2021 Women's Speed Chess Championship Presented By FIDE And Chess.com
FIDE and Chess.com are excited to announce the 2021 Women's Speed Chess Championship, an online competition for top female chess players worldwide. The main event will happen from June 10 to July 3, preceded by eight qualifiers from May 28 to June 6.
For this tournament, FIDE and Chess.com jointly contributed to the highest-ever prize fund for a women's online competition. Women from all continents will have the chance to participate in this unique event and fight for a piece of the $64,000 total prize fund.
Qualifiers
With a prize fund of $6,000, qualifiers will consist of eight separate Titled Swiss Tournaments open to all titled female players (FIDE titles only). The eight top-finishing players from each Titled Swiss event will qualify to a knockout Playoff Qualifier, which will happen right after each swiss tournament is over. The eight qualifiers and their subsequent playoff qualifiers will have different time controls, according to the table below:
| Qualifier | Date | Starting time | Time control | Number of rounds |
| 1 | May 28 | 7 a.m. PT/16:00 CEST | 5|1 | 9 |
| 2 | May 29 | 7 a.m. PT/16:00 CEST | 3|1 | 13 |
| 3 | May 30 | 7 a.m. PT/16:00 CEST | 1|1 | 21 |
| 4 | June 3 | 7 a.m. PT/16:00 CEST | 3|1 | 13 |
| 5 | June 4 | 10 a.m. PT/19:00 CEST | 5|1 | 9 |
| 6 | June 5 | 10 a.m. PT/19:00 CEST | 3|1 | 13 |
| 7 | June 6 | 10 a.m. PT/19:00 CEST | 1|1 | 21 |
| 8 | June 6 | 1:30 p.m. PT/22:30 CEST | 3|1 | 13 |
One player from each playoff qualifier will move on to the main event. Players can participate in an unlimited number of qualifiers. However, invited players or those who already qualified for the main event cannot play in the remaining qualifiers.
Main Event
The main event will be a knockout event featuring a 16-player bracket with a prize fund of $58,000. The eight players who qualify for the main event will match wits with eight invited players.
Each round, up until the finals, will have three segments: 75 minutes of 5|1 games, 45 minutes of 3|1, and 25 minutes of 1|1. The finals will feature three longer segments: 90 minutes of 5|1 games, 60 minutes of 3|1, and 30 minutes of 1|1. In each round, the player who accumulates the most points wins the match.
The dates for each round of the main event are as follows:
- Round of 16 Match 1: Thursday, June 10
- Round of 16 Match 2: Friday, June 11
- Round of 16 Match 3: Saturday, June 12
- Round of 16 Match 4: Sunday, June 13
- Round of 16 Match 5: Thursday, June 17
- Round of 16 Match 6: Friday, June 18
- Round of 16 Match 7: Saturday, June 19
- Round of 16 Match 8: Sunday, June 20
- Quarterfinal 1: Thursday, June 24
- Quarterfinal 2: Friday, June 25
- Quarterfinal 3: Saturday, June 26
- Quarterfinal 4: Sunday, June 27
- Semifinal 1: Thursday, July 1
- Semifinal 2: Friday, July 2
- Final: Saturday, July 3
Broadcast
All the games from the 2021 Women's Speed Chess Championship will be broadcast live with expert commentary on Chess.com/TV and Chess.com's Twitch channel. Fans will also be able to enjoy the event through Chess.com's Events page.
