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1/27/2015 – After the alarming news that the 2014 Women's World Championship had been put on hold with no definition in sight, due to lack of sponsorship, FIDE has finally published the dates, location and prize fund. The event will be held in Sochi, Russia, it will start in less than two months, and the players have two weeks to sign the contracts. Here are the full details.

As in the previous World Championship, the tournament is scheduled to be a Knockout tournament, with 64 players, subject to confirmation. The tournament is to be held from March 16 (Opening ceremony) to April 7 (Closing ceremony) in Sochi, Russia. The players have until February 4 to send in the signed contracts or be excluded.

In view of the recent uncertainty as to the World Championship between Anand and Carlsen, when the title-holder delayed signing the contract due to concerns over the venue in Sochi, this concern is repeated here, and hopefully the disaster of the 2008 Women's World Championship will be avoided.

As a reminder, due to concerns over the announced location in Nalchik, Russia in 2008, in protest over the Russo-Georgian War in 2008 and safety concerns, eleven players did not show up, leading to some players having no opponent, and some matches with no players.

The list of players qualified for the tournament at the time of writing is:

From World Women's Championships 2012-2013

1 Hou, Yifan CHN g World Champion (2615.75) 2 Ushenina, Anna UKR g Runner up WWCCM 2013 (2493.58) 3 Ju, Wenjun CHN g Semifinalist 2012 (2525.58) 4 Harika, Dronavalli IND g Semifinalist 2012 (2491.00)

The final of the 2012 Knockout tournament in which Anna Ushenina defeated

Antoaneta Stefanova for the title

From average Rating List 2/2013 to 1/2014

5 Koneru, Humpy IND g 2604.25 6 Zhao, Xue CHN g 2565.58 7 Stefanova, Antoaneta BUL g 2506.66 8 Muzychuk, Mariya UKR wgm 2487.08 9 Tan, Zhongyi CHN wgm 2485.16

World Girl Junior Champions 2012-2013

10 Guo, Qi CHN wgm Champion 2012 (2442.75) 11 Goryachkina, Aleksandra RUS wgm Champion 2013 (2408.75)

28 players from European Women's Championships 2012 & 2013

12 Gunina, Valentina RUS g 2012 13 Kosintseva, Tatiana RUS g 2012 14 Muzychuk, Anna UKR g 2012 15 Cmilyte, Viktorija LTU g 2012 16 Sebag, Marie FRA g 2012 17 Lagno, Kateryna RUS g 2012 18 Danielian, Elina ARM g 2012 19 Khotenashvili, Bela GEO g 2012 20 Pogonina, Natalija RUS wgm 2012 21 Kosteniuk, Alexandra RUS g 2012 22 Hoang, Thanh Trang HUN g 2012 23 Khurtsidze, Nino GEO m 2012 24 Dzagnidze, Nana GEO g 2012 25 Melia, Salome GEO m 2012 26 Mkrtchian, Lilit ARM m 2013 27 Socko, Monika POL g 2013 28 Kashlinskaya, Alina RUS wgm 2013 29 Arabidze, Meri GEO m 2013 30 Kovanova, Baira RUS wgm 2013 31 Girya, Olga RUS wgm 2013 32 Ozturk, Kubra TUR wgm 2013 33 Cramling, Pia SWE g 2013 34 Javakhishvili, Lela GEO m 2013 35 Atalik, Ekaterina TUR m 2013 36 Milliet, Sophie FRA m 2013 37 Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan SCO g 2013 38 Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina RUS m 2013 39 Daulyte, Deimante LTU m 2013

Eight players from Americas

40 Zuriel, Marisa ARG wm Continental 41 Krush, Irina USA g Zone 2.1 42 Abrahamyan, Tatev USA wgm Zone 2.1 43 Zatonskih, Anna USA wgm Zone 2.1 44 Yuan, Yuanling CAN wm Zone 2.2 45 Marrero Lopez, Yaniet CUB wgm Zone 2.3 46 Cori T., Deysi PER wgm Zone 2.4 47 Lujan, Carolina ARG m Zone 2.5

Twelve players from Asia/Oceania

48 Huang, Qian CHN wgm Continental 2013 49 Sukandar, Irine Kharisma INA m Continental 2012 50 Zhu, Chen QAT g Zone 3.1 51 Shamima, Akter Liza BAN wm Zone 3.2 52 Nguyen, Thi Thanh An VIE wgm Zone 3.3 53 Nakhbayeva, Guliskhan KAZ wgm Zone 3.4 54 Wang, Jue CHN wgm Zone 3.5 55 Shen, Yang CHN m Zone 3.5 56 Lei, Tingjie CHN wgm Zone 3.5 57 Zhang, Xiaowen CHN wgm Zone 3.5 58 Berezina, Irina AUS m Zone 3.6 59 Gomes, Mary Ann IND wgm Zone 3.7

Three players from Africa

60 Wafa, Shrook EGY wgm Continental 2013 61 Moaataz, Ayah EGY wm Continental 2013 62 Mezioud, Amina ALG wm Continental 2013

Two nominees of the FIDE President

63 Zhukova, Natalia UKR g Nominee 64 To be announced TBA Nominee

As the winner of the Grand Prix cycle preceding the championship, Hou Yifan

was given the right to play Ushenina for the title, which she duly won

Financial conditions

The tournament regulations state "The Championship has a total prize fund of USD 450,000 (four hundred and fifty thousand dollars), to be distributed to the players in accordance with the regulations of the Championship. There will not be any FIDE deduction of 20% from the player’s prize fund."

Although this is the much the same as in 2012 and 2010, which had the same prize pool, but with 2010 costs. The breakdown, based on the 2012 championship was US$3,750 for first round losers, US$5,500 for the second round, US$8,000 for the third. Losing quarter-finalists picked up US$12,000$, the semi-finalists US$20,000. The runner up received US$ 30,000 and the winner got US$60,000.

Bear in mind that there will be 32 first-round losers and many will probably be looking at financial loss. Consider the costs:

Costs to participate

Hotel - The regulations state "All the players qualified for the Championship must stay at the official Championship hotel(s), and the name of this hotel(s) shall be announced later by FIDE." This means the players must blindly accept this hotel choice, by contract, and will pay whatever those costs may be.

Airfare - Obviously the airfare is another financial burden.

Taxes - All winnings are subject to taxation of the local hosts, which does not include income taxes the players may pay in their home countries. Inasmuch as Russia is concerned, foreign individuals present in Russia for less than 183 days are subject to 30 percent income tax. Unless the players' countries have double taxation treaties with Russia, they will then be subject to taxes on their winnings in their home country.

Naturally, we wish the players all the success in the world, but it is certainly a concern that a high number of the competitors vying for the highest title may leave worse financially than had they not participated. Bear in mind these are not idle concerns.

Open letter by Women's World Ch. participants 1/18/2011 – It was an exciting event, and we reported enthusiastically. But as it turns out not all the players were enchanted by the conditions of the WWCCh in Antakya/Hatay (Turkey). They feel they were overcharged, unappreciated and had to play in substandard conditions. Eighteen participants have signed the highly critical letter – to which FIDE has promised to respond. Plus: a new NYT article.

Click to see Player's Contract (PDF)

Click for list of qualifiers (PDF)