2012 Women's World Championship
The 2012 FIDE Women's World Chess Championship is underway in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia.
The reigning champion, 18-year champion Hou Yifan of China, is defending her title in a 64-player knockout format tournament.
The Women's World Championship is decided in alternate years by either a match or a KO event. Hou Yifan successfully defended her title by convincingly beating Humpy Koneru 5½-2½ in a match last year in Tirana, Albania.
The 2012 championship runs from 11 November - 2 December, with each round consisting of 2-game mini-matches (4 in the final) between the players drawn against one another. Tied matches are decided by 2 rapid tie-break games of 25 minutes plus 10 seconds increment, then 2 blitz games if necessary at 5 minutes plus 3 seconds increment, then finally an Armageddon game.
The winner of the competition becomes Women's World Chess Champion and will defend the title in a match against Hou Yifan next year. If Hou Yifan is the winner, thereby retaining her title, she will be challenged in the 2013 match by the runner-up in the latest Grand Prix series.
The official website has more information and live coverage.
Hou Yifan drawing white for all odd numbered seeds in the first game
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The results from the first games of the first round.
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The qualification route of the participants is shown below.
| PARTICIPANTS of the WORLD WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP 2012 |
| a) From World Women’s Championships 2010-2011: |
| 01. Hou, Yifan (CHN) - World Champion |
| 02. Koneru, Humpy (IND) - World Champion Finalist 2011 |
| 03. Zhao Xue (CHN) - World Championship Semi finals 2010 |
| b) World Girl Junior Champions 2010-2011: |
| 04. Muzychuk, Anna (SLO) |
| 05. Cori T Deysi (PER) |
| c) Rating List average 7/2011 & 1/2012: |
| 06. Gunina, Valentina (RUS) |
| 07. Galliamova, Alisa (RUS) |
| 08. Zhu, Chen (QAT) |
| 09. Kosteniuk, Alexandra (RUS) |
| 10. Skripchenko, Almira (FRA) |
| 11. Ushenina, Anna (UKR) |
| d) 28 players from European Women’s Championships 2010 & 2011 |
| 12. Cramling, Pia (SWE) (2010) |
| 13. Cmilyte, Viktorija (LTU) |
| 14. Socko Monika (POL) |
| 15. Sebag, Marie (FRA) |
| 16. Kosintseva Tatiana (RUS) |
| 17. Zhukova Natalia (UKR) |
| 18. Dembo Elena (GRE) |
| 19. Stefanova Antoaneta (BUL) |
| 20. Kosintseva Nadezhda (RUS) |
| 21. Muzychuk Mariya (UKR) |
| 22. Rajlich Iweta (POL) |
| 23. Ziaziulkina Nastassia (BLR) |
| 24. Kovalevskaya Ekaterina (RUS) |
| 25. Khurtsidze Nino (GEO) |
| 26. Danielian, Elina (ARM) (2011) |
| 27. Matveeva, Svetlana (RUS) |
| 28. Khotenashvili, Bela (GEO) |
| 29. Lahno, Kateryna (UKR) |
| 30. Javakhishvili, Lela (GEO) |
| 31. Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan (SCO) |
| 32. Foisor, Cristina-Adela (ROU) |
| 33. Bodnaruk Anastasia (RUS) |
| 34. Pogonina Natalija (RUS) |
| 35. Ovod Evgenija (RUS) |
| 36. Romanko Marina (RUS) |
| 37. Hoang Thanh Trang (HUN) |
| 38. Mkrtchian Lilit (ARM) |
| 39. Khukhashvili Sopiko (GEO) |
| e) 8 players from Americas |
| 40. Arribas Robaina, Maritza (CUB) (Continental) |
| 41. Zatonskih, Anna (USA) (Zonal 2.1) |
| 42. Abrahamyan, Tatev (USA) (Zonal 2.1) |
| 43. Krush, Irina (USA) (Zonal 2.1) |
| 44. Khoudgarian, Natalia (CAN) (Zonal 2.2) |
| 45. Castrillon Gomez, Melissa (COL) (Zonal 2.3) |
| 46. Aliaga Fernandez, Ingrid (PER) (Zonal 2.4) |
| 47. Lujan, Carolina (ARG) (Zonal 2.5) |
| f) 12 players from Asia/Oceania |
| 48. Pourkashiyan, Atousa (IRI) (Continental 2010) |
| 49. Harika, Dronavalli (IND) (Continental 2011) |
| 50. Ghader Pour, Shayesteh (IRI) (Zonal 3.1) |
| 51. Ranasinghe, S D (SRI) (Zonal 3.2) |
| 52. Li, Ruofan (SIN) (Zonal 3.3) |
| 53. Davletbayeva, Madina (KAZ) (Zonal 3.4) |
| 54. Ju Wenjun (CHN) (Zonal 3.5) |
| 55. Shen Yang (CHN) (Zonal 3.5) |
| 56. Huang Qian (CHN) (Zonal 3.5) |
| 57. Gu Xiaobing (CHN) (Zonal 3.5) |
| 58. Berezina, Irina (AUS) (Zonal 3.6) |
| 59. Soumya, Swaminathan (IND) (Zonal 3.7) |
| g) 3 players from African Women’s Championship 2011 |
| 60. Mona, Khaled (EGY) |
| 61. Mezioud, Amina (ALG) |
| 62. Frick, Denise (RSA) |
| h) 2 nominees of the FIDE President |
| 63. Girya, Olga (RUS) |
| 64. Guo Qi (CHN) |
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The schedule is below. Games start at 15:00 local time (09:00 UTC).
| Date | Day | Event |
| 11.11.2012 | Sunday | Round I - game 1 |
| 12.11.2012 | Monday | Round I - game 2 |
| 13.11.2012 | Tuesday | Tiebreak |
| 14.11.2012 | Wednesday | Round II- game 1 |
| 15.11.2012 | Thursday | Round II- game 2 |
| 16.11.2012 | Friday | Tiebreak |
| 17.11.2012 | Saturday | Round III- game 1 |
| 18.11.2012 | Sunday | Round III- game 2 |
| 19.11.2012 | Monday | Tiebreak |
| 20.11.2012 | Tuesday | Round IV- game 1 |
| 21.11.2012 | Wednesday | Round IV- game 2 |
| 22.11.2012 | Thursday | Tiebreak |
| 23.11.2012 | Friday | Round V- game 1 |
| 24.11.2012 | Saturday | Round V- game 2 |
| 25.11.2012 | Sunday | Tiebreak |
| 26.11.2012 | Monday | Free Day |
| 27.11.2012 | Tuesday | Round VI - game 1 final |
| 28.11.2012 | Wednesday | Round VI - game 2 final |
| 29.11.2012 | Thursday | Round VI - game 3 final |
| 30.11.2012 | Friday | Round VI - game 4 final |
| 01.12.2012 | Saturday | Tiebreak |
| 02.12.2012 | Sunday | Closing Ceremony |
