More Notes on the Women's Championship

The last time I looked at the current cycle for the Women's World Championship was in Notes on the Women's Championship (November 2020). I used a screen capture from the FIDE handbook to show that the documentation available to the public was poorly maintained: women's events mixed with unrestricted events (open to both men and women); events listed in no particular order; and important events missing entirely.

Here's another screen capture showing the current status of the FIDE handbook. The organization of the material has been much improved.

handbook.fide.com (May 2021)

Still missing is any trace of the Women’s Candidates tournament. FIDE partially compensated for this requirement by making a key announcement:-

• 2021-05-05: Qualification for FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament 2022 announced (fide.com) • 'The FIDE Council has approved the qualifying path to the Women’s Candidates Tournament 2022. The eight spots in the Women’s Candidates Tournament 2022 will be allocated based on the following criteria [...]'

After the fourth and last leg of the Women's Grand Prix currently underway in Gibraltar, the two other qualifying events are scheduled for later this year:-

• Women's World Cup 2021; Sochi, Russia; 10 Jul 2021; 03 Aug 2021
• Women’s Grand Swiss 2021; Isle of Man; 25 Oct 2021; 08 Nov 2021

Another piece of the overall picture was announced last week:-

• 2021-05-19: Women's World Cup : List of qualified players (fide.com)

The Women’s Candidates tournament and the title match are currently not scheduled. Which will come first -- the documentation, i.e. the rules, for the events -or- the formal announcement of the events? Based on recent performance, I'm betting on the announcement.

Yekaterinburg Candidates - Wrapup

It's finally time to terminate the interminable. Here's a summary of the posts -- mainly from this blog -- stemming from the recently concluded Yekaterinburg Candidates. Let's start with the posts from the first half of the tournament.

• 2020-03-18: Yekaterinburg Candidates - Kickoff
• 2020-03-25: Yekaterinburg Candidates - First Week
• 2020-04-01: Yekaterinburg Candidates - Second Week • 'There was no second week'
• 2020-04-08: Yekaterinburg Candidates - Intermezzo
• 2020-04-15: Yekaterinburg Candidates - Video Commentary

During this time, there was only one post on my main blog:-

• 2020-03-31: Coronavirus Candidates • 'With every major sports event getting cancelled or postponed this month, you might think the Candidates tournament would have attracted considerable attention from mainstream sports broadcasting ... and you would be wrong.'

For the previous Candidates tournament, the summary Berlin Candidates - Wrapup (April 2018) listed 15 posts on my main blog. Why the big difference? Because the following year I announced, 'The End of Daily Blogging' (September 2019).

After the first half was of the Yekaterinburg Candidates was played, there was a long hiatus before the second half started. Of course, no one could know how long it would be.

• 2020-08-12: Yekaterinburg Candidates - 1st Half Crosstable
• 2020-08-19: Yekaterinburg Candidates - Players
• 2020-09-16: Yekaterinburg Candidates - 2nd Half Announced • FIDE: 'The 8th round has been scheduled for 1 November 2020.'
• 2020-10-14: 'Tournir of the FIDE Applicants' • Chess-news.ru: 'FIDE is still considering two locations for the game - Yekaterinburg and Tbilisi'
• 2020-10-21: FIDE Candidates Postponed Again
• 2020-10-28: Interview with Dvorkovich
• 2021-03-03: FIDE Candidates Tournament, Final Chapter? • FIDE: 'FIDE plans to resume...'

That last FIDE announcement finally hit the right note.

• 2021-04-21: Yekaterinburg Candidates - Third Week
• 2021-04-28: Yekaterinburg Candidates - Fourth Week
• 2021-05-05: Yekaterinburg Candidates - Cumulative Score
• 2021-05-12: Yekaterinburg Candidates - Last Updates?

Next stop: 2021 Carlsen - Nepomniachtchi; Dubai, XI-XII, 2021.

Yekaterinburg Candidates - Last Updates?

To my page:-

• 2020 Candidates Tournament; Yekaterinburg (Russia)

I added the PGN and crosstable for the second half of the tournament, plus the chart from last week's post Yekaterinburg Candidates - Cumulative Score (May 2021). Then I added Nepomniachtchi's name, as challenger, plus other relevant info to the pages:-

• World Chess Championship Index
• 2021 Carlsen - Nepomniachtchi

I also added recent announcements from Fide.com to the same pages where appropriate. Then I ran out of time. To be continued?

Yekaterinburg Candidates - Cumulative Score

My first action after last week's post, Yekaterinburg Candidates - Fourth Week (April 2021; 'Congratulations to GM Nepomniachtchi on a well deserved victory'), was to gather the PGN for the second half of the tournament. Combining that with the PGN for the first half let me calculate the cumulative score, shown below.

The red line separates the two halves of the tournament, where the second half was played more than a year after the first. As soon as I get a chance, I'll add that image -- plus the PGN and crosstable for the second half -- to my page 2020 Candidates Tournament; Yekaterinburg (Russia).

The cumulative score continues a pattern I've noted several times on this blog. The previous mention was Yekaterinburg Candidates - First Week (March 2020):-

The eventual winner was from the group of players who had a plus score after round 3. The winner was also one of the leaders after the first half of the tournament.

That makes five consecutive candidate tournaments showing the same pattern. What are the odds?