Women's Chess Grand Prix sixth event in Doha from Feb 20

Chess blog for latest news and trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2011


Hi everyone,

The sixth part of the Women's Chess Grand Prix is set to begin in Doha, Qatar on February 20. It will run till March 6. According to the official website, 12 players will compete in the round robin event. The winner of the Grand Prix series will qualify for the 2011 World Championship match against the defending champion Hou Yifan.


Participants in Doha Women's Chess Grand Prix

• GM Humpy Koneru IND 2607
• GM Antoaneta Stefanova BUL 2546
• GM Pia Cramling SWE 2516
• GM Nana Dzagnidze GEO 2550
• GM Marie Sebag FRA 2489
• GM Maia Chiburdanidze GEO 2502
• GM Zhu Chen QTR 2495
• GM Elina Danielan ARM 2454
• GM Xu Yuhua CHN 2484
• IM Batkhuyag Munguntuul 2410
• IM Martha Fierro ECU 2353
• IM Lilit Mrktchian ARM 2475

The FIDE Women's Chess Grand Prix includes six events which are to be run over two years in various countries around the world with three tournaments every year. The winner of each tournament will win 6,500 euros out of a prize fund of 40,000 euros and the overall winner of the series will win a further 15,000 euros at the end of the series.

The introduction of the Grand Prix series means that there will be a World Championship contest annually now from 2010. The 2010 champion was determined from the World Championship Knockout which was held in Turkey. Now, in 2011, the winner of the Grand Prix series 2009/2010 will take on Hou Yifan for a match for the title.

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