Chess
FIDE finalizes qualification pathways for 2026 Women’s Candidates
Following changes to the Open category, FIDE has finalized the qualification pathways for the Women's category.
Gukesh D, pictured alongside Tan Zhongyi, holds aloft the FIDE Candidates 2024 trophy. (Photo credit: FIDE)
The FIDE Council has made amendments to the Women's World Championship cycle, following changes to the Open category of the event.
The runner-up of the Women's World Championship match no longer automatically qualifies for the Women's Candidates.
Instead, she will receive special bonus points for playing the match.
The full list of qualification paths for the Women's Candidates Tournament 2026
FIDE Women's Grand Prix Series 2024-25: 2 spots for the players who finish 1st and 2nd.
FIDE Women's World Cup 2025: 3 spots for the players who finish 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
FIDE Women's Grand Swiss 2025: 2 spots for the players who finish 1st and 2nd.
One spot for the highest-placed player in 'FIDE Women's Events 2025-26' series
Unlike in the open, where a large number of different events is taken into consideration, FIDE Women's Events 2025-26 will focus only on several major events. Those include:
- Rapid and Blitz Championships 2024 and 2025: Including both rapid and blitz formats for two consecutive years
- Women's Grand Prix Series 2024/2025 edition: Final standings are a significant contributor to qualification
- Women's World Cup 2025
- Women's Grand Swiss 2025.
Players will be awarded Ranking Points (RP) based on performance in these key events as per a defined table, with players ranked by their best five results.
This includes bonus points for the Women's World Championship runner-up. The final score of a player is calculated as the sum of the player's RP in up to five of her best events.
If players are tied in the final rankings, the tie will be resolved by excluding the lowest RP score used in their final score calculation.
Regular updates will be made to the public after each event to reflect the rankings.
"The changes aim to streamline and unify qualification pathways by emphasizing top-tier events while providing a fairer distribution of opportunities," FIDE CEO Emil Sutovsky said.
"We believe that these changes will make the competition fairer and more exciting," he added.
