Women’s Candidates 2022/2023 – Pool B starts in Uzbekistan

Pool B of the FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament is hosted in the ancient city of Khiva, in Uzbekistan. The event takes place from November 28 to December 11 at Hotel Farovon Khiva. Read more: Women’s Candidates Chess Tournament 2022/23 – The new system, Pools & Participants list

This bracket will see the clash between the 2020 runner-up Aleksandra Goryachkina, Alexandra Kosteniuk and Tan Zhongyi as the top finishers at the FIDE World Cup 2021, and Kateryna Lagno as one of the top-three finishers at the FIDE Women’s Grand Prix 2019–2021. Read more: Alexandra Kosteniuk not happy with the new system of the Women’s Candidates Chess Tournament

Introducing the players: Women’s Candidates 2022/2023 – Pool B

Under the new knock-out format, players in each of the two brackets or “pools” will play a four-game match (plus tie-breaks, if needed) in order to advance to the next stage, with the final match being played over the distance of six games. The Winner of Pool B will proceed to the Women’s Candidates Finals facing Lei Tingjie who has won the Pool A Women’s Candidates.

The prize fund for Pool B is €70,000, while another €110,000 will be at stake in the Women’s Candidates Final, raising the total to a record-breaking amount of €250,000. Chessdom will follow the event with daily news and videos and will broadcast the live games here.

Tournament schedule (GMT +5):
November 28: Arrival Day
Technical Meeting 17:00
Opening Ceremony 19:00
November 29: Round 1, Game 1 – 15:00
November 30: Round 1, Game 2 – 15:00
December 1: Free day
December 2: Round 1, Game 3 – 15:00
December 3: Round 1, Game 4 – 15:00
December 4: Round 1 Tiebreaks – 15:00
December 5: Free day
December 6: Round 2, Game 1 – 15:00
December 7: Round 2, Game 2 – 15:00
December 8: Free day
December 9: Round 2, Game 3 – 15:00
December 10: Round 2, Game 4 – 15:00
December 11: Round 2 Tiebreaks – 14:00
Closing ceremony

Featured photo by David Llada