World Chess Championship

The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Both men and women are eligible to contest this title.

Women's World Championship

Reigns of the 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–present, Bulgaria

Era of Menchik

The Women's World Championship was established by FIDE in 1927 as a single tournament held alongside the Chess Olympiad. The winner of that tournament, Vera Menchik, did not have any special rights as the men's champion did — instead she had to defend her title by playing as many games as all the challengers. She did this successfully in every other championship in her lifetime (1930, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937 and 1939).

Related Topics:
1927 - Chess Olympiad - Vera Menchik - 1930 - 1931 - 1933 - 1935 - 1937 - 1939

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Menchik died as champion in 1944 by a German air raid. The next championship was another round-robin tournament in 1949-50 and was won by Ludmilla Rudenko. Thereafter a system similar to that of the men's championship was established, with a cycle of Candidates events (and later Interzonals) to pick a challenger to face the reigning champion.

Related Topics:
German - Ludmilla Rudenko

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The first such Candidates tournament was held in Moscow, 1952. Elizaveta Bikova won and proceeded to defeat Rudenko with seven wins, five losses, and two draws to become the third champion. The next Candidates tournament was won by Olga Rubzowa. Instead of directly playing Bikova, however, FIDE decided that the championship should be held between the three top players in the world. Rubzomwa won at Moscow in 1956, one-half point ahead of Bikova, who finished five points ahead of Rudenko. Bikova regained the title in 1958 and defended it against Kira Zvorikina, winner of a Candidates tournament, in 1959.

Related Topics:
Moscow - 1952 - Elizaveta Bikova - Olga Rubzowa - 1956 - 1958 - 1959

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Georgian dominance

The fourth Candidates tournament was held in 1961 in Vrnjacka Banja, and was utterly dominated by Nona Gaprindashvili of Georgia, who won with ten wins, zero losses, and six draws. She then decisively defeated Bikova with seven wins, no losses, and four draws in Moscow, 1962 to become champion. Gaprindashvili defended her title against Alla Kushnir of Russia at Riga 1965 and Tbilisi/Moscow 1969. In 1972, FIDE introduced the same system for the women's championship as with the men's: a series of Interzonal tournaments, followed by the Candidates matches. Kushnir won again, only to be defeated by Gaprindashvili at Riga 1972. Gaprindashvili defended the title one last time against Nana Alexandria of Georgia at Pitsounda/Tbilisi 1975.

Related Topics:
1961 - Vrnjacka Banja - Nona Gaprindashvili - Georgia - 1962 - Alla Kushnir - Russia - Riga - 1965 - Tbilisi - 1969 - 1972 - Nana Alexandria - Pitsounda - 1975

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In 1976-1978 Candidates cycle, 17-year-old Maya Chiburdanidze of Georgia ended up the surprise star, defeating Nana Alexandria, Elena Akhmilovskaya, and Alla Kushnir to face Gaprindashvili in the 1978 finals at Tbilisi. Chiburdanidze proceeded to soundly defeat Gaprindashvili, marking the end of one Georgian's domination and the beginning of another's. Chiburdanidze defended her title against Alexandria at Borsomi/Tbilisi 1981 and Irina Levitina at Volgograd 1984. Following this, FIDE reintroduced the Candidates tournament system. Akhmilovskaya, who had earlier lost to Chiburdanidze in the Candidates matches, won the tournament was but was still defeated by Chiburdanidze at Sofia 1986. Chiburdanidze's final title defense came against Nana Ioseliani at Telavi 1988.

Related Topics:
1976 - 1978 - Maya Chiburdanidze - Elena Akhmilovskaya - Borsomi - 1981 - Irina Levitina - Volgograd - 1984 - 1986 - Nana Ioseliani - 1988

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Rise of the Chinese and Hungarians

Her domination ended at Manila 1991, where the young Chinese star Xie Jun defeated Chiburdanidze, after finishing second to the still-active Gaprindashvili in an Interzonal, tying with Alisa Maric in the Candidates tournament, and then beating Maric in a tie-breaker match.

Related Topics:
Manila - 1991 - Chinese - Xie Jun - Alisa Maric

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It was during this time that the three Polgar sisters Susan (also known as Zsuzsa), Sofia, and Judit emerged as dominant players. The family decided that Judit, as the strongest of the three, should concentrate on the men's championship, while Susan and Sofia should go for the women's.

Related Topics:
Susan - Sofia - Judit

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Susan Polgar dominated the 1992 Candidates tournament at Shanghai. However, FIDE stipulated that the top two finishers would need to play a final 8-game match to determine the challenger. Instead of easily defeating her opponent, Ioseliani, the match ended in a draw, even after two tiebreaks. FIDE decreed that the match would simply be decided by a lottery, upon which Ioseliani won. She was then promptly crushed by Xie Jun in the championship at Monaco 1993.

Related Topics:
1992 - Shanghai - Monaco - 1993

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The next cycle was dominated by Polgar. She tied with Chiburdanidze in the Candidates tournament, defeated her easily in the match, and then decisively defeated Xie Jun at Jaén 1996 for the championship.

Related Topics:
Jaén - 1996

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In 1997, Alisa Galliamova and Xie Jun finished first and second, but Galliamova refused to play the final match entirely in China. FIDE eventually awarded the match to Xie Jun by default.

Related Topics:
1997 - Alisa Galliamova - China

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However, by the time all these delays were sorted out, Polgar had given birth to her first child. She requested that the match be postponed. FIDE refused, and eventually set up the championship to be between Galliamova and Xie Jun! The championship was held in Kazan, Tatarstan and Shenyang, China, and Xie Jun won with five wins, three losses, and seven draws.

Related Topics:
Kazan - Tatarstan - Shenyang

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In 2000 a knock-out event, similar to the FIDE men's title and held alongside it, was the new format of the women's world championship. It was won by Xie Jun. In 2001 a similar event determined the champion, Zhu Chen. Another knock-out, this one held separately from the men's event, in Elista, the capital of the Russian republic of Kalmykia (of which FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is president), from May 21 to June 8, 2004, produced Bulgarian Antoaneta Stefanova as champion. Similar to Polgar seven years prior, Zhu Chen did not participate due to pregnancy.

Related Topics:
2000 - 2001 - Zhu Chen - Elista - Russia - Kalmykia - Kirsan Ilyumzhinov - May 21 - June 8 - 2004 - Bulgaria - Antoaneta Stefanova

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