The first leg of the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Series 2019-2020 will take place in Skolkovo, Russia, on September 10-23. The event is a part of the FIDE Women’s World Championship cycle.
The Women’s FIDE Grand Prix Series 2019-2020 consist of four tournaments featuring 16 players. Each of the 16 players will participate in three out of four WGP tournaments. Each WGP tournament is played with 12 players in a round-robin system. The two players who score the most number of cumulative points in WGP Series, qualify to the FIDE Women Candidates Tournament to be held in the first half of 2021.
The drawing of lots for the Skolkovo WGP tournament was conducted in FIDE office in Lausanne. The participants got the following starting numbers:
1. Pia Cramling (Sweden)
2. Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria)
3. Elisabeth Paehtz (Germany)
4. Valentina Gunina (Russia)
5. Kateryna Lagno (Russia)
6. Humpy Koneru (India)
7. Dronavalli Harika (India)
8. Marie Sebag (France)
9. Alina Kashlinskaya (Russia)
10. Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia)
11. Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia)
12. Ju Wenjun (China).
Round 1 pairings:
Cramling – Ju Wenjun, Stefanova – Goryachkina, Paehtz – Kosteniuk, Gunina – Kashlinskaya, Lagno – Sebag, Koneru – Harika.
The opening ceremony will be held on September 10. Entrance only with invitation.
The match days:
September 11-16 and 18-22. September 17 is a tournament’s free day. The games start at 3 p.m. The final 11th round will begin at 11 a.m. (Moscow time).
The prize fund is: 80,000 euros.
Chief Arbiter – IA Andrzej Filipowicz (Poland).
Organizers: International Chess Federation (FIDE), Russian Chess Federation (RCF), and Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO.
Source: www.ruchess.ru
