Women's World Chess Championship 2010

3. 1. Qualifiers. There are 64 qualifiers:

1. The Women's World Champion, runner-up and semi-finalists of the previous Women's World Championship (4 players)

2. The World Junior Girl Champions U-20 of 2008 & 2009. (2 players)

3. The five best rated players from the average of the FIDE rating lists of July 2008 and January 2009 (5 players).

4. Fifty-one qualifiers from the Women's Continental Championships and Zones (51 players).

5. Two nominees of the FIDE President (2 players).

3. 1. 1. Replacements. Women's World Champion, semi-finalists of the previous women's world championship, World Junior Girl U-20 Champions and rated players can be replaced only from the rating list. Continental and Zonal qualifiers will be replaced from their respective events, except that in the Zonal Tournament the replacement must have scored at least 50% of the maximum possible score. Otherwise the place passes to the Continental Championship.

3. 1. 2. For the purpose of deciding the 5 rated players-qualifiers, as well as any replacements, the average from the following lists will be used: rating lists of July 2008 and January 2009 divided by 2. In case of equality two decimals will be taken into consideration. If the numbers are still equal then the number of games from the two periods shall be decisive. That means the player with the greater number of games shall qualify. If the numbers are still equal then the January 2008 list shall be decisive. If the Elo in this list is still the same, the player with the greater number of games in this list will qualify.

3. 1. 3. Players who appear in the inactive list in both July 2008 and January 2009 lists will not be able to qualify as a rated player. If the player is inactive in one list but appears in the other, then the rating that is published shall be taken as the average.

3. 1. 4. The list of qualified players and the reserves will be published on the FIDE web site.

3. 2. Tournament format

3. 2. 1 There shall be five (5) rounds of matches, comprising two (2) games per round, with the winners progressing to the next round. The 6th round (final round) shall be played over four (4) games and the winner will be declared Women's World Champion.

Round 1: there shall be 64 players

Round 2: there shall be 32 players

Round 3: there shall be 16 players

Round 4: there shall be 8 players

Round 5: there shall be 4 players

Round 6: there shall be 2 players