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The third leg of the FIDE Women GP Series 2015/2016 starts in a few days in Batumi, Georgia. |
The Georgian Chess Federation, in partnership with the International Chess Federation (FIDE), is organizing the third leg of the FIDE Women's Grand Prix series 2015/2016. They have also organized previously two other GP events, one in Lopota and another in Tbilisi.
A round robin tournament with twelve of the best women players will be held in Intourist Palace Hotel ***** in Batumi (Georgia) from the 19th of April until 2nd of May 2016.
Chess is a regular guest in Batumi, a seaside city on the Black Sea coast and capital of Adjara. Batumi has hosted numerous international youth events in the past and is getting ready to become a World's chess capital during the 43rd World Chess Olympiad in 2018.
The participation of the two former Women's World Champions Maria Muzychuk and Alexandra Kosteniuk will be an important part of attraction as well as the participation of 4 (!) Georgian top women players : Nana Dzagnidze, Nino Batskiashvili, Bella Khotenashvili and Lela Javakishvili. The last 2 Georgian players as well as Armenian Elina Danielian and Russian Olga Girya are the new participants in the Series. With such a strong field including 8 GM, 3 IM and 1 WGM the tournament can be counted as one of the strongest women events in the history of chess.
During the Moscow Presidential Board Meeting the decision to have a Grand Prix series with five events in total was made. Each of 20 participants in the GP Series has the right to play in three of the five events.
Current World Champion GM Hou Yifan from China withdrew from the Grand Prix cycle and she has now only one option to keep the title - to win the title again in the next Women’s World Championship with a knockout system.
The player accumulating the highest number of points in the Grand Prix series 2015-2016 will get the right to play a match with the winner of the 2016 World Championship in 2017. If the same player wins both events, the second placed in the Grand Prix circuit will become the challenger.
Prize fund for the Batumi event is 60.000 euros, with 10.000 euros for the winner. A further 15,000 euros goes towards an accumulated fund for the overall best placed women.
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