The top-rated female chess players will converge to Istanbul to participate in the 2nd Turkey Is Bankasi Ataturk FIDE Female Masters' Chess Tournament. 

The tournament will take place at the Is Bankasi's Kibele Gallery in Istanbul from March 6 to 19.

World Chess Federation (FIDE) President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov will attend the tournament which is regarded as the first event of the FIDE Woman Grand Prix series 2009/2010.

In a statement posted in its web-site, FIDE said, "the Turkish Chess Federation is one of the most active national federations and has already organized in 2009 the Mediterranean Championships and the Turkish Youth Championships with 996 players. Turkey has also hosted some other prestigious FIDE tournaments this year including the World Men's Team Championship, the World Youth Championships and the world U-16 Olympiad. TCF is granted to host the 2012 World Chess Olympiad Istanbul, during the 79th FIDE Congress in Dresden on 24th November 2008."

The FIDE Women Grand Prix is a new series of elite tournaments which will be organized by FIDE and Global Chess. There will be 6 legs over two years in various countries around the world with three tournaments every year. The next tournament is planned in Nanjing, China at the end of September.

The winner of each tournament will win 6,500 euros out of a prize fund of 40,000 euros and the overall winner of the series will win a further 15,000 euros at the end of the series.

Participants of the Istanbul Tournament are Humpy Koneru (India), Hou Yifan (China), Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria), Pia Cramling (Sweden), Marie Sebag (France), Xue Zhao (China), Maia Chiburdanidze (Georgia), Zhu Chen (Qatar), Elina Danielian (Armenia), Shen Yang (China), Zeinab Mamedyarova (Azerbaijan) and Betul Cemre Yildiz (Turkey)

Source: http://www.worldbulletin.net