India to host FIDE Women’s Grand Prix next year

New Delhi, Dec 27: India will be hosting prestigious chess tournament FIDE Women’s Grand Prix early next year, a top official of the All India Chess Federation (AICF) said on Monday. Another Asian level chess tournament will also be held in India next year, AICF President, Dr Sanjay Kapoor told IANS. “We are going to organise the FIDE Women Grand Prix in March 2023 and an Asian calendar event later in 2023,” he said. The event is expected to be held in Delhi. This will be the second major international event being held in India after the Chess Olympiad that was held in Chennai this year. The FIDE Women’s Grand Prix Tournament consist of four tournaments spread of two years 2022-23. The Women’s Grand Prix Series 2022-23 will feature a total of 16 players, and each one of them will participate in three out of four tournaments. Each Women’s Grand Prix tournament is played with twelve players in a round robin format. The total prize fund for each one of the four events is Rs 80,000, with another Rs 80,000 being distributed among the top 8 finishers in the overall standings for the Grand Prix series. The two players who score more cumulative points in the WGP series qualify for the FIDE Women Candidates Tournament 2023-24.