The 2020 Women's World Chess Championship was a chess match for the Women's World Chess Championship title. It was contested by Ju Wenjun (world champion as winner of the 2018 knock-out championship) and her challenger, Aleksandra Goryachkina, the winner of a newly established Candidates Tournament that was held in 2019.^[1]

Quick Facts 6 (2½), Scores ...

Women's World Chess Championship 2020

Shanghai, China & Vladivostok, Russia
5–24 January 2020
	Defending champion	Challenger
	Ju Wenjun	Aleksandra Goryachkina
	6 (2½) Scores 6 (1½) Game 1 ½ 97 move draw ½ Game 2 ½ 40 move draw ½ Game 3 ½ 85 move draw ½ Game 4 1 ← 63 moves 0 Game 5 0 51 moves → 1 Game 6 ½ 105 move draw ½ Game 7 ½ 67 move draw ½ Game 8 0 45 moves → 1 Game 9 1 ← 62 moves 0 Game 10 1 ← 62 moves 0 Game 11 ½ 40 move draw ½ Game 12 0 60 moves → 1 Tiebreak Game 13 ½ 67 move draw ½ Tiebreak Game 14 ½ 72 move draw ½ Tiebreak Game 15 1 ← 45 moves 0 Tiebreak Game 16 ½ 77 move draw ½
	Born 31 January 1991 28 years old	Born 28 September 1998 21 years old
	Winner of the Women's World Chess Championship 2018	Winner of the Women's Candidates Tournament 2019
	Rating: 2584 (World No. 2)	Rating: 2578 (World No. 4)
← Nov 2018 2023 →

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The match was planned in two parts, one held in Shanghai (China) and one in Vladivostok (Russia), from 3 to 24 January 2020. It marked a return to a match-only format for the title with a qualifying Candidates Tournament, after new FIDE president Arkady Dvorkovich had expressed his dissatisfaction with the knock-out tournaments and resulting frequently changing world champions.

Ju Wenjun successfully defended her title.

The newly-established Candidates Tournament was held from 29 May to 19 June 2019 in Kazan, Russia. The format was an eight-player double round-robin tournament.^[2]

Three players qualified by virtue of reaching the semi-finals of the last championship.^[3] All remaining players came from the rating list, by taking the average of all twelve monthly ratings in 2018.^[4] Aleksandra Goryachkina replaced Hou Yifan, who declined an invitation.^[5]

Qualifiers

More information Place, Player ...

Place	Player	Points	Women's world no.	Elo (May 2019)	Women's World champion
1	Aleksandra Goryachkina	9.5	9	2522
2	Anna Muzychuk	8	7	2539
3	Kateryna Lagno	7	4	2554
4	Tan Zhongyi	7	10	2513	2017
5	Nana Dzagnidze	6.5	11	2510
6	Mariya Muzychuk	6.5	3	2563	2015
7	Alexandra Kosteniuk	6	6	2546	2008
8	Valentina Gunina	5.5	13	2506

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Goryachkina won with two rounds to spare.^[6][7]

Crosstable

Leading player after each round in green.

More information No., Player ...

No.	Player	Elo (May 2019)[8]	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		Pts	Tie-breaks		Results by round														Place
																				H2H	Wins	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14
1	Valentina Gunina (RUS)	2506			1	0	0	0	½	½	0	1	½	1	0	0	1	0	5½			½	½	1½	1½	2	2	3	3½	3½	3½	4½	5½	5½	5½	8
2	Alexandra Kosteniuk (RUS)	2546	0	1			½	0	½	½	1	0	0	1	½	½	½	0	6			½	1	1	1½	2½	2½	3	3	3½	4½	4½	4½	5½	6	7
3	Aleksandra Goryachkina (RUS)	2522	1	1	½	1			1	½	1	½	½	0	½	½	1	½	9½			½	1½	2½	3	4	5	5½	6½	7½	8	8½	9	9½	9½	1
4	Kateryna Lagno (RUS)	2554	½	½	½	½	0	½			½	½	1	½	½	0	1	½	7	1½		½	1	1	2	2½	3½	4	4½	5	5½	6	6	6½	7	3
5	Nana Dzagnidze (GEO)	2510	1	0	0	1	0	½	½	½			1	½	1	0	½	0	6½	1½		½	1½	2½	3½	3½	3½	4	4	4	4½	4½	5½	6	6½	5
6	Mariya Muzychuk (UKR)	2563	½	0	1	0	½	1	0	½	0	½			½	½	½	1	6½	½		½	1	1	1	1½	2½	3	3½	4½	5	5½	5½	5½	6½	6
7	Anna Muzychuk (UKR)	2539	1	1	½	½	½	½	½	1	0	1	½	½			0	½	8			½	½	½	1	1½	2½	3	3½	4½	5	5½	6½	7½	8	2
8	Tan Zhongyi (CHN)	2513	0	1	½	1	0	½	0	½	½	1	½	0	1	½			7	½		½	1	2	2½	2½	2½	2½	3½	3½	4	5	5½	6	7	4

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As in 2018, the match was divided into two parts, hosted by the countries of the players. One stage was held in Shanghai, China and the other in Vladivostok, Russia.^[9] In Shanghai the match was played in the InterContinental Shanghai Jing'An Hotel, in Vladivostok at the Far Eastern Federal University on Russky Island.^[10] The format was increased to twelve games, the last championships having consisted of only 10 scheduled games.

The classical time-control portion of the match ended with a tied score of 6-6, after 3 victories for Ju, 3 victories for Goryachkina, and 6 draws. On 24 January, 4 games of rapid chess were used as a tie-breaker; and Ju Wenjun retained the title with 1 win and 3 draws.

Results

More information Player, Rating ...

Women's World Chess Championship 2020

Player	Rating	Standard Time Control												Points	Rapid Tie-Breaks				Tie-Break Points
		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12		R1	R2	R3	R4
Ju Wenjun (China)	2584	½	½	½	1	0	½	½	0	1	1	½	0	6	½	½	1	½	2½
Aleksandra Goryachkina (Russia)	2578	½	½	½	0	1	½	½	1	0	0	½	1	6	½	½	0	½	1½
Game Links		[11]	[12]	[13]	[14]	[15]	[16]	[17]	[18]	[19]	[20]	[21]	[22]		[23]	[24]	[25]	[26]

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