FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2013–14
The FIDE Women's Grand Prix 2013–14 is a series of six chess tournaments exclusively for women, which formed part of the qualification cycle for the Women's World Chess Championship 2015. The winner of the Grand Prix was decided in the last stage in Sharjah, UAE, when rating favorite and reigning world champion Hou Yifan overtook second seeded Koneru Humpy to win her third straight Grand Prix cycle. For the third time running, Koneru Humpy finished runner-up to Hou Yifan.
With the overall win Hou Yifan earned the right to play the Women's World Chess Championship 2016 in a ten-game match.
Format
Eighteen women players were to be selected to compete in these tournaments. Each player agrees and will contract to participate in exactly four of these tournaments. Players must rank their preference of tournaments once the final list of host cities is announced and the dates are allocated to each host city.Each tournament is a 12-player, single round-robin tournament. In each round players scored 1 point for a win, ½ point for a draw and 0 for a loss. Grand prix points were then allocated according to each player's standing in the tournament: 160 grand prix points for first place, 130 for second place, 110 for third place, and then 90 down to 10 points by steps of 10. In case of a tie in points the grand prix points are shared evenly by the tied players.
Players only counted their best three tournament results. The player with the most grand prix points is the winner.
Players and qualification
Players invited bases on qualifying criteria were:- The four semi-finalists of the Women's World Chess Championship 2012:
- The six highest ranked players :
- Hou Yifan
- Koneru Humpy
- Anna Muzychuk
- Zhao Xue
- Nana Dzagnidze
- Kateryna Lahno
- Six organizer nominees:
- Alexandra Kosteniuk
- Elina Danielian
- Nafisa Muminova
- Olga Girya
- Bela Khotenashvili
- Batchimeg Tuvshintugs
- Two FIDE president nominees:
- Replacements:
- Tatiana Kosintseva
Prize money and Grand Prix points
| Place | Single Grand Prix event | Overall standings | Grand Prix points |
| 1 | €10,000 | €25,000 | 160 |
| 2 | €8,250 | €20,000 | 130 |
| 3 | €6,750 | €15,000 | 110 |
| 4 | €5,750 | €10,000 | 90 |
| 5 | €5,000 | €7,500 | 80 |
| 6 | €4,500 | €5,500 | 70 |
| 7 | €4,250 | €4,000 | 60 |
| 8 | €4,000 | €3,000 | 50 |
| 9 | €3,250 | – | 40 |
| 10 | €3,000 | – | 30 |
| 11 | €2,750 | – | 20 |
| 12 | €2,500 | – | 10 |
Tie breaks
With the objective of determining a clear, single winner to play in the Challenger Match and in the case that two or more players have equal cumulative points at the top, the following criteria will be utilized to decide the overall winner:- Fourth result not already taken in the top three results.
- Number of actual game result points scored in the four tournaments.
- Number of first places.
- Number of second places.
- Number of wins.
- Drawing of lots.
Schedule
The six tournaments were:
| No. | Host city | Date | Winner | Points |
| 1 | Geneva, Switzerland | 2–16 May 2013 | 8/11 | |
| 2 | Dilijan, Armenia | 15–29 June 2013 | 8/11 | |
| 3 | Tashkent, Uzbekistan | 17 September – 1 October 2013 | 8/11 | |
| 4 | Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia | 8–22 April 2014 | 8.5/11 | |
| 5 | Lopota Resort, Georgia | 18 June – 2 July 2014 | 9/11 | |
| 6 | Sharjah, United Arab Emirates | 24 August – 7 September 2014 | and | 8.5/11 |
Events crosstables
Geneva 2013
Bela Khotenashvili won the first Grand Prix in Geneva and also won her third Grandmaster norm.Dilijan 2013
Tashkent 2013
Khanty-Mansiyk 2014
Olga Girya achieved a GM norm at the tournament.Lopota 2014
Ju Wenjun achieved another GM norm which makes it her final GM norm.Sharjah 2014
Batchimeg Tuvshintugs achieved a 9-game GM norm, her first one.Grand Prix standings
The lowest of four results is in italics and not taken into the total result. Khotenashvili took the lead after stage one, then Koneru Humpy went into the lead by winning two stages in a row. Hou Yifan then overtook the lead of Koneru Humpy at the last stage.The top two places are the same as in the two previous Grand Prix cycles.
| Player | July 2014 Rating | Geneva | Dilijan | Tashkent | Khanty-Mansiysk | Lopota | Sharjah | Played | Best 3 | |
| 1 | 2629 | 45 | 160 | 160 | 145 | 4 | 465 | |||
| 2 | 2613 | 160 | 160 | 50 | 60 | 4 | 380 | |||
| 3 | 2538 | 75 | 70 | 120 | 145 | 4 | 340 | |||
| 4 | 2561 | 130 | 120 | 85 | 50 | 4 | 335 | |||
| 5 | 2541 | 100 | 120 | 65 | 90 | 4 | 310 | |||
| 6 | 2518 | 160 | 10 | 120 | 20 | 4 | 300 | |||
| 7 | 2540 | 60 | 120 | 85 | 3 | 265 | ||||
| 8 | 2513 | 60 | 85 | 75 | 87.5 | 4 | 247.5 | |||
| 9 | 2488 | 75 | 80 | 45 | 87.5 | 4 | 242.5 | |||
| 10 | 2476 | 100 | 90 | 15 | 40 | 4 | 230 | |||
| 11 | 2542 | 85 | 45 | 30 | 87.5 | 4 | 217.5 | |||
| 12 | 2533 | 45 | 55 | 110 | 50 | 4 | 215 | |||
| 12 | 2493 | 10 | 30 | 55 | 130 | 4 | 215 | |||
| 14 | 2458 | 30 | 40 | 120 | 50 | 4 | 210 | |||
| 15 | 2488 | 60 | 30 | 65 | 75 | 4 | 200 | |||
| 16 | 2346 | 20 | 60 | 15 | 87.5 | 4 | 167.5 | |||
| 17 | 2332 | 20 | 30 | 10 | 20 | 4 | 70 | |||
| 18 | 2525 | 30 | 30 | 2 | 60 | |||||
| 19 | 2461 | 30 | 1 | 30 | ||||||
| 20 | 2300 | 10 | 1 | 10 | ||||||
| 20 | 2446 | 10 | 1 | 10 |
;Notes
- Nadezhda Kosintseva withdrew from the Women's Grand Prix and she has been replaced by the next highest rating reserve, Tatiana Kosintseva.
- Viktorija Cmilyte withdrew her participation in Tashkent due to illness and was replaced by Guliskhan Nakhbayeva.
- Antoaneta Stefanova replaced Elina Danielian in Khanty-Mansiysk.
- Alexandra Kosteniuk and Kateryna Lahno swapped places at fifth and sixth stage.
- Viktorija Cmilyte and Kateryna Lahno were replaced by Alina L'Ami and Zhu Chen at the sixth stage.