round 1 | 39 × $3,750 | $146,250 |
| Round 2 | 32 × $5,000 | $160,000 |
| Round 3 | 16 × $6,750 | $108,000 |
| Round 4 | 8 × $9,500 | $76,000 |
| 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 following was the list of participants. Players were seeded by their FIDE rating of June 2021.- , GM, 2596
- , GM, 2558
- , GM, 2544
- , GM, 2535
- , GM, 2524
- , GM, 2515
- , GM, 2511
- , IM, 2500
- , IM, 2494
- , IM, 2494
- , GM, 2491
- , IM, 2489
- , IM, 2473
- , GM, 2472
- , GM, 2472
- , GM, 2470
- , WGM, 2469
- , GM, 2463
- , GM, 2459
- , IM, 2456
- , WGM, 2448
- , IM, 2446
- , IM, 2443
- , IM, 2442
- , IM, 2440
- , GM, 2438
- , GM, 2436
- , IM, 2430
- , IM, 2430
- , GM, 2429
- , IM, 2428
- , IM, 2421
- , IM, 2418
- , IM, 2418
- , IM, 2417
- , IM, 2413
- , IM, 2413
- , IM, 2413
- , IM, 2411
- , GM, 2407
- , GM, 2404
- , IM, 2404
- , WGM, 2403
- , WGM, 2399
- , IM, 2395
- , GM, 2393
- , WGM, 2393
- , IM, 2391
- , WGM, 2390
- , IM, 2389
- , WGM, 2388
- , IM, 2382
- , IM, 2379
- , IM, 2379
- , IM, 2370
- , IM, 2369
- , IM, 2363
- , WGM, 2362
- , IM, 2360
- , GM, 2358
- , WGM, 2358
- , IM, 2357
- , WGM, 2355
- , IM, 2346
- , WGM, 2344
- , WGM, 2341
- , WGM, 2339
- , WGM, 2335
- , WIM, 2323
- , FM, 2321
- , WIM, 2317
- , WGM, 2316
- , WGM, 2309
- , WGM, 2301
- , WGM, 2299
- , WIM, 2278
- , WIM, 2276
- , WIM, 2273
- , WIM, 2262
- , WGM, 2257
- , WGM, 2256
- , WGM, 2229
- , WIM, 2201
- , WIM, 2191
- , WIM, 2189
- , WFM, 2182
- , WGM, 2182
- , WGM, 2179
- , WIM, 2170
- , WGM, 2106
- , WIM, 2083
- , WIM, 2076
- , WIM, 2072
- , WIM, 2071
- , WGM, 2071
- , WFM, 2061
- , WIM, 2046
- , WFM, 2035
- , WIM, 2015
- , WIM, 2013
- , WIM, 2009
- , WIM, 1863
- , 1835
- WC: Semifinalists of the Women's World Chess Championship 2018
- J18 and J19: World Junior Champions 2018 and 2019
- R: Rating
- E18 and E19: European Individual Championships 2018 and 2019
- AM18 and AM19: American Continental Chess Championship 2018 and 2019
- AS18 and AS19: Asian Chess Championship 2018 and 2019
- AF: African Chess Championship 2019
- Z2.1, Z2.2, Z2.3, Z2.4, Z2.5, Z3.1, Z3.2, Z3.3, Z3.4, Z3.6, Z3.7: Zonal tournaments
- FN: Federation's nominee
- ON: Organiser's nominee
- PN: FIDE President's nominee
The following are the players from the list of qualifiers who declined to play, and their replacements:
- →
- →
- →
- → an extra presidential nominee
- → an extra presidential nominee
- → an extra presidential nominee
- → an extra presidential nominee