Gibraltar To Host Women’s FIDE Grand Prix Instead Of Its Annual Chess Festival
The final stage of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix will be held on January 17-29, 2021 in Gibraltar. The announcement came shortly after the organizers had canceled its annual chess festival.
The Gibraltar tournament will be the fourth and final leg of the Women's Grand Prix, which was supposed to be held on May 2-15, 2020 in Sardinia, Italy. The coronavirus pandemic made that impossible.
So far, three tournaments were played in the series: in Skolkovo (September 2019), Monaco (December 2019), and Lausanne (March 2020). At the moment, GM Aleksandra Goryachkina leads the series, having played in all three tournaments. She won't be playing in Gibraltar because all players play only three of the four legs.
Women's Grand Prix Standings
| Rank | Fed | Player | Skolkovo | Monaco | Lausanne | Gibraltar | Total |
| 1 | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 120 | 133⅓ | 145 | 398⅓ | ||
| 2 | Humpy Koneru | 160 | 133⅓ | 293⅓ | |||
| 3 | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 45 | 133⅓ | 15 | 193⅓ | ||
| 4-6 | Kateryna Lagno | 90 | 90 | 180 | |||
| 4-6 | Dronavalli Harika | 60 | 60 | 60 | 180 | ||
| 4-6 | Nana Dzagnidze | 35 | 145 | 180 | |||
| 7 | Anna Muzychuk | 80 | 85 | 165 | |||
| 8 | Ju Wenjun | 120 | 35 | 155 | |||
| 9 | Alina Kashlinskaya | 45 | 85 | 130 | |||
| 10 | Mariya Muzychuk | 60 | 60 | 120 | |||
| 11 | Zhansaya Abdumalik | 110 | 110 | ||||
| 12 | Pia Cramling | 10 | 60 | 35 | 105 | ||
| 13 | Elisabeth Paehtz | 75 | 20 | 95 | |||
| 14-15 | Valentina Gunina | 75 | 10 | 85 | |||
| 14-15 | Antoaneta Stefanova | 25 | 60 | 85 | |||
| 16 | Marie Sebag | 25 | 15 | 40 | |||
| 17 | Zhao Xue | 35 | 35 |
Each tournament is a 12-player round-robin. The prize fund in each Grand Prix is 80,000 euros ($95,000), with 15,000 euros and 160 Grand Prix points awarded to the winner. The two best players from the Women's Grand Prix qualify directly for the Women's Candidates Tournament.
Just a few weeks ago, the annual chess festival in Gibraltar was canceled due to the pandemic. As the Gibraltar organizers always provide a large prize fund for female players, hosting the Women's Grand Prix continues their tradition to support women's chess.
The venue will be the same as always: the Caleta Hotel. It will be turned into an isolated environment to ensure the safety of the participants and to avoid any risks associated with COVID-19. There will be no other guests in the hotel during the entire duration of the event apart from the participants and the organizing team, and the competition will be held subject to and in accordance with Gibraltar Government Health Protocols.
The tournament will clash with the Tata Steel Chess tournament, which is still planned to go ahead. It is the only over-the-board super tournament that's currently on the calendar for 2021, alongside the postponed FIDE Candidates.
