Women's World Chess, "Gorgeous Grandmasters"
The Women's World Championship was established by FIDE in 1927. It was a tournament that was held alongside the Chess Olympiad. It was won by the legendary Vera Menchik (picture right), who went on to win every challenge and indeed ever championship she ever played in during her lifetime. Menchik died, undefeated, during the Second World War, and was succeeded by Ludmilla Rudenko, who won a round robin in 1949-50 to receive the title.
After this the system was changed to mirror the men's championship, i.e. a cycle of Candidates tournaments and Interzonals was held to to pick a challenger. The first was Elizaveta Bikova in 1952, who won the title in 1953, lost it in 1956 and regained it in 1958. Then came the "Georgian era", which lasted from 1962 to 1991 and saw Nona Gaprindashvili and Maya Chiburdaidze dominating women's chess.
In 1991 the Chinese player Xie Jun defeated Chiburdanidze to take the title. She was defeated in 1996 by the oldest Polgar sister, Susan, who kept the title until she lost it in 1999 by default to Xie Jun due to the birth of her first child. After this FIDE installed the knockout system for the Women's World Championship, and this was won in 2001 by the Chinese player Zhu Chen. The last championship in 2004 saw Bulgarian GM Antoaneta Stefanova win the title.
All women's world champions
Vera Menchik 1927–1944 United Kingdom Ludmilla Rudenko 1950–1953 Soviet Union Elisabeth Bikova 1953–1956 Soviet Union Olga Rubzowa 1956–1958 Soviet Union Elisabeth Bikova 1958–1962 Soviet Union Nona Gaprindashvili 1962–1978 Georgia Maya Chiburdanidze 1978–1991 Georgia Xie Jun 1991–1996 China Susan Polgar 1996–1999 Hungary Xie Jun 1999–2001 China Zhu Chen 2001–2004 China Antoaneta Stefanova 2004–2006 Bulgaria
Participants
GM Antoaneta Stefanova, BUL, Women's World Champion 2004
IM Ekaterina Kovalevskaya, RUS, runner-up of WWCC 2004
GM Koneru Humpy, IND, semi-finalist of WWCC 2004
GM Maya Chiburdanidze, GEO, semi-finalist of WWCC 2004
WGM Ekaterina Korbut, RUS, World Junior Champion 2004
IM Elizabeth Paehtz, GER, World Junior Champion 2005
GM Alisa Galliamova, RUS, Rating List 7/2004 - 1/2005
WGM Xu Yuhua, CHN, Rating List 7/2004 - 1/2005
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, RUS, Rating List 7/2004 - 1/2005
GM Zhu Chen, CHN Rating List 7/2004 - 1/2005
WGM Natalia Zhukova, RUS, Dresden 2004
GM Pia Cramling, SWE, Dresden 2004
IM Tatiana Kosintseva, RUS, Dresden 2004
IM Kateryna Lahno, UKR, Kishinev 2005
IM Lilit Mkrtchian, ARM, Kishinev 2005
IM Almira Skripchenko, FRA, Kishinev 2005 (after TB)
WGM Viktoria Cmilyte, LTU, Kishinev, reserve player
WGM Irina Krush, USA, Zone 2.1
WGM Tuduetso Sabure, BOT, Cont. ChampionshipSeedings
1 Koneru, Humpy GM 2537 2 Cramling Pia GM 2515 3 Kosteniuk, Alexandra GM 2514 4 Chiburdanidze, Maya GM 2511 5 Xu, Yuhua WGM 2502 6 Lahno Kateryna IM 2500 7 Stefanova, Antoaneta GM 2499 8 Zhu, Chen GM 2482 9 Kosintseva Nadezhda IM 2480 10 Hoang Xuan Thanh Khiet IM 2480 11 Kosintseva Tatiana IM 2479 12 Vijayalakshmi, Subbaraman IM 2479 13 Socko Monika IM 2475 14 Cmilyte, Viktoria IM 2475 15 Zhao, Xue WGM 2473 16 Qin, Janying WGM 2469 17 Galliamova, Alisa IM 2467 18 Dembo Yelena IM 2461 19 Skripchenko Almira IM 2461 20 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina IM 2458 21 Mkrtchian Lilit IM 2453 22 Dzagnidze Nana IM 2452 23 Krush, Irina IM 2447 24 Javakhishvili Lela IM 2444 25 Zhukova Natalia WGM 2432 26 Khurtsidze Nino IM 2430 27 Matveeva Svetlana IM 2428 28 Korbut, Ekaterina WGM 2427 29 Arakhamia-Grant Ketevan IM 2426 30 Danielian Elina IM 2423 31 Paehts, Elizabeth IM 2422 32 Zaiatz Elena IM 2422 33 Radziewicz Iweta IM 2421 34 Kononenko Tatiana WGM 2417 35 Sebag Marie IM 2415 36 Peng Zhaoqin GM 2407 37 Foisor Cristina-Adele IM 2402 38 Zielinska Marta WGM 2398 39 Ushenina Anna WGM 2398 40 Vasilevich Irina WGM 2386 41 Wang, Yu WGM 2385 42 Shen, Yang 2380 43 Slavina-Turova Irina WGM 2379 44 Ovod Evgenija WGM 2366 45 Ruan, Lufei 2361 46 Pina, Sulennis WGM 2358 47 Houska Jovanka WGM 2355 48 Lujan, Carolina WGM 2346 49 Purtseladze Maka WGM 2341 50 Aketaeva, Dana WIM 2330 51 Kursova Maria WIM 2319 52 Pourkashiyan, Atousa WIM 2296 53 Ju, Wenjun 2290 54 Meenakshi Subbaraman WGM 2289 55 Berezina-Feldman, Irina WIM 2285 56 Hou, Yifan WFM 2269 57 Arribas, Maritza WGM 2261 58 Abrahamyan, Tatev WFM 2254 59 Zapata, Karen WIM 2218 60 Khoudgarian, Natalia WIM 2106 61 Sohair Farid Basta WIM 2083 62 Sabure, Tuduetso WGM 2072 63 Mezioud Amina 1989 64 Reserve player from Americas
