The FIDE Women's Grand Prix in Jermuk, Armenia takes place from 16-29 July 2012.

The Jermuk Women's Grand Prix is the fifth in a series of six tournaments to determine the challenger for the 2013 Women's World Championship, against reigning champion Hou Yifan.

The tournament format is a 12-player single round-robin event. The opening round is on 17 July, and the final round is scheduled for the 28 July, with a rest day on 23 July.

The winner of each of the six Grand Prix tournaments in the series will win €6,500 out of a prize fund of €40,000, and the overall winner will win a further €15,000.

The regulations for the 2011/12 Grand Prix can be found here.

There are two new players in the Jermuk Grand Prix: Lilit Mkrtchian and Nino Khurtsidze replace Alexandra Kosteniuk and Zhu Chen who have withdrawn.

The participants in the Jermuk Grand Prix are:

.

Hou Yifan won the first 2 Grand Prix events in Rostov and Shenzhen, while Zhao Xue took achieved a crushing victory in the third Grand Prix in Nalchik (Hou Yifan did not compete there).  The fourth Grand Prix in Kazan had joint winners - Humpy Koneru and Anna Muzychuk.

Anna Muzychuk (left) and Humpy Koneru (right) receive their prizes in Kazan from the FIDE president

.

The current standings in the Grand Prix are:

.

If Hou Yifan wins the overall Grand Prix, then the challenger for her world championship title will be the player who finishes second in the series.

The Jermuk Grand Prix schedule:

.

More information and coverage is available at the official website.