2021 World Women's Team Championship: All The Information

The 2021 FIDE World Women's Team Championship will be held from September 27-October 2, 2021 and broadcast on Chess.com.

• Broadcast
• Schedule
• Teams
• Format
• Location
• Prize Fund
• Regulations

Broadcast

You can follow the 2021 Women's Team Championship on Chess.com/TV or on our Twitch and YouTube channels, as well as at Chess.com/Events. Eight-time U.S. Women's Champion GM Irina Krush, WGM Dina Belenkaya, and two-time champion and Women's Program Director for the U.S. Chess Federation WGM Jennifer Shahade will anchor the coverage.

Schedule

Teams

12 teams are invited based on the following qualifying criteria:

• Four best teams by rating from four Continents (Africa, Americas, Asia & Europe)
• Five teams representing countries with the highest average ratings of the best four female players in the FIDE Rapid June 2021 rating list.
• The team of the host country. If this team has qualified through the above means, the next team in rating qualifies.
• Two teams nominated by the FIDE President.

Each team consists of four main players and a reserve, any of whom can also be the team captain.

Format

Round-Robin Stage

Teams are divided up into two pools with approximately the same strength: the 1st-, 4th-, 5th-, 8th-, 9th-, and 12th-ranked teams in one pool, and the remaining teams in the other.

Every team in each pool plays a match against every other team, for five total matches in each pool. Teams receive two points for a match win, one for a match draw, and zero pts for a match loss.

The top four teams in each group advance to the playoffs.

Playoff Stage

Eight teams play a single-elimination knockout tournament. Teams are paired in the quarterfinals based on finishing position from the round-robin stage (first place from one pool plays last place from the other, and second place from one vs. third from the other).

Each match consists of two games. The team with the most points after two matches wins and advances.

Time Control

The time control throughout the tournament, in both stages, is 45 minutes for the game with a 10-second increment starting on move one.

Location

The event is being held in Sitges, Spain.

Prizes

The winning and runner-up teams are both awarded FIDE trophies, while the semifinalists secure places in the next FIDE Women’s Team Championship.

Each member of the following teams are awarded medals, gold for the winners, silver for the other finalists, and bronze for both remaining semifinalists.

Regulations

The complete event regulations can be found here.

Past Winners