The FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship kicked off on May 24. The tournament, organized by the International Chess Federation and Chess.com, consists of two qualifiers running until May 27 and the main event stretching from June 13 to July 21. The event’s prize fund is $70 000, the highest ever for a women’s online competition. $65,000 will be allocated to the main event.

The first of the two qualifiers, open to all FIDE titled women players, started on Tuesday, May 24. The events are 14-round 3+1 Swiss tournaments followed by knockout playoffs with the top-8 finishers from the Swiss. Playoff matches will consist of two 5+1 games, four 3+1 games, and eight 1+1 games. The two winners of the qualifiers will join the 14 invited players in the main event.

The list of invited players to take part in the Championship includes GM Hou Yifan, IM Bibisara Assaubayeva, GM Humpy Koneru, GM Kateryna Lagno, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, GM Harika Dronavalli, GM Valentina Gunina, GM Zhongyi Tan, IM Carissa Yip, GM Nana Dzagnidze, IM Elisabeth Paehtz, IM Vaishali R, WGM Deysi Cori and IM Polina Shuvalova.

Matches of the main event consist of three segments: 

90 minutes of 5+1 games
60 minutes of 3+1 games
30 minutes of 1+1 games

The player to score the most points wins the match.

To follow the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship, watch a live broadcast of the event with expert commentary on Chess.com/TV and Chess.com Twitch Channel.

More info and a full schedule of the FIDE Chess.com Women’s Speed Chess Championship can be found here.