The race for the Women's World Championship title will take off in Kazan with a renewed Candidates Tournament, the strongest female event ever held, which features a record prize fund of 200.000 euros. From May 29th to June 19th, eight top Grandmasters will compete to become Ju Wenjun's challenger.

The participants are Mariya Muzychuk (Ukraine, 2563), Kateryna Lagno (Russia, 2554), Alexandra Kosteniuk (Russia, 2546), Anna Muzychuk (Ukraine, 2539), Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia, 2522), Tan Zhongyi (China, 2513), Nana Dzagnidze (Georgia, 2510), and Valentina Gunina (Russia, 2506).

The pre-competition press-conference with organizers and participants will take place at AO Tatmedia (Dekabristov st. 2) at 3 pm May 30.

The opening ceremony will take place in the Kazan Palace Hotel (Kalinina st. 5/24), starting at 4:30 pm. An invitation is required for attendance (members of the media will need their press credentials to get in).

The event is a double round round-robin – the players will play each other twice, once with White, and once with Black pieces. The venue is the Nogai Hotel (16B, Profsojuznaja St., Kazan). Playing days: May 31 – June 2, 4-6, 8-10, 12-14, and 16-17. Tie-breaks (if needed) and the Closing Ceremony will take place on June 18. All rounds begin at 3 pm local time.

The drawing of lots ceremony took place on April 30 in Moscow and was attended by Arkady Dvorkovich, President of FIDE, and Judit Polgar, the strongest female player in the history of chess and Honorary FIDE Vice-President. These will be the pairings for the first round:

A special chess tent will be installed on Bauman street near the playing venue. On the playing days, grandmaster Sergey Shipov will be commenting the games live for the Russian-speaking audience. On the rest days, the tent will be hosting side activities such as blitz tournaments, master classes, meeting with chess celebrities, and simultaneous displays by famous grandmasters.

GM Evgeny Miroshnichenko and IM Elisabeth Paehtz will be commenting the events of the Candidates Tournament for the English-speaking audience.

The winner of the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament qualifies for the World Championship Match with Ju Wenjun (China), where both players will compete for a total prize fund of €500,000, which is 150% percent bigger than in the previous championship match.

The Republic of Tatarstan is rightly considered to be one of the strongest sporting regions of Russia, and Kazan is often referred to as the sports capital of Russia. Thanks to its widespread sporting infrastructure, Tatarstan hosts more than 800 competitions each year, including all-Russian and international events in various sports.

The chess history of the Republic of Tatarstan accounts to 135 years. The chess life revolves around the Republican Sports Olympic Reserve School, named after the great Tatarstani player Rashid Gibyatovich Nezhmetdinov, the only player in the world to become international master in chess as well as USSR master is checkers.

This is not the first time for Kazan to host prominent chess events of such caliber. In 1999 it carried out the Women's World Championship Match between Alisa Galliamova and Xie Jun. In 2011 the capital of Tatarstan hosted the Candidates Matches. Next year, the city organized one of the legs of the Women's Grand Prix, and in 2014 it welcomed the Russian Superfinals.

The organizers are FIDE, Russian Chess Federation, Government of the Republic of Tatarstan, Ministry of Sports of the Republic of Tatarstan, and city administration of Kazan.

The tournament is sponsored by PJSC PhosAgro and Russian Railways.

Official website https://fwct2019.com/en 

Watch promo video 


For reference:

FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Echecs) is recognized by its members and the International Olympic Committee as the international federation in the domain of chess, the supreme body responsible for the sport of chess and its Championships. FIDE has the sole rights to organize the World Chess Championships and the Chess Olympiads.
Official website: www.fide.com  

Russian Chess Federation (RCF) is a public non-profit organization that brings together individuals and chess federations of republics, regions, federal cities, autonomous regions and districts of the Russian Federation. The mission of the Russian Chess Federation is to promote and popularize chess in the Russian Federation. The RCF was founded on 15 February 1992 The RCF organizes the annual All-Russian children’s chess tournament Belaya Ladya, the Championship of Russia and other chess tournaments. In 2012, the RCF launched the “Chess in Museums” program. In 2014, the RCF launched the Chess to Orphanages program. The first competition between teams from orphanages and boarding schools took place in Zhemchuzhina Grand Hotel in Sochi on May 2-9, 2016
Official website: www.ruchess.ru/en/  

PJSC PhosAgro is a traditional partner of the Russian Chess Federation. PhosAgro group is an absolute leader in the field of delivery all kinds of fertilizers in the Russian market and is one of the three largest producers of phosphate-based fertilizers in the world.
Its core line of business, including a phosphate raw materials, 39 brands of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, sodium tripoluphosphate, is used by consumers of 100 countries of all inhabited continents. The priority distribution areas, besides Russia and the CIS states, are Latin America countries, Europe and Asia.
The general partner of the Russian Chess Federation since 2010. Andrey A. Guryev, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of PJSC PhosAgro, is the RCF Vice-President and a member of the RCF Board of Trustees.
PhosAgro group is a strategic partner of FIDE in holding the Grand Prix Series as part of the World Championship Cycle 2019-2020.
PhosAgro sponsored the World Chess Championship Matches in Sochi, New York and London, the Candidates Tournament in Berlin, and the Moscow Grand Prix leg (2017). At the same time, the company continues to promote chess in its presence regions by opening chess classes in sponsored schools and kindergartens as well as financing the education and training of chess pedagogues.
Official website: https://www.phosagro.com  

Russian Railways is one of the largest railway companies in the world. It ships enormous volumes of freight and passengers and has high financial ratings, qualified specialists in all areas of railway transportation, a large scientific and technical base, design and construction capacities, and considerable experience in cooperating with international partners.
The company runs one of the largest transportation systems in the world: the operational length of the tracks is 85,500 km, and the length of electrified lines is 43,700 km.
Russian Railways provides over 45% of the total cargo turnover (including pipeline transportation) and about 25% of passenger traffic in the Russian Federation.
Official website: http://eng.rzd.ru