In 1996 Zsuzsa Polgar beat Xie Jun at Jaen to become the last World Champion to obtain the title in the last classic match played on the terms in effect since 1953.

The next Candidates Tournament in Groningen 1997, was organized concurrent with the first of the FIDE World Championship Knockout tournaments. Alisa Galliamova and Xie Jun finished 1st and 2nd, seeding them into the final match.

The final match in the Women's Championship was scheduled to be played in Shenyang. After Galliamova refused to play the entire match in China the win was awarded by default to Xie Jun. The title match would be Polgar - Xie Jun.

By the time FIDE announced the date and venue for the title match, Polgar had given birth to her first child. She considered that the time to recover from childbirth and to prepare for the new match was insufficient. She requested that the match be postponed, FIDE refused, and negotiations broke down.
After the contract deadline passed, FIDE declared that the title match would be played between Xie Jun and Alisa Galliamova. The forfeited Candidates match was to be resurrected as a title match! The 1999 match, with a venue split between Kazan and Shenyang, was won by Xie Jun.

A year later, at New Delhi 2000, Xie Jun defended her title by winning the first Women's Championship played with the knockout format. She beat her compatriot Qin Kanying in the final match of the six rounds event. The Chinese dominance was reconfirmed when Zhu Chen beat Alexandra Kosteniuk in the final match of the Moscow 2001 knockout event.
Antoaneta Stefanova from Bulgaria became the 10th World Champion at the Championship held in Elista on July 7, 2004. The president of FIDE, the President of the republic of Kalmykia Kirsan Ilymzhinov set up a diamond crown on her head.

Xu Yuhua became the next Champion in March 2006 in Ekaterinburg. The next championship which is organized in Nalchik from August 28 to September 18 2008. The Women`s World Chess Championship 2008 in Nalchik ended with a closing ceremony where the President of Kabardino-Balkaria, Arcen Kanokov and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov awarded the winners of the Championship. On the third place came Pia Cramling (Sweden) and Humpy Koneru (India). The youngest-ever finalist Hou Yifan (China) has been warmly greeted by the audience. The longest applause was, naturally, given to the Champion, Alexandra Kosteniuk from Russia. All the prizes were presented and the Champion was really crowned with a very beautiful and valuable crown, hand-made here in Kabardino-Balkaria.