Reigning Women`s World Champion Ju Wenjun is currently setting the pace in the 2024-25 FIDE Women`s Series, leading the race for a coveted spot in the 2026 Women`s Candidates Tournament.
This series serves as a crucial qualification path, awarding a spot in the Candidates Tournament to the highest-ranked player who hasn`t qualified through other means. With three out of eight qualifying events now finished, the competition among the world`s top female players is intensifying.
Fresh from securing her fifth world title, Ju Wenjun sits comfortably at the top of the leaderboard with an impressive 86.5 ranking points. Her points come from winning the 2024 Women`s World Blitz Championship (48 points) and sharing 2nd-7th place in the Women`s World Rapid (38.5 points).
Closely trailing in second place is Humpy Koneru, who has accumulated 84 points, all earned from her victory at the 2024 Women`s World Rapid in New York.
Further back, in third place, is former Women`s World Champion Tan Zhongyi with 63.5 points. Like Ju, she earned 38.5 points by sharing 2nd-7th in the World Rapid. She added another 25 points as the runner-up in the recent Women`s World Championship match against Ju Wenjun.
Multiple-time rapid and blitz world champion Kateryna Lagno is currently in fifth position with 54.4 points, accumulated from a third-place finish in the Blitz (16 points) and a shared second in the 2024 World Rapid (38.5 points).
Sharing 38.5 points are a trio of players: former world champion Alexandra Kosteniuk, India`s Harika Dronavalli, and Uzbekistan`s 16-year-old Afruza Khamdamova. All three earned these points from their performance in the Women`s World Rapid in New York last December.
Seventeen players remain in contention as the series progresses. The standings are expected to shift significantly with the upcoming events, including the conclusion of the Grand Prix series in May.
The cycle continues with the conclusion of the Women`s Grand Prix Series in May, followed by the Women`s World Cup, the Women`s Grand Swiss, and the 2025 editions of the Rapid and Blitz World Championships.
With former world champions like Alexandra Kosteniuk and Lei Tingjie still in the mix, and experienced contenders such as Harika Dronavalli and Koneru Humpy battling rising stars like Bibisara Assaubayeva and Carissa Yip, the race for the qualifying places remains wide open.
How Points Are Calculated
According to the official FIDE regulations, a player`s final score in the series is the sum of their best five results from the qualifying tournaments.
In case of ties in the final standings, a stepwise tiebreak process is used, involving the removal of the lowest-scoring event(s). The overall leader who has not otherwise qualified for the Candidates Tournament earns the coveted spot.
Qualifying Events for 2024–25 Series
The FIDE Women`s Events 2025–2026 series compiles results from the most prestigious FIDE women`s tournaments over two years. It aims to reward consistent top performance and determine qualifiers for the 2026 Women`s Candidates Tournament.
Eight major tournaments are part of this series, offering Ranking Points:
- Women`s World Rapid Championship 2024
- Women`s World Blitz Championship 2024
- Women`s World Championship Match 2025 (only runner-up earns points)
- Women`s Grand Prix Series 2024–25 (final standings)
- Women`s World Cup 2025
- Women`s Grand Swiss 2025
- Women`s World Rapid Championship 2025
- Women`s World Blitz Championship 2025
Elton Marrow