FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FIDE and Chess.com announce the 2020 Women’s Speed Chess Championship
The International Chess Federation and Chess.com are pleased to announce the Women’s Speed Chess Championship, an online competition to be held between June 18th and July 20th.
The event will consist of four stages:
(A) Titled Swiss Tournaments
(B) Play-Off Qualifiers
(C) Grand Prix
(D) WSCC Super Final
First stage: Titled Swiss Tournaments
The first stage will comprise a total of six Swiss tournaments open to any titled women player (WCM/WFM/WIM/WGM/IM/GM), to be played between June 18 and June 23 (7 AM PDT).
These Swiss chess events will be played under different time controls:
I & IV are 9-round events with a time control of 5 minutes + 1 second per move
II & V are 13-round events with a time control of 3 minutes + 1 second per move.
III & VI are 21-round events with a time control of 1 minute + 1 second per move.
The eight first players of each Titled Swiss Tournament (A) will qualify for a Play-Off Qualifier (B).
Any player is allowed to play an unlimited number of Titled Swiss Tournaments until she qualifies for the Grand Prix.
Second Stage: Play-Off Qualifiers
The eight players qualified from each one of the Titled Swiss Tournaments (from I to VI) play a respective 2-round Play-Off Qualifier held the same day, right after the respective Swiss tournament.
These playoffs will be played under the same time-control than the Swiss tournament that preceded them:
I & IV are 2-game matches with time control 5 minutes + 1 second per move.
II & V are 2-game matches with time control 3 minutes + 1 second per move.
III & VI are 2-game matches with time control 1 minute + 1 second per move.
In the case of a tie, an Armageddon game is played. Two finalists of each Play-Off Qualifier advance to the next stage.
Third Stage: Grand Prix
The Grand Prix will consist of four legs, with a total of 21 participants: the 12 players who qualified through the Swiss and Playoffs, plus 9 players seeded. These 9 players will be nominated by FIDE and Chess.com, with the final list being announced by June 16th.
Each of the 21 players participates in three out of four Grand Prix legs. One wild card nominated by the FIDE President is invited to take part in one of the Grand Prix legs.
Each Grand Prix leg is 16-players playoff, and will last five days (including one rest day after the semi-finals). The dates will be June 24-28, June 31-July 4, July 7-11, and July 14-18, with games starting at 5:30am PDT.
All matches in each Grand Prix leg are divided into three segments:
30-minute segment of matches with time control 5 minutes + 1 second per move
30-minute segment of matches with time control 3 minutes + 1 second per move
10-minute segment of matches with time control 1 minute + 1 second per move
In each Grand Prix leg, every player scores GP cumulative points according to her position in the final standings (for details, please check full tournament regulations on the FIDE website). The two players who score the most number of GP cumulative points in all three Grand Prix legs qualify for WSCC Super Final.
Each one of the Grand Prix legs has a total prize fund of 10,300 USD, with 3,000 going to the winner.
WSCC Super Final
The two best players of Grand Prix will play the Women’s Speed Chess Championship Super Final match on the International Chess Day, July 20th, at 7am PDT.
The match will be divided into three segments:
90-minute segment of matches with time control 5 minutes + 1 second per move.
60-minute segment of matches with time control 3 minutes + 1 second per move.
30-minute segment of matches with time control 1 minute + 1 second per move.
Games that start but “run over” the overall countdown clock count towards the final score. The player who accumulates the most cumulative points wins the match.
The final has a prize fund of 10.000 USD, with 6,500 going to the winner, and 3,500 to the runner up. These amounts are free of taxes.