Women's Grand Prix in Qatar
The FIDE Women Grand Prix is a new series of elite tournaments which will be organised by FIDE and Global Chess. There will be 6 legs over two years in various countries around the world with three tournaments every year.
The winner of each tournament will win 6,500 euros out of a prize fund of 40,000 euros and the overall winner of the series will win a further 15,000 euros at the end of the series.
This is the first time that such a series is being organised and is a significant development for the chess world. The introduction of the Grand Prix series means that there will be a World Championship contest annually now from 2010. In that year, the Champion will be determined from the World Championship Knockout which will also be held in Turkey and the following year, 2011, the World Champions will face the Winner of the Grand Prix series 2009/2010 in a match for the title.
This will be one of the strongest women tournaments of all times and it is important to point out that there are four ex-world Champions taking part as well as the highest ranked women players in the world.
The sixth event of the FIDE Woman Grand Prix cycle is being held from the 21st of February to 5th of March. It is taking place in the Sharq Village and Spa in Doha, Qatar.
Games start: Rounds 1-10 at 3:00 PM local time, round 11 at 12 AM local time.
Rest day: February 27th (after round 6).
